Introduction:A customer left a luxury brand handbag worth approximately 20,000 yuan in a %Arabica café. Although another customer found it and handed it over to the staff for safekeeping, it was mistakenly disposed of as trash two hours later. As the owner couldn't provide proof of purchase or an item valuation document, the café refused to review the surveillance footage or offer compensation, sparking widespread public discussion on whether "cafés have a responsibility to safeguard items left by passersby." This article details the incident, presents both parties' statements, and offers practical advice on how to more safely store personal belongings in public spaces such as cafés.

Recently, a netizen shared an unpleasant experience on a social media platform: while taking photos for a check-in at a %Arabica branch located inside a shopping mall, she accidentally left her designer handbag on a seat in the café. When she remembered the next day, she immediately contacted the café’s official WeChat account, hoping to review the surveillance footage from that day to locate her lost item.

However, the staff replied that they had not found any handbag left behind by customers, and stated that since the customer could not present the consumption receipt from that time, according to the café's policy, they could not provide surveillance footage to assist. This left the owner feeling quite helpless and she ultimately chose to report the matter to the police.

After police intervention, both parties were able to access the surveillance videos from the mall and the café. The footage showed that after the handbag was discovered by another customer, it was handed over to the café staff, who temporarily placed it at the bar counter for safekeeping. But surprisingly,after being left unclaimed for more than two hours, the handbag was disposed of as garbage by the on-duty staff just before closing..

According to the owner, the lost handbag was from a well-known international luxury brand, with a market value of around 20,000 RMB. Upon learning that the bag had been mistakenly thrown away, she requested compensation from the café. However, because the handbag was a gift from someone else, she was unable to provide a purchase invoice or valuation proof, which led to the café ultimately refusing to compensate her.

The owner further pointed out that besides the financial loss, she had repeatedly asked the café about the issue afterward, but the staff initially completely denied having received or seen any handbag, leaving her very dissatisfied with the café’s handling attitude. She felt they not only failed to properly safeguard items, but also lacked basic honesty and cooperation.

In response to the staff's denial of having received the handbag, the café explained that due to the shift system, there may have been information gaps during employee handovers. The person in charge emphasized that the staff member who responded to the owner was not the one who handled the item at the time, and therefore was unaware of the details of the incident, leading to inconsistent replies.

This incident sparked extensive online discussion, with opinions among netizens divided. Some believe that although the customer was indeed negligent in losing their item,the staff’s failure to properly safeguard the handbag and their eventual mistaken disposal of it as trash constituted improper handling, and that the café should offer a sincere apology and even bear some responsibility.

However, many netizens also pointed out that since the owner was not a customer at the time and did not actively hand over the handbag to the café for safekeeping, under normal circumstances,a coffee shop has no obligation to safeguard items for non-customers or for items not entrusted to them. In addition, the staff may have mistakenly thought the handbag was trash left behind by a customer and thus disposed of it during end-of-day cleaning.

Industry insiders noted that generally speaking, cafés or restaurants typically do not take long-term responsibility for items left on seats by customers if those items are not actively handed over to the counter or staff. They recommend that customers check their belongings before leaving their seats and avoid leaving valuables unattended on tables. If needed, they can ask the staff to temporarily watch the items or simply take them along when leaving.

At present, as the café has refused both compensation and an apology, the owner has engaged a lawyer to prepare for litigation, aiming to further pursue compensation for losses and seek justice.

The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.