The “save my seat while I use the bathroom” accordion cafe hack

About once a week, I work out of a cafe rather than at the home office. As you might already know, coffee is a tricky beast that sends you to the bathroom for a couple of reasons. If you’re at the cafe solo, you’re faced with the question “what can I leave at my table to hold it while I’m in the can?”

I could leave a coat or jacket on the chair, but I’m in Florida, where you often don’t have them handy because you don’t need them. That’s when accordion comes in handy: it marks your spot, and accordion thefts, as the joke goes*, are quite rare.

* The joke goes like this: I parked my car in a rough part of town and left my accordion on the back seat. When I got back, my window was smashed in, and I now had two accordions.