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Recession Lexicon: Putpockets
/n. From the Department of Strange but True: Aware of how people have been hit by the downturn, former pickpockets who are giving back by slipping cash into the pockets of unsuspecting pedestrians.
“It feels good to give something back for a change–and Britons certainly need it in the current economic climate,” Chris Fitch, a former pickpocket who is running the operation, told Reuters a couple of weeks ago. He also said it makes him feel less guilty for his years of thieving. And yes, it is a sponsored project.
The Secret Santa-y practice has actually been around for years; we even found a Put-pocketing website started by someone who started slipping extra goodies into people’s shopping bags while working in a health food store in the 1992—also during a recession. Coincidence? We think not.
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[...] Putpockets are former pickpockets who feel bad about their thieving ways, and who go around putting cash into the backpacks and pockets of unsuspecting people on the street. Credit for spotting the Secret Santa-Good Samaritan movement goes to Recession Wire. [...]