I am sitting in Caribou, which has certainly become my second home, and a girl just asked me to "please watch my stuff while I run down the street to the bookstore." I know this isn't an uncommon request; I've been asked the same question in libraries, the Daily Grind, the Union, and even at a bar. But I've always wondered what these individuals expect me to DO if someone came by, grabbed their shit, and ran. I'm pretty sure my response would be the same if they had asked me to watch their stuff or not--I hate to admit it, but I'd probably do nothing. I would like to think that if an opportunity arose for me to show my awesome athletic skills and good Samaritan ideals, I would chase down the bastard and safely return the prized laptop or purse before the owner returned from wherever they peaced out to, but realistically...
When I'm a world-famous and incredibly wealthy psychologist (notice the sarcasm...) I want to perform an experiement which tests this theory of human nature. Half the subjects would be aksed specifically to watch their stuff, and the other half wouldn't. Then someone would come by and obviously steal the person's stuff. I wonder how many people would do anthying? There is a theory that says that if you assign responsiblity to a specific person, they will feel responsible and do something (aka counteracting the "bystander effect") This is why all you lifeguards and EMS people know you tell a specific person to call 911 in an emergency rather than just shouting it out to the crowd.
Ok, the girl just came back, so my duties as watchdog are over. I'm really glad I was here to protect her stuff from the multiple armed bandits that came by here, really wanting her laptop and chocolate chip cookie.
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