Would You Mind Watching My Stuff for a Minute?

In the Sunday Times Magazine, there is a great column by Randy Cohen called the Ethicist. Do you read it? Basically, readers write into Cohen and pose an ethical question. He answers. Oftentimes, the questions are really something to chew on. The answers could go either way. But here is a question from today:

A woman sitting near me in a local coffee shop asked me to watch her things for a few minutes while she went across the street to her home. She said she wouldn't leave anything valuable. She was gone for over an hour, returning as I was about to ask someone else nearby to take over the surveillance and then leave myself. Would I have been wrong to do so? Melinda Campopiano, Pittsburgh

We've all been asked to "watch someone's stuff for a minute," and we've all asked people to do that, right? So that we can go up to the counter to buy a cup of coffee...or run out to our car because we forgot something? But for over an hour??! Of course, Cohen told Melinda that she was absolutely under no obligation to continue to babysit the woman's stuff.

I think of myself as a considerate person. But, if it were me, I would just bring the stuff up to the counter and tell the person behind the counter that I had to leave. When the woman comes back, isn't that the first place she would go if she didn't see you?

The fact that Melinda was even worried about this woman's stuff just goes to prove one thing, though...

Pittsburghers are way nicer than us.

photo by karlcow