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I don't know what the general environment is like there in SF, but in London, UK there is no way I would ever leave an expensive shiny laptop unattended in a pu
by oneeyedpigeon 13y ago
I don't know what the general environment is like there in SF, but in London, UK there is no way I would ever leave an expensive shiny laptop unattended in a public place like that. At the very least I would always ask someone else to keep an eye on it. Sorry, I know that's not very productive - good luck in your attempts to salvage whatever you can.
- kenrikm 13y agoNo it's never safe to leave your laptop alone. However, SF is not that big. And the security camera got a good look at that girl. I would not be surprised if she is caught pretty soon.
- sciguy77 13y agoThat's very much true for SF too, though I can understand the temptation. I always feel weird carrying my stuff to the bathroom with me (not to mention if you're trying to save your spot - at Philz coffee getting and keeping a table is a battle).
- jzwinck 13y agoSingaporeans have a solution for this: they understand a pack of tissues or a business card on a table to mean "reserved": http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-fXrUY-3NMjc/Tspv4vvgSDI/AAAAAAAANvY/qC30Z1UpOP8/s1600/tissue_chope.jpg http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-fXrUY-3NMjc/Tspv4vvgSDI/AAAAAAAANv... But what if they have no tissues at hand? Using a smartphone is also fine, because there is so little crime: http://www.mrbrown.com/.a/6a00d83451b52369e2019aff6d022f970b-550wi http://www.mrbrown.com/.a/6a00d83451b52369e2019aff6d022f970b...
- jrs99 13y agoit's gotta be true just about everywhere. in the suburbs, people ask me to watch their laptop all the time (but only when I'm working on my own laptop). And I often see people pack up all their stuff, just to go to the bathroom.
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- oneeyedpigeon 13y agoYeah, that's why I'd probably ask someone to keep an eye on it, rather than take it with me - I often do that with possessions, although not a laptop, in public situations (cafe, bar, train, etc.) I'd rather live in a society in which we trust each other to keep an eye on our stuff, than one in which we have to take everything with us for a quick pop to the bathroom. Of course, I'd rather one in which the threat of something being stolen didn't exist at all ...
- jebus989 13y agoIronically at 1:34 in the footage it looks like the thief asks another patron to look after her bag while she went to the bathroom.
- maxden 13y agoIronically, that's what the thief does when she goes to toilet.
- 27182818284 13y agoYeah this is very dependent on where you live. I was pretty shocked when a co-working survey asked if you felt you could leave a smartphone or laptop alone. Where I'm at, you can leave these alone without fear—it hadn't occurred to me that it is a serious problem (which obviously it is and always has been) In my area, you can leave a Retina MacBook Pro out and not expect it gone. (If you work for a company where your laptop has serious data, then of course that stuff should be on lockdown. Most people I know with stuff like that have it locked away in secure cabinets, etc and don't leave it out.) Anyhoo, yeah students can leave a MacBook Pro Retina, walk away for coffee or to use the restroom and then come back to it. The probability of it being stolen exists, but it is tiny. (Also the culture is such that if someone took something, it wouldn't be a surprise for others to be like, "Hey! What are you doing?!" )
- pervycreeper 13y agoWhat area would that be? Color me skeptical.
- 27182818284 13y agothe Midwest.
- jrs99 13y agoThere was this thing on TV where a black male actor was cutting a bike chain with a saw or something like that. Many people confronted him. He said "The bike has been here for a long time." And they told him: "It's not your bike. You can't just take it." Then they showed a white female actress doing the same exact thing. A couple people asked her what she was doing. She said to one person "I'm stealing the bike." They offered to help her.
- jmaygarden 13y agoI don't trust those things on TV. They seem so easy to slant in a direction that suits the producers. That's not to say that a bias wouldn't exist in that scenario. However, it's not like you can conclude that most people would stop a black man from stealing a bike, but help a white woman do the same, from the sample set that they CHOSE to show.
- leapinglemur55 13y agoSeriously. What did she really expect to happen?
- stfp 13y agoInteresting bit relatively early in the video: the thief asks someone to watch her bag. I'm assuming the idea is that the person would then ask back, "and boom".
- pervycreeper 13y agoThat's clever. Whenever I get asked to watch another person's stuff in a cafe, I wonder to myself why they think I'm so worthy of their trust. Recent laptops which suspend quickly and lack delicate hard drives are easier than ever to move with you at all times, so the problem is easy to obviate.
- computer 13y ago> Whenever I get asked to watch another person's stuff in a cafe, I wonder to myself why they think I'm so worthy of their trust. Because by asking you, they are trusting you. By not asking anyone, they have to trust every single person around.
- oneeyedpigeon 13y agoPlus, if their stuff goes missing, they can be pretty much certain who the culprit is, in terms of offering some kind of description to the police.
- justhw 13y agoIn college a thief used the tactic you describe, establishing trust by asking to watch his stuff, to a girl in finals week at Starbucks. I think she flunked that semester.
