Yes I appreciate that I'm disconnected. My issue is that .on() continues to work as if I'm connected for the client who is originating changes locally but that all other clients are blind. I think the app developer should be able to choose that .on() only triggers once firebase really calls back.

In addition, it should be possible to create a safety net using localStorage so that unsynced data can be saved and put back into play after a page refresh. So I think this problem is very fixable.