There was an interesting documentary on the other night about the apparent epidemic state of shoplifting in New Zealand. It was pretty amusing in places, and it had a few 'recovering' professional shoplifters telling their sob stories (boo hoo you get $3000-$4000 disposable income per week through half a days work, I feel so sorry for you that you managed to pick up a drug addiction on the way) and trade secrets.
One of the most interesting things in the documentary as some of the CCTV footage they were showing. In many of the shots the theives were gutsy enough to just walk in, pick up display products (and I'm talking about stuff as large as a dehumidifier* here), and walk right out acting as if they owned the thing. In a lot of the footage, there would be other customers looking at the theif, staring even, but no one says anything. It was pretty amazing watching these people just stand by as shops were robbed right under their nose, but I think it's part of that kiwi desire to fit into the crowd, and to not stand out. It's true - kiwis just don't like to make a fuss and have people stare at them. Contrast that to the attitude in London to things like bags left alone - people know how important it can be, so they don't have a problem speaking up and asking if someone owns a bag that's sitting by itself - yeah sure it usually means the train gets shutdown for 2 hours while they investigate it, but that's not the point.
We don't like to stand out. We really are a nation of pretty middle of the road people, and in some ways, there seems to be a slight resentment of people who suceed or who are different from the crowd in other ways, be they positive or negative. My brother made a comment along those lines a few months back when reflecting on his recent move over to Australia. At the time my automatic reflex was to disagree, but the more I think about it the more spot on he is - from academic achievement, all the way through to the way we dress, our haircuts, or our body adornments, New Zealanders are a lot more sheltered and sheep like than the rest of the world.
Maybe it's partly due to how hard it is to travel from NZ to other places, I really don't know, but seeing the CCTV footage and thinking back to a few moments on London trains really showed up a hell of a contrast.
* Apparently dehumidifiers are one of the current things which is commonly requested when these guys are asking to shoplift to order.