At public electric vehicle charging stations, do you have to stay by your car?

I see those Tesla charging areas (8–10 spaces in a row) at parking lots near me. People drive up, plug in the charger, and wait.

How does this work? Does the driver need to stay in the car for the duration?

Can charging continue even if a person isn’t nearby (maybe in a store or office)?

What’s to prevent a bad person from pulling the charging cable out of the receptacle?

How does a person know when the battery is ready to be used?