asking a stranger to watch your stuff

[eviljeff]

background:
I go to a law school with about 1500 students. There are many places to study, most of which require key-card access. Some of these rooms are usually well-populated and some of are usually empty. Most people just leave their laptops and bags when they go to take a bathroom break or print something out. Sometimes for even longer periods like a meal break. (side note: I always take my stuff with me)

situation:
I'm studying in one of these large key-carded rooms late at night. There is one other person in there. She is studying on the other side of the room. She comes over and asks me to watch her laptop and such for about 20 min. What I started to think about while she was gone was whether or not her stuff was actually more likely to get jacked given that she told me she would be gone for a considerable period. If I did jack her stuff she could easily have discovered who I am given that I'm in the building every day and all law students' pictures are in the facebook. However, she doesn't know that I'm a law student. Students from other areas of the university (and possibly other schools as well) study in the law school. True, there is key card access, but it's pretty easy to just follow someone in.

focus:
When have you asked a stranger to watch your things? What other situations can you think of where you might do so? Would you be more likely to if there were a lot of people around or just one? What is the most valuable thing you would ask a stranger to watch?

[FouTight]

wow, do you ever get laid missing comeons like this?

[Alobar]

only an idiot would ask a total stranger to watch thier stuff.

Whenever anyone ever aks me to watch their stuff, I always very seriously ask "how do you know I'm not going to steal it?". They usually then take it with them, which is good cuz I HATE watching other peoples stuff. Why the hell do people think its ok to burden someone they dont know with responsibility? I've straight up told people before that if they arent back when im ready to go, im leaving anyway, and i do.

[diebitter]

Damn. I thought this thread was about someone getting off by being voyeured.

I ask strangers to watch my bags when I'm at the airport. Good times.

But at any other time, I wouldn't expect a stranger to watch anything for me. If I trust my environment, I just leave it there. If I don't, I take it with me (this is usually the case.)

I wonder if she would have been mad at you if you tampered with her goodies in a fun but not destructive way....like change her computer wallpaper or something. "Hey it's your fault girl...be thankful I didn't delete your [censored]."

ScottieK

[henrikrh]

[ QUOTE ]
only an idiot would ask a total stranger to watch thier stuff.

Whenever anyone ever aks me to watch their stuff, I always very seriously ask "how do you know I'm not going to steal it?". They usually then take it with them, which is good cuz I HATE watching other peoples stuff. Why the hell do people think its ok to burden someone they dont know with responsibility? I've straight up told people before that if they arent back when im ready to go, im leaving anyway, and i do.

[/ QUOTE ]

Psyche studies show that asking a stranger to watch your stuff very very highly increases the chance that they will protect it should someone else try adn steal it. In no cases in the study did the stranger (didn't know they were in the study) try adn steal the stuff themselves. Therefore, asking a stranger is +ev.

[DCopper04]

Ya know, it's true what they say... Senior citizens, although slow and dangerous behind the wheel, still do serve a purpose.....

[Alobar]

[ QUOTE ]
Therefore, asking a stranger is +ev.

[/ QUOTE ]

only in comparison to not asking anyone and just leaving it. Its still -EV compared to not letting your stuff out of your sight.

[Oblivious]

I really hate being obligated to remain somewhere with some responibility while someone I dont know is on break. When someone asks, I usually say yes, cuz Im a pussy, but if I have to leave I have to leave.

[Brainwalter]

I don't talk to strangers.

[Soul Daddy]

Yeah, the only time I have done it is at the airport, while waiting for a delayed flight. Pretty sure that person wasn't going anywhere. But I guess you never know.

You could always ask another stranger to watch the stranger watching your stuff.

[BradleyT]

You should have went on to her computer and gone to MySpace to see if she had auto-login turned on and messed with her profile and then posted an awesome thread instead of this one.

Actually I was joking...remember when the ticket agent would ask you "have your bags been in your possession since you've been at the airport?" Hit them with a "no" and see how they respond.

But if it's a choice between that and risking the chance that your "unattended baggage" getting confiscated...

"How many strangers does it take to watch my stuff?"

ScottieK

[ContactGSW]

I have asked a total stranger(the dealer) to watch my chips one of the first times I played poker in a B&M, he and all the other players looked at me like I was a dweeb. I still feel better, when I leave the table for any length of time, to put a towel over them but I see much bigger stacks being left bare much longer on poker tables then I would be comfortable with. Almost as uncomfortable as my sentence structure above makes a reader feel, but I don't feel like changing it.

[DrSavage]

[ QUOTE ]
I still feel better, when I leave the table for any length of time, to put a towel over them

[/ QUOTE ]

That's the absolutely worst idea ever. Whatever you do when you leave table and have your chips still there , make sure they're all in clear view of a camera. Covering them is a way to make sure that if someone does snatch a few casino won't be able to help you.

[Alobar]

[ QUOTE ]
Almost as uncomfortable as my sentence structure above makes a reader feel, but I don't feel like changing it.

[/ QUOTE ]


hahaha, thats effing awesome

[tonypaladino]

I've watched people's stuff when they say they'll be gone for a minute or two. Any longer and I say "sorry, I'm gonna be heading out for a smoke soon".

When I work in my school's library I lock my laptop to the desk and lock Windows so no one will [censored] with it when I step out to smoke or use the bathroom.

[pyroponic]

How do you lock the laptop to your desk?

[wdeadwyler]

[ QUOTE ]
wow, do you ever get laid missing comeons like this?

[/ QUOTE ]

Does anyone else besides this guy think this is a comeon?
What are the odds it is?
How to proceed?
Would you ever use this as a come on?

[pyroponic]

Probably not a comeon since it happened at school and this comes up all the time.

[Scotch78]

I once asked a girl to watch my stuff while I went to get lunch (20 ft away), because I thought she'd been looking at me more than at her book. Sure enough, she took the opportunity to make a joke about it when I came back 2 minutes later and we started talking.

It would've went great too, if she hadn't asked whether I believed in Jesus Christ.

Scott

[diebitter]

[ QUOTE ]
I once asked a girl to watch my stuff while I went to get lunch (20 ft away), because I thought she'd been looking at me more than at her book. Sure enough, she took the opportunity to make a joke about it when I came back 2 minutes later and we started talking.

It would've went great too, if she hadn't asked whether I believed in Jesus Christ.

Scott

[/ QUOTE ]

She could have been one of them 'hooker for Jesus' types?

[craig r]

[ QUOTE ]
I once asked a girl to watch my stuff while I went to get lunch (20 ft away), because I thought she'd been looking at me more than at her book. Sure enough, she took the opportunity to make a joke about it when I came back 2 minutes later and we started talking.

It would've went great too, if she hadn't asked whether I believed in Jesus Christ.

Scott

[/ QUOTE ]

You can always say you do. I mean, we know he existed and we know what she meant, so are you lying? Would it matter anyways though? If that is the first thing she asked the chastity belt is on pretty tight i assume.

craig

[Scotch78]

[ QUOTE ]
If that is the first thing she asked the chastity belt is on pretty tight i assume.

[/ QUOTE ]

I wish, I wasted 20 minutes of quality study time before she popped the question. Though in her defence, she was open-minded enough to follow it up with, "Do you believe in god?". Most of the uber-religious types I've met don't acknowledge the difference.

Scott

[Ulysses]

jeff,

Here's what you should have done. You should have taken her laptop (maybe get a friend to come by and take it or something) and stuff. Then, when she comes back and asks where is her stuff, you say "Oh, your boyfriend came by and picked it up." "WTF!?" "Uh, a guy came by, I asked him what he was doing and he said he was your boyfriend coming to grab your stuff for you. Oh fk, that was not him? Man, we better tell security, he was a black guy, kinda medium height, medium build, dressed like a student."

Try this next time,
El Diablo

[craig r]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
If that is the first thing she asked the chastity belt is on pretty tight i assume.

[/ QUOTE ]

I wish, I wasted 20 minutes of quality study time before she popped the question. Though in her defence, she was open-minded enough to follow it up with, "Do you believe in god?". Most of the uber-religious types I've met don't acknowledge the difference.

Scott

[/ QUOTE ]

Though I am in no way a practicing Jew, I am Jewish, so when they ask me if I believe in Christ I used to tell them I am Jewish, just so they would leave me alone. I have now stopped that, because then I get, "Jesus was Jewish also".

craig

[Yeti]

El Diablo,

'he was a black guy'? You got something against brothers?

Disappointed,
Yeti

[Scotch78]

[ QUOTE ]
I have now stopped that, because then I get, "Jesus was Jewish also".

[/ QUOTE ]

That's why you stopped? On come on, that's the softest lob pitch in religion . . . "I know. Actually, I'm very impressed that you're comfortable with the fact that your own god wouldn't be a Christian if he were alive today. That really takes a lot of confidence."

Scott

[Ulysses]

Yeti,

No. I know two black guys.

Sorry to disappoint,
El Diablo

Hi eviljeff,

Generally I dont ask strangers to watch my stuff, I just bring my stuff with me. If a stranger asked me to watch their stuff, I would first ask how long they expect to be, and then bend over and say "sure" almost regardless of the time.

SINCERELY YOURS,
bright