back to article Brits leave 138,000 gadgets in the pub

Drunk Brits lose 138,000 devices a year in bars but get most of them back, according to a pub poll by security firm Eset. The mobile security vendor pinged 600 establishments across the country and extrapolated the results to come up with the 138,000 approximation. Mobile devices were often dropped in watering holes across …

  1. chivo243 Silver badge

    I still have to both

    I've only had two mobiles in my life, and I still have both... The first one is back in it's original box, and the second is still in my pocket. Hope I don't lose it now that I've shot off my mouth...

    1. AndyS

      Re: I still have to both

      Luxury! I've only ever owned a stone, that I use to tap out Morse code. And it's still in the original box because I left my scissors in the pub.

      Seriously, why is it that every time there is an article on mobile phones, some ludite pops up to boast about using outdated technology? Similarly articles on Facebook, where half the comments are just people saying they don't use it.

      I propose we call this the Proud Antagonistic Non-participating Technophobe Syndrome, or PANTS for short.

      1. Stoneshop
        Holmes

        Re: I still have to both

        It's some kind of Reverse Dicksize War: showing off that yours is the slowest and least capable.

      2. John H Woods Silver badge

        Re: I still have to both

        "PANTS for short" --- AndyS

        Handy umbrella term. I have been using the term e-pocrisy to refer to the practice of using social media to diss social media (all those FB posts saying one, or one's kids, should put down their smartphones and experience real life). I think we could probably apply a similar classification for comments on a news site telling everybody what you think of Facebook, when it is not the central point of the article.

      3. Mark 85

        Re: I still have to both

        Seriously, why is it that every time there is an article on mobile phones, some ludite pops up to boast about using outdated technology? Similarly articles on Facebook, where half the comments are just people saying they don't use it.

        It has really nothing to do with being a luddite, I think. In my case, I've got enough stress and work just keeping up with changes by my employer. I don't need to have the latest and greatest toy (and the learning curve). As for social media, we in tech know enough horror stories to make us run away.

        As for the original poster in this topic, he's proud that he's never lost his mobile and he should be. Come to think of it, I've never lost one either. Nor have I left a laptop on the train/bus that may or may not have had sensitive information on it.

        1. chivo243 Silver badge
          Facepalm

          Re: I still have to both

          @Mark 85

          "he's proud that he's never lost his mobile and he should be."

          No, I'm fortunate to keep my wiley in my pants, as well as my phone. But, I am fortunate to have never lost my phone. It does come out occasionally. I can lose usb drives, keys and my mind, but not my ancient Nokia.

          Thanks for a sane comment!

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    "Brits leave 138,000 gadgets in the pub" - which pub?

    it's the season for gift giving and i'm all out of ideas ..

  3. Tony S

    This has been an issue for years; there have been numerous studies that quote various statistics about items being left in pubs, taxis, trains, on the underground etc. The company tried making all sorts of threats, injunctions etc. to reduce the number of lost devices (including laptops ffs) but it made not the slightest difference.

    I used to think that it was because people didn't pay for the device so they didn't give a rat's arse, but it appears that it doesn't actually matter if it's a personal item or a company owned device. It's not just electronic devices; various civil servants have left highly sensitive documents lying around to be collected by cleaners or other members of the public; and at least one senior manager at a previous employer has left stuff in a public place that the company really would have preferred to have stayed private.

    I suggested that we should make one of the devices that mothers used to give their kids to stop them losing gloves; a piece of stretch elastic tied to a hand (sometimes think it needs to be nailed!) and secured to whichever device or item they are likely to lose.

    1. AndyS

      I'm guilty, and to be honest the figure doesn't surprise me at all. I've left all sorts of things in all sorts of places, although normally get them back (two notable exceptions - a jacket at the Edinburgh Tatoo, and a pair of sunglasses on a light aircraft that crashed a week later). My wife, in contrast, just doesn't lose things. It's clearly an issue of a defective personality.

      I think it's normally down to one of two things. Firstly, something which is necessary on the way there (or once you arrive), but not on the way back. So, a jacket in summer, sunglasses, wellies, tools, etc.

      Secondly, things you're not used to carrying. So, the only mobile I left anywhere was in a taxi, about 2 or 3 months after I first got a mobile in 2000.

      I try to avoid the first by making a mental (or even written) list of things I put down, and where they are, and then checking that list as I leave.

      The second is a reflex and habit thing - I always carry the same items in the same pockets. I rarely leave keys anywhere, as I know exactly where they are at any time, and habitually check every time I stand up.

  4. Paul Shirley

    it's in your pocket, of course is going to get lost

    Been saying for years the only safe mobile device is one with nothing worth losing on it. They're physically insecure and you can't guarantee they won't be snatched while unlocked even if normally secured. Very few people will accept the disruptive level of lockdown needed to fix that so it's not going to change, convenience over safety seems to be the norm.

