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Every so often my pessimistic tendencies get a healthy slap across the face by the actions of someone who took the high road when they easily could have chosen
by SI_Rob 7y ago
Every so often my pessimistic tendencies get a healthy slap across the face by the actions of someone who took the high road when they easily could have chosen otherwise.
It's a couple summers ago, at the height of the summer tourist season and I'm cycling up 4th ave SW in DC. Somewhere between the NASA HQ and the National Mall my camera bag - packed full with a fairly new DSLR, a few lenses, and a secondary cell phone - came unbuckled from my messenger bag and tumbled to the sidewalk. Probably a few thousand dollars of gear, not counting the considerable hassle of resetting 2fa and credentials for every possible account that could be tied to my phone (it was password-locked but I have no idea how well that would survive a determined attack).
I was booking it pretty hard trying to catch a metro, so I didn't notice the loss for a couple more blocks. After the only genuinely involuntary (and painful!) facepalm I've ever given myself, I hurried back home (lived in town close by) and immediately started cancelling every account when my main cell phone rang. The bag was waiting for me, all contents undisturbed and intact, in a hotel lobby a couple blocks away. An anonymous samaritan had picked it up, brought it in and gave it to the concierge without a word, then walked away. Concierge called me using my contact info in a business card that was also in the bag.
In one instant, some unsung karmic superhero single-handedly erased the work of several hundred asshole double parking jobs.
- shaneprrlt 7y ago> In one instant, some unsung karmic superhero single-handedly erased the work of several hundred asshole double parking jobs. Perfect balance. Yin and yang.
- j2bax 7y agoTwo karmic superhero's. The guy that found it, and the concierge!
- alexis_fr 7y agoIs it actually legal? In France, a bag in a public place is deemed to be a bomb and the military has to come, secure the area and destroy it. Happens on a routine basis, not even worth the newspapers. You don’t have such laws in Washington DC?
- SI_Rob 7y agoNot sure about such laws, though there's lots of "if you see something, say something" PSA posters around. It's possible the person who recovered it saw it fall, but they didn't explain their actions or even identify themselves.
- Bokanovsky 7y agoIn the UK it's generally the same too. People are always cautious and told to look out for unattended baggage for that reason.
- ldjb 7y agoIt's certainly not illegal to inspect unattended items in the UK. An assessment is typically made of whether or not it should be deemed a threat. If the item is not hidden, not obviously suspicious, and is typical of the environment in which it was found, then it's unlikely to be a threat and can be inspected further. Unattended bags are found all the time. There's no need for the military to be called in for all (or even most) of them. And even then, that's mostly the responsibility of the police than the armed forces.
- ryanlol 7y agoWow, that’s some insane security theater. How often do the bags turn out to be bombs? never?
- retromario 7y agoFrance experienced a high amount of bomb attacks in the 70s and 80s, eventually tapering off in the 90s [1]. The aggressive reaction to unattended bags stems from these events. 1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_terrorist_incidents_in_France#20th_century https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_terrorist_incidents_in...
- djrogers 7y agoAbout the only place that would happen in the US (a bag being destroyed for being forgotten) is an airport. There may be a handful of other places with ‘unattended baggage’ policies, but there is definitely nothing illegal about dropping your bag.
- epx 7y agoSometimes it happens, and sometimes not. I lost my wallet 4 times in total, 3 in Brazil (which is $HOME), 1 in Germany. Got it back 3 out of 4 times. Guess where.
- ratsimihah 7y agoTwice in Germany and once in Dubai?
- nullbyte 7y agoAre you sure you didn't lose your wallