Okay, picture this situation. You need to get out of the house/office/dorm room and think it’s a good idea to head to the local coffee shop because you still have some stuff to do. Maybe you’re writing a paper, or Christmas shopping online, or tweaking your fantasy football team, or Facebook stalking, or reading blogs, trying to get to Inbox Zero, or whatever.
But as the minutes pass by and you drink more coffee (or tea or Coke Zero) you start to feel the need to go to the restroom. So then you’re faced with the conundrum: What do you do with your laptop?
Assuming you’re there by yourself, do you
- Close it up and carry it in the restroom with you?
- Close it, pick up the cord, put it all in the backpack and carry it in the restroom with you?
- Do you make eye contact with someone and say, “Would you mind watching my stuff?” all the while hoping they don’t run out with your computer as soon as you lock the restroom door?
- Do you just hope that everyone is as nice as you and would never steal a computer in a coffee shop?
I’ve walked in and seen a PC laptop sitting on a table next to an empty coffee cup and thought, “Who would want to steal that anyhow?” [Just kidding!] But there have been times I’ve seen a MacBook Air sitting there and wondered who would just leave that sitting there unattended? But often the shop is crowded, right? So if you pack up your stuff your table will be gone when you get back. So you leave the table covered with your stuff and therefore “saved”, right? But is a crowded shop more or less conducive to such a theft?
So the question to you is “What do you do with your laptop in a crowded place when you need a quick restroom break?“
I would never ever leave my laptop in the coffee shop. OMG! Even in thoughts it is a scaring thing for me. I would certainly keep backpack with me and would keep the laptop in it while visiting the restroom.
I do not trust anyone easily so there is no reason why I should leave my laptop in coffee shop and visit the restroom. I would not give that look to anyone around. Even if I do not have a backpack, I will keep the laptop with me while visiting restroom and manage somehow!
My recent post Seleccion de sitios web que dan muy buenos consejos para conquistar a un hombre
I’m just super weird and always avoid public restrooms so I am rarely confronted with this problem, but people ask me to watch their stuff quite often. I’ve also been blessed to usually know a lot of people that hang out at the coffee shops I frequent, so I usually have someone I trust in the shop.
@Stanton Martin I used to try to avoid public restrooms, but sitting in a coffee shop I’ll end up needing to go at least once after drinking a few cups of beverage. Thankfully the one I usually go to has a table in the restroom. I just set the laptop on it while doing my business, and I’m back out in no time.
I always figure that my power cord and laptop bag aren’t valuable enough to steal, so I take just the laptop itself with me. I don’t close it all the way as that would put it to sleep, instead half-closing it to about a 60-degree angle and putting it on the floor on its side.