Bicycle Unlocked

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At the grocery store tonight was a fairly nice Gary Fisher mountain bike leaning up against a support column unlocked. I stayed with it for about 10 minutes guarding it. After awhile I decided to take the bike into the store and hand it over to the customer service people. I told them the bike was outside leaning against the store unlocked and that it could get stolen real easy. Surprisingly, the customer service people were not very impressed and gave me the impression that I was being annoying. They let me leave it there though.

Was that the right thing to do?

I remember 15 years ago, I had a Specialized Stump Jumper Comp full suspension mountain bike locked to a city light post with a very stout padlock and a 7/16'' thick steel braided cable. After I came back to it after eating lunch as Ralley's hamburgers, the padlock was still there but the cable was cut and the bike was gone. I remember the sickening feeling I felt that day and it comes back to me from time to time.

I was trying to save somebody else from the same pain.
 
No. You moved someone's bike. When they come looking for it it won't be where they put it and they'll assume it was stolen.
 
I generally try to leave other peoples stuff alone...

If the guy/gal who owns it doesn’t feel it is necessary to lock it up, what makes you think your judgement is superior to his/her judgment on the subject?
 
Originally Posted By: eljefino
No. You moved someone's bike. When they come looking for it it won't be where they put it and they'll assume it was stolen.


But there's a good chance it might've gotten stolen for real.
 
Originally Posted By: DuckRyder
I generally try to leave other peoples stuff alone...

If the guy/gal who owns it doesn’t feel it is necessary to lock it up, what makes you think your judgement is superior to his/her judgment on the subject?


Maybe the owner of the bike doesn't know how crooked the world is like I do.
 
It could have been a 'bait bicycle' and cops near by watching....?

If not, the person was dumb to leave bicycle without cable and lock.
 
Originally Posted By: Mr Nice
It could have been a 'bait bicycle' and cops near by watching....?


Or it could have been one of those hidden camera television shows where the person gets awarded a million dollars for going above and beyond the call of civil duty.
grin2.gif
 
Or it could have been owned by a gang member.

If you found a 4 year old kid loitering would you move him/her?
 
I tend to mind my own business, especially in some of the areas that surround me.
 
No one's safety was compromised. Just a material good not a person in need. Let it go. Maybe it was stolen in the first place and 2nd owner did not care.
 
I had my Redline BMX bike stolen from my parent's house when I was 13,out of the garage. From then on I always kept my bikes in the house,and still do. Thieves should be publicly executed.
 
1. Who owned it? You have no clue so who are you watching it for? 2. Anyone that rides a bike knows to lock it up. Most likely its a bait bike and you messed up the cops sting operation. Now one has to go get it and replant it again
 
It must've been stolen already and the guy riding it left it there. Hopefully the customer service people turned it in to the police at the end of the day. I've left my bike unlocked outside a store but only where I could see it from inside.
 
This is a philosophy question however unless you are a precog or you know for sure something is wrong you should let things lie and play out as if you were not there.

There are stories where well intentioned humans causing things to be worse than if the human did nothing or wasnt there. Especially when dealing with nature like picking up a baby animsl they think needs helpn or putting tortoises who can't swim into the water where they drown.
From your view you were sure the bike would be stolen, but that's a distorted view. The probability of that happening in reality is low even in high crime area. Who are you to say that the bike owner didnt already do all thesr mental calculations.

Also the cust service owes you nothing and they owes the bike owner nothing. There is no social contract that the store is running a bike check. Nobody asked you to do it. If you spent your time doing this that was your choice to do so, without any expectation of gratitude and even indifference or annoyance response due to the breach of social norms. You are now asking customer service to do something for a non present owner who maybe didnt want it anyway.

By the way Your actions are very similar to the first steps of a common con, so you are the one acting strangely.
 
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I would have left it sitting right were it was. You are correct that it might have gotten stolen and your intentions were good, but in the end it really wasn't your problem. I'm not surprised the customer service people were annoyed because now you made it THEIR problem.
 
There is a distinct possibility that the owner of that bike is a drug runner or go between. In our area that is common. I don’t touch anyone else’s property period.
 
Last summer, I was out on the sidewalk on W 58th St in NYC getting a fuel oil delivery for my generators, about 1200 gallons, so I was out there a while. A woman rode up on a new looking bicycle and proceeded to lock it up in front of the building about ten feet from where I was standing. She called out to me and asked if I was going to be there a while, I said I would and she asked if I wouldn't mind watching her "baby". I replied I would as long as I was out there.
She goes inside...
I look at the bike and realize she only locked the front wheel to the pole without going through the frame. I was busy watching people walking by the fuel fill and keeping them from stepping in the open manhole.
After the truck left, I stayed outside hoping to show her the correct way to lock up a bike but she must have been on a job interview or something. She took too long. Hopefully, no one took her bike.
 
I did see a guy once trying to chase down another guy on a bike. I was walking down the street and some guy riding a bike went by me, he was somewhat unstable on it which is why I noticed it in the first place. A minute or two later, a guy came running behind the bike and shouting. The bike was probably two blocks ahead of me and I thought he was a little nuts thinking he could catch a bike on foot. He somehow flagged down a police cruiser a block or two later and I walked past him later while he was talking to it. Not sure if he ever got his bike back.
 
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