- alistairSH 13y agoI'm near DC. I'd guess >95% of the time, you're stuff would be fine while you head to the bathroom or get a refill on the coffee. But, that's still a significant risk, especially once you add hassle factor onto any dollar value.
- shinymark 13y agoI grew up in the SF Bay Area and feel the same way. I thought that this is how the whole world worked. You have to be constantly concerned about having your possessions stolen if you leave them briefly exposed in a public place. Then, I lived in Tokyo for a few years. People leave belongings unattended in coffee shops and restaurants all the time. It's a common occurrence to see someone put down their belongings at a table, leave them there, then go order food or drinks where their belongings are out of sight. Sure, there is still theft in Japan. But it was a really eye opening and nice experience to see that there are places where distrust of others in this context isn't the default state.
- w1ntermute 13y agoSure, Japan's culture is great when it comes to personal safety. But many would say that that same culture is responsible for its economic malaise of the last 25 years.
- wismer 13y agohuh?
- chad_oliver 13y agoYes, but those two aspects of their culture are totally orthogonal. Why can't we build a society where we have the former and not the latter?
- w1ntermute 13y ago> Yes, but those two aspects of their culture are totally orthogonal. No, they're not. The social uniformity and equality in Japan that makes Tokyo surprisingly safe for its size is also responsible for the lack of entrepreneurship and innovation in Japan. > Why can't we build a society where we have the former and not the latter? If you want some young people to succeed spectacularly, then you also have to allow some (a lot) of young people to fail spectacularly. You can't have your cake and eat it too.
- asveikau 13y agoI happen to live in SF, but I don't care if you're in SF, London, Podunk or Peoria, the protocol for going to the bathroom in a coffee shop or other public space is to pack up your stuff and take it with you. You may lose your seat but it's much better to keep your stuff. Asking someone to watch it - if it's not someone you know well and trust then what good does that do? What if this woman had asked the one in the striped shirt to watch her stuff?
- orblivion 13y agoI figure chances that a random person who you ask is going to be much less likely to have bad intentions than a person who offers to you to watch your stuff.
- stokedmartin 13y agoIn some cases, going to the bathroom with your stuff is almost like leaving your place vacant for any one else to take. In crowded cafés, this may not be optimal. I wonder if cafés provide customers with pamphlets to put on the table saying `Occupied` while they are gone to the bathroom with their stuff would be helpful.
- bronson 13y agoIt's like leaving your place vacant because you ARE leaving your place vacant. That's a good thing. If a coffee shop is so busy that you won't have a place when you get back then take a break and come back when things are quieter. Or pay for a coworking space. (I remember trying to get a table with friends at Blue Bottle years ago... each one was occupied by a loner staring at a laptop, nursing a coffee, and ignoring everything else. It was sad.)
- sk5t 13y agoAt least in US bars, you can leave your glass on the bar with a napkin over the top to indicate that the seat is taken and the drink should not be tossed. I don't know if cafe patrons might honor this convention?
- 13y ago
- jusben1369 13y agoYes having lived in both places petty crime is 10x worse in London vs SF.
- MartinCron 13y agoI once packed up my laptop and took it with me when I went to the bathroom at a coffee shop even though at the very next table were four uniformed police officers. In retrospect, that was a little silly.
- benatkin 13y agoI try to act normal when police officers are around. I never know when I'm going to see the same police officer again. That would extend to packing up my stuff and taking it with me. Also what if the police officers left while I was gone?
- jfarmer 13y agoI'm generally quite careful with my belongings when I'm out in public. I'd never leave my stuff out unattended and never with a stranger. But when I was in London, I was being constantly nudged by people to move my belongings, secure them better, etc. I remember being in a pub and my bag (which contained my laptop) was just resting right next to my chair on the floor. A woman who where there came up and said, "You'd best move that unless you want it to get nicked." This was in Soho, so it's not like I was out in the boonies, either. I've lived in SF and Chicago, but I'd never be that careful here. So, perhaps London has more petty thefts than the typical American is used to? I dunno, but everyone around me — friends and strangers alike — seemed to be orders of magnitude more conscious about it than I was, and I consider myself pretty conscious.
- morgante 13y agoTo be honest, I can't imagine taking a laptop with me to the bathroom. It seems both awkward and fearful. I prefer to not live in an environment of fear, even in NYC. Statistically speaking, it's very unlikely that anything will be stolen, especially since I usually ask someone to keep an eye on it. Also, my insurance would cover theft——in many cases, renter's insurance or your credit card will.
- pbreit 13y agoI think that's changing with the proliferation of cameras and tracking mechanisms. Seems a good chance this person will get caught. Worth it?
- kenrikm 13y agoI checked the video and it get a pretty clear view of her face. I wonder if I would be possible to upload a screenshot to Facebook and see if it can auto tag her (Facebook brought back facial recognition right?)
- rograndom 13y agoI live in a small city in Vermont, and I would never, ever leave anything on the table if I was going somewhere that I couldn't see the table.