theft at Diesel

[bratling.livejournal.com]

hey folks,

worth mentioning that a friend of mine had his laptop stolen from Diesel cafe earlier this week. he left it unattended for a moment while fetching something from the counter (if i recall correctly), and someone picked it up and left with it.

since i've been known to leave my laptop unattended too, this got my attention. don't leave your stuff unattended. i'd thought of diesel as a "safe" zone; it appears that some people take advantage of this assumption.

(although while i'm at it, nobody has claimed the Sony MemoryStick i found at diesel last month. if you've lost one recently, drop me an email and tell me what color it is, and i'll send it to you.)

Comments

[ukelele.livejournal.com]

I suspect I know the friend and the laptop in question, and the situation's actually creepier than this. I was at the adjacent booth studying, and some other people were at the other adjacent booth socializing, and none of us noticed anything. So there unfortunately isn't strength in numbers. Your neighbors are caught up in their own thing. Ask someone to watch your computer. Or cover it with poisoned spikes. Either way.

[tahnan.livejournal.com]

I've taken to putting my laptop into sleep/hibernation mode and carrying it with me to the bathroom, counter, etc. If I'm at a table I can see from the counter I'll sometimes just poke my head around the corner every few seconds--but now I'm thinking even that isn't enough. Sounds like carrying it is the best plan; and my table can be kept reserved by my coat.

If someone steals my coat, I'm finding a new coffee shop.

[bratling.livejournal.com]

*nod* i sometimes leave my coat/bag/latop behind when i'm at netgoth coffee, but in that case, there are friends there who know me and my laptop and i'm confident they would notice someone pick it up from the table next to their coffee. but as someone else here warned, it wouldn't be safe to leave it at the next table over -- only in the middle of people.

and heck, maybe not even that.

[prunesnprisms.livejournal.com]

Are Memory Sticks generally some color besides purple?

[bratling.livejournal.com]

heck if i know. i just assumed most of them are black, like most other little consumer electronics thingies are. i use compactflash -- never actually seen a memorystick in the flesh (err, plastic) before.

based on your post, i suppose that's not a good identifying characteristic. mostly, i want whoever owns it to get whatever data may be on it.

[ex-meta.livejournal.com]

Original Sony Memory Sticks are powder blue; Lexar ones are translucent purple; Sony Memory Stick Pro (256MB and up) are white.

[bratling.livejournal.com]

ah! this one's a solid matte purple.

[kiteflier98.livejournal.com]

Funny, I thought Diesel was were my purse was returned to me. I guess you just never know what's inside the next chocolate, eh?

[hauntmeister.livejournal.com]

Humm. Thefts may explain the sign which appeared on the rear door a few weeks ago. Something like "Emergency Exit Only! If you use this door for any other purpose, we will call the police!"