Thread by @rdutel

Someone stole my laptop and it was my fault🤦‍♂️ (a thread)

Yesterday, I was at my local Parisian coffee shop, sitting outside, street-side.
I was working away on my laptop, scouting new remote jobs for @remotiveio ...
...Suddenly, someone walked past, leaned over & snatched my laptop, right before my eyes...
😱

I was shocked, felt like I saw the scene from an outside perspective!
...They grabbed it & bolted, running away with my laptop... I started chasing that person, half-running, half-shouting "Stop him!" & "he stole my laptop!"
🏃‍♂️

We ran 200 meters, folks standing by were dazzled but no one budged.
...picture a near-empty, residential european street on a Sunday afternoon...
The robber was fast, I didn't loose ground but couldn't catch up either.
I continued running/breathing/shouting...

The one thought that went through my mind at the time was
"Snap, I left my backpack behind when I started chasing, let's hope it doesn't get stolen as well!"
(I had my wallet + keys in it...)

From a distance, some folks started noticing the chase and my shouting...
One person started running with me and shouted at the robber as well.
🙀

Then another person joined in, chasing & shouting, which was lucky because I was starting to be out of breath!
The robber made a turn, 3 of us were now chasing along.
Another person in the distance (farther than the robbed) joined & motioned him to stop, like a goal keeper.

Eventually, the robber stopped, surrounded, and handed my laptop to the person closest to him, then he ran away once more.
I caught up with the group, out of breath, and recovered my laptop.
I thanked everyone, shook hands and headed back to the coffee shop.

Meanwhile, coffee shop customers had handed my bag the barista who safely stored it behind the bar,
I recovered ALL my belongings, drank the whiskey shot the barista handed me and went home, I couldn't believe my luck!

🤔 *Few thoughts*
- I was very lucky to recover my laptop. I worked remotely in 15+ countries and should know better + remember laptops & cellphones can disappear fast!
- No hard feelings towards the robber, displaying a $2,000 item curb-side wasn't smart from me.

🤔 Also, this made me think about recovery plans.
Say, your laptop/phone gets stolen TODAY, what will *you* do? How will you recover data, passwords and such? I should really improve!

So, #remotework is awesome, I should certainly be more careful with my things! I wasn't yesterday. Hoping it may be a cautionary tale or just a bit of advice from me 🙏