It’s Dec, and every Singaporean should know that means the rainy season is upon us.
However, some may still be caught unprepared for downpours and forget to bring an umbrella.
When that happens, however, it’s not advisable to casually swipe one that seems to be lying around.
That’s what one man appeared to do outside a Chinese restaurant in Siglap – and was caught red-handed by CCTV.
The restaurant says they’ve made a police report, as the umbrella belongs to a regular customers.
The incident happened on Friday (10 Dec) afternoon at about 3.14pm, according to a 1:24-long CCTV grab posted on Facebook by Tasty Court.
The restaurant at 1 Figaro Street is located deep inside a landed residential area.
Thus, when it rains there’s only a narrow five-foot-way for shelter.
And so it proved on Friday, an afternoon of heavy rain, as can be seen from the CCTV video.
A man in white shirt, shorts and a cap enters the frame near the restaurant’s entrance, and turns to look at the dark umbrella leaning against the wall.
He then turns away and walks towards a pillar to briefly gaze at the downpour outside, as he notices another man standing near a table.
When the 2nd man walks away, the man in white casually walks back towards the umbrella and loiters for a while more.
After many seconds of hesitation, and looking back and forth to see whether the coast is clear, the man appears to take his chance.
He’s seen taking the umbrella with his right hand.
He then quickly opens it in a smooth move, turning and walking out into the rain with his new protection from the elements.
The restaurant asked members of the public to look out for the man, alleging that he’d stolen their customer’s umbrella.
Tasty Court also posted a screenshot of the police report they made.
They said the umbrella was brought over by a regular customer who came for lunch at 1pm and asked them to leave it outside.
They’d forgotten about the umbrella when they left and called the restaurant, which is when they discovered it missing.
They then checked their CCTV to see the alleged theft.
In response to the post, a netizen said though the alleged theft of an umbrella is a small matter to him, it may not be to others.
He also pointed out that it may be difficult to identify the alleged culprit due to the mask he’s wearing.
Tasty Court replied that they made a big deal of the matter not just because of an umbrella but because they don’t want to be held responsible for future incidents.
As Singapore will predictably be rainy in Dec, do remember to bring an umbrella.
However, if you forget, please don’t take one that doesn’t belong to you if you’re stuck in the rain.
It may just be an umbrella, but taking others’ property without permission is still stealing – and also causes trouble for the people running the place you took it from.
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Featured image adapted from TASTY COURT on Facebook.
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