I Am Immunized
posted on april 28, 2004, tag: me
Visited the doctor today to get a tetanus booster. I haven't had one in at least 15 years, so I figured now might be a good time. After all, if I hadn't done it I probably would have stepped off the plane in London and immediately snagged my elbow on a rusty nail and gotten lock-jaw. Speaking of flying, while at the doctor I also got a prescription for a few Xanax to ease my flying. It's funny how even the idea of not being on-edge about flying is making me less edgy.
On the way back to work I found a cell phone in my cab. I picked it up off the floor and took it with me, since I knew if I didn't the next person in the cab would probably take it for themselves with no plans to give it back. I looked in the phone's contacts and found an entry called "Home" and called it.
Bruce, the man on the other line, was ecstatic that I had found his phone and he arranged for a courier to come pick it up from my office. His voice oozed surprise and happiness, both of us knowing full-well that in New York City, the chances of someone getting their lost cell phone back are not good.
Comments
There are 8 comments, comments are closed
Greg on 04/28/2004:
I found a cell phone near a slot machine in Las Vegas. I did the same thing, phone book, Home, call home. A few seconds later I was speaking with a woman and told her that I had found the phone and she explained that her husband was in Vegas for a conference. We talked for a bit more about how crazy Sin City is and how lame brain the owner of the cell phone was. And that was that.
Max on 04/29/2004:
Glad to hear you're so honest. Unfortunately some people are not so:
When I was in New York a-ways back I was walking down the street and a man in front of me dropped his mobile. I went to grab it to give it back to him, but before I could a woman next to me picked it up and ran off.
I was totally shocked by it. So much so that I couldn't even say anything, let alone 'hey, that woman just stole your phone.'
Jonathan on 04/29/2004:
I'm very impressed with your actions Garrett. Your post brings a smile to my face knowing that there really are nice people on this planet.
supercrisis on 04/29/2004:
Too bad everyone isn't that honest. I can't imagine what a person would do with a cell phone that they found, short of maybe pawn it for $40 or something.... but that's about it. Good for you, I'm glad that there are honest people still living in this world.
Sam on 04/30/2004:
A few years ago when I worked for Target we found a cell phone laying on the floor in my department... We were searching through the phone book for their number when the person, who was still in the store, called the phone trying to locate it. She seemed awfully surprised when we answered "Target Electronics department, is this your phone?!"
Travis Cripps on 04/30/2004:
It's heartening to know that there are good people out there. They don't always stand out in the crowd, but where would we be without people like you?
jeremy on 05/02/2004:
Nice one :)
Erik Price on 05/02/2004:
This past New Year's eve we had gone to a club, and frankly I was bombed. The next morning, through the fog of my hangover, I couldn't find my phone anywhere, and it was one of the new full-color jobbies with all the useless features (read: expensive) that I had gotten at an affordable price through an incentive from my provider — in other words, it wasn't something I could replace easily. I had no idea where I'd lost it, but I knew that the slacks I had been wearing occasionally allow things to fall out of the pockets when seated in cars, and figured it'd probably happened in the cab on the way home. I had been sitting in the front seat so we could fit everyone in.
The day after that, I started calling cab companies in Boston, since in a former life I was a transit bus driver, and knew that these places are usually pretty good about running a lost and found — but I was skeptical; I couldn't imagine that someone would turn my phone in. (Actually, from this I discovered that the Boston P.D. runs a central lost and found for all the cab companies.) Of all the luck, it turns out the cab driver had turned it in. I got his contact info and sent him a twenty and a thank you note.
(Though I was sort of shocked they gave me that information; when I was a bus driver my company would never have just handed this over to the public for any reason.)