Sometimes I’m at the doctor’s office, at the library, or even at the grocery store and see an unused power outlet. My phone is dying. I feel weird plugging in, but I feel even weirder asking for permission.
If it’s a public place and you have legitimate business starting there for a while, I don’t see any issue with it. Eg. Doctors waiting room and you have an appointment, restaurant and you’re dining there, etc.
If it’s someone’s private home I’d ask first.
A business’s insurance might require all electronic devices to be tested before being plugged in though.
Then those outlets shouldn’t be unlocked
You could probably just skip the whole anxiety issue by buying a portable battery and using that whenever you’re low. If your phone is fully charged at the start of the day and you burn through the whole battery and a mid range portable battery you’re using your phone quite excessively and may need to figure something more reliable out.
I wouldn’t bother asking if it’s a 15 min charge for your phone. If you are there for 3 hours, then maybe consider asking.
My preference would be to ask for permission.
Carry a power strip and you’ll never have to worry. I learned that in the Marines.
Plugging into any outlet that you do not own or have explicit permission to use is stealing electricity. People with Nissan Leafs used to do this to charge their cars.
Now, a phone charger takes so little electricity you could probably pay them a penny and you’d be overpaying, but stealing is stealing.
Just ask permission first.
While I agree with the sentiment that it is technically stealing. No one should worry about charging their phone in public. Atleast in the region of the US I am located, it costs about 1-2 cents per year to charge your phone. So charging your phone for one sitting would be a miniscule amount of money. Just opening the door of the business and letting the conditioned air out would cost them more.
Obviously cars are an entirely different situation since one charge can be several if not tens of dollars.
While I agree with the sentiment that it is technically stealing. No one should worry about charging their phone in public
It is stealing. It doesnt matter if they’re stealing $0.00001 from someone, they’re still stealing from them. If they ask permission, or if the location has an outlet marked for public use, then its no longer stealing. I have seen charge stations in public, and while I personally would never use those due to my question of their security, people can use those too without stealing.
If a person’s phone battery often runs low when they are away from home, that’s what portable battery banks and car chargers are for. If their phone battery dies in the middle of the day, they can simply stop running a million apps in the background and maybe lower the brightness down from “puts the sun to shame” to something more reasonable. My phone battery lasts all day long, and usually I end the day with 30% battery remaining, and its an LG Wing. Not even a brand new phone and it has two screens.
Not rude at all. I wouldn’t even ask for a phone charge.
Just don’t plug your giant bitcoin miner in.
rolls huge server rack filled with GPUs into the doctor’s office
“Yo doc, mind if I plug in for a bit?”
Will you drink a can of Coke™ lying around a stranger’s house without asking? No? Then, ask for permission as a matter of etiquette unless there are signs specifically saying it is ok to use them.
