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0 pointscrazygringo1y ago0 comments

Yes, all the time. It's happened to two people I know, in France and in the US.

People get up to use the bathroom or the cafe car, the laptop is left behind for ten minutes, one of the train stops is while they're away from their seat, and someone sees an opportunity, snags it, and gets off at the stop.

This is an actual thing. And if it's worth a thousand bucks then it's very much worth getting off at an earlier stop then you'd planned, and continuing your journey on the next train.

Ticket inspectors or guards are irrelevant. There isn't one in your car 99% of the time.

I don't why you're trying to argue laptop theft on trains in first-world countries isn't a thing. It absolutely is.

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vladms1y ago

Different regions of the world would see different degrees of responsibilities regarding theft. I would consider absurd to leave unattended in a public space something valuable, considering the effort required to avoid that (that is: taking it with you).

So, yes, theft on trains for people that think they are 100% safe are a thing, but applying the same idea (to assume something is 100% safe and not be cautious) I wonder how do such people use the internet...

Thorrez1y ago

My coworker was having coffee and using his work laptop at an outdoor coffeeshop in Mountain View, CA. Someone on a bike rode by and attempted grab his phone and bike off with it.

The attempted thief didn't succeed in taking the phone, but did knock the laptop onto the ground, damaging it.

vladms1y ago

The discussion was about leaving unattended valuable objects in public places. Sure, a theft can happen even if attended, or using violence, but I personally avoid increasing the chance of having something stolen by leaving it unattended.

If I would make a statistics of primary cause of remaining without a laptop among people I know, the biggest danger is liquids in glasses (that ends up on the laptops) ...

collingreen1y ago

A random person able to dart in and then make a getaway is not what "working on a train" is like and that was the original comment's point.

crazygringoOP1y ago

You're going to take your laptop with you into the toilet on the train...?

I don't think I've ever seen a human being do that before on a train. Not to go to the toilet, nor to grab a coffee in another car.

You can't be paranoid about everything. My friend in France had put his laptop back into his bag where it wasn't visible and assumed that was good enough, but someone must have seen him do it and just took the whole bag.

You are applying a totally unreasonable standard, to suppose that the thefts were due to unreasonable carelessness. What, do you think someone should take their large luggage into the bathroom too, every time they need to pee?

Talk about victim-blaming.

vladms1y ago

Yes, if I go to the toilet I take my backpack/small bag with me, because usually I have valuable stuff in them and are easy to carry. This does not apply to a large bag (in which I don't put valuable stuff).

The standard is mine and I follow it. The same way I find absurd not to do it, you find it unreasonable to do it.

I find the expectation that things are not stolen (if unsupervised in public places) strange considering the huge amount of inequalities in wealth around even in civilized countries. I do not agree with the idea of stealing, thiefs should be punished, but expecting everybody "to behave" given the situation seems unrealistic to me.

That does not mean that I think that things are stolen 100% of the time. I have a friend that forgot a laptop on a bus (Netherlands) and the driver found it at the end of the line and gave it to lost objects so my friend got it back.

crazygringoOP1y ago

I mean, that's great for you, but it's not just what 99% of people do. You don't usually see people take their backpack into a train bathroom. I've taken a lot of trains and sat near the bathroom often enough (unfortunately). But like I said, it applies to the cafe car too.

If you find it absurd how 99% of people act on long-distance trains, I don't know what to tell you.

r00fus1y ago

Ok - that's really poor opsec. If I'm going to the bathroom in a train with my laptop (whether it's expensive or not - it has access to all my stuff - which is arguably more valuable), I'll sleep it, put it in my backpack and take the backpack to the bathroom with me.

My work policies state you simply cannot leave your laptop out of sight for any period unless it's in a secure location (work|home). I feel the same way for my personal laptop as well.

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vladms1y ago

Thorrez1y ago

My coworker was having coffee and using his work laptop at an outdoor coffeeshop in Mountain View, CA. Someone on a bike rode by and attempted grab his phone and bike off with it.

The attempted thief didn't succeed in taking the phone, but did knock the laptop onto the ground, damaging it.

vladms1y ago

If I would make a statistics of primary cause of remaining without a laptop among people I know, the biggest danger is liquids in glasses (that ends up on the laptops) ...

collingreen1y ago

A random person able to dart in and then make a getaway is not what "working on a train" is like and that was the original comment's point.

crazygringoOP1y ago

You're going to take your laptop with you into the toilet on the train...?

I don't think I've ever seen a human being do that before on a train. Not to go to the toilet, nor to grab a coffee in another car.

Talk about victim-blaming.

vladms1y ago

The standard is mine and I follow it. The same way I find absurd not to do it, you find it unreasonable to do it.

crazygringoOP1y ago

If you find it absurd how 99% of people act on long-distance trains, I don't know what to tell you.

r00fus1y ago

My work policies state you simply cannot leave your laptop out of sight for any period unless it's in a secure location (work|home). I feel the same way for my personal laptop as well.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse