I have worked from home for 6 years (20/30hr week) and I also have to work when I am on vacations too. Not a lot but I have to check in once or twice a week. Usually I will find a local McDonald's or coffee shop that offers free wifi and i am in and out of there in about an hour.
During certain times of the year my entire family is home and i would LOVE to spend the day at the library or coffee shop working instead of in the house with the kids hanging on me. What sometime should take an hour takes 3 hours with them around always stopping me for something.
My main question is this - What do you do with your laptop of you have to get up and use the restroom at some point? I would hate for someone to steal my laptop for the 5 mintues I had to go pee. This seems so silly but I truly do not know if it's safe to leave it there on the table with allmy other belongings, like my coat...and what not.
So...other laptop users...what is the solution? Is there one or do I have to pack it up everytime I have to pee?
Thank you. You have confirmed what I had thought but was unsure. I just have heard of the squatters at the coffee shops that never give up their seats and I thought how is that possible since people have to pee, just take a seat then.
I work with both my person laptop and a company laptop I have to use to VPN so losing that would be the end of me :)
So...packing it up it is. Guess I will not drink fluids for 12 hours before working......just kidding.
Thanks everyone.
pack it up. Do you want to take a chance? If there is not anyone to watch over it, it is too expensive to take that risk.
I wouldnt leave my computer or jacket or anything else on the table. Theres a good chance it wont be there when you come back. I have friends this has happend to and golly, NO ONE saw a thing??? I do think it is ok to ask someone nearby to hold your spot at that table if you are worried you wont have a place to sit when you get back, but they arent really responsible for that either. Maybe if places had little "reserved" cards to set on the table for the times you need a bathroom break it would be nice. But as for leaving things unnattended, I wouldnt at all unless you are friends with someone there and they will sit with your stuff for a few minutes.
There is a local restaurant in my area that offers free wifi. Occasionally my last boss and I would want a planning day away from the hectic office and we would bring our laptops and literally spend the day there. We would order breakfast and lunch there and always told the staff that we were camping for the day. They were great about it and made sure that we always got the booths with the power outlets.
We never had a problem with our things - computers, purses, paperwork etc. as the staff kept an eye out for us if left table.
Find a locally owned place and get to know the staff. It should be fine.
They do sell laptop security cables like this:
http://www.officedepot.com/a/products/238996/Kensington-C...
Should at least deter a "grab & go" during a pee break!
I take it all with me, or get the seat closest to the rest room. I would depend how many are in the store and if one of the cashiers can watch it for me
If you want to leave it then use the cable lock, I have one and it works great but I don't leave mine unless I am close enough to see it. If I am going to be out of sight of it I take it with, only takes a few minutes to get back on it but if it is not there when I get back then it is a lot worse. I have seen the locks at any of the office supply stores and like Best Buy also. Good luck!
I also work remotely with a laptop. I definitely pack it up every time I am out of sight of it because it is a Company laptop and I would catch some serious s#!t for not only losing the machine, but the information on it. SOOOO not worth it imo. Sadly, you can't trust people to just leave it alone for 5 minutes.
I used to work at a Breadco (Panera to everyone else) and we had customers that left their laptops and went to work out for a couple hours. Even when I didn't work there I would ask someone to keep an eye on it. I have gone to that Breadco for 20 years and hung out there with my laptop for five before I was hired there. No one ever stole a laptop. From what I have gathered this is the norm.
I think it is in part people looking out for each other and another part of busy bodies wanting to nail a criminal.
I'd take it. just like i wouldn't leave my purse sitting there.
I work at home and only have a desktop! LOL...can you say archaic! My hubs has a laptop and we just bought one for my daughter for Christmas, though. I have never used one at a public wi-fi spot, mostly cause I don't need to! That being said, if I did, I would NOT leave it sitting there unattended. I know it might seem nutso, but I was brought up to be very cautious and careful w/ who I trust (OK, so my dad doesn't trust anyone...he can go out to mow the lawn and will lock all his doors! LOL!)
I guess it would depend on if there were a lot of people there and if you could pee fast! LOL...if you're only going to be an hour or so, just make sure to pee before you go and hope for no "emergencies"!!! :)