    1. dotdavid

      Re: it's in your pocket, of course is going to get lost

      "Very few people will accept the disruptive level of lockdown needed to fix that so it's not going to change, convenience over safety seems to be the norm."

      Security/functionality are tradeoffs not absolutes and always will be.

  5. Tom 7

    Of course they're left in the pub

    how else will you need to go back and pick them up?

  6. Unep Eurobats
    Pint

    I jusht found thish iPad

    You'sh my beshtesht mate.

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    My company charge you the replacement cost for losing your second device. Unfortunately there are few enforced policies surrounding securing them, there's plenty they could do but have never done so.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      If the company were to charge me for losing a device, that device would never leave the office - I'd rather pay for my own, but then don't expect me to use it for work purposes.

  8. John Arthur
    Joke

    My inflatable sheep!

    Can somebody tell me which pub it was found in?

  9. Yugguy

    Idiots

    Pubs should be for drinking and talking bollocks, the level of which increases with the duration of the said drinking.

    Not for pulling your phone out and staring mindlessly at it. Or worse yet, inflicting some deeply unfunny facebook post on other pubgoers.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Idiots

      Many years ago, back when laptops where not the sort of thing many people could buy for themselves and were still comparatively rare in business the team the Mrs used to work for was split between the head office and the London office. It was common that after team meetings in London they'd all pile off down the pub to talk non-work, or at least less-work, bollocks and drink beer celebrating the fact that London meant public transport and so beers after work was OK. So each of a dozen or so people heads off to a well know hostelry and each is now lugging 2->3KG of laptop with a list price of over a couple of grand. Now what do you do with all those heavy bags?

      Well you leave them in a stack in the corner of the pub of course

      That way you can concentrate of talking bollocks and drinking beer

      Once sufficient beers has been consumed you start thinking about where to go for a curry

      At which point you head off to the corner of the pub only to discover that the whole pile of laptops has gone AWOL.

      The boss can't give you a hard time because the boss's laptop was in the pile along with everyone else's.

  10. Unep Eurobats
    Facepalm

    Just go with it

    If I come home with someone else's gadget I just adopt their identity. It's happened several times and I have no idea who I am. Makes life much more interesting.

    1. VinceH
      Coat

      Re: Just go with it

      That works great unless you take it a little too far, and the person who's identity it is comes home to find you in bed with his wife.

      1. IglooDude
        Joke

        Re: Just go with it

        Or worse, in bed with her husband.

  11. Les Matthew
    FAIL

    Missing item

    138,000 devices and one daughter.

  12. John H Woods Silver badge

    Bluetooth belt buckle / broach?

    How about a small, rechargeable Bluetooth device that serves no purpose other than to keep your smartphone, tablet or laptop unlocked when said device is within range? You could even use it in 'pub' mode where when the device goes out of range you get an audible warning. Maybe the device could have its own buzzer to alert you when the connected devices drop out of range?

  13. Pedigree-Pete
    Thumb Up

    OCD

    Just have a convenient place for everything in the house and ensure, when not in use, that is where it is. Trust me. It becomes habit forming. :)

  14. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Never lost one

    In 23 years of mobile 'ownership' I've not lost a single device. I've never even dropped one which ended in any notable damage or a cracked screen.

    Now I've been a sanctimonious prick I look forward to getting bladdered and dropping my phone down the pub toilet.

    All the best.

  15. Mark 85

    Securing the phone and not secuiring?

    These are at odds with each other. Securing it is a great idea for data protection, etc. But most emergency services agencies want your phone to be unlocked so they have contact info in case you get by a bus, train, plane, whatever. Most people, being honest would look at a phone and call someone to say they found this. A very mixed bag of "what to do"....

  16. Will Godfrey Silver badge
    Happy

    It's a lie!

    I haven't got 138000 devices so how could I have lost them all.

    Oh... Er....

    Carry on.

  17. Kernel

    ". My wife, in contrast, just doesn't lose things. It's clearly an issue of a defective personality."

    I'm not sure it's a defective personality so much as a male/female thing - many years of eating my lunch in the park on sunny days has lead me to observe that most women, when leaving a park bench (or any other place they've been sitting) will take a few steps and then turn around to have a good look at where they've just left, presumably to check they've left nothing behind.

    Men, on the other hand, mostly seem to 'grab and go' and don't pause to do a quick scan of the recently vacated spot from a short distance, thus tending to miss whatever it is that they failed to pick up.

    I don't know why there's a difference in behavior - it would seem to be of equal benefit to both species - maybe it's part of living with handbags.

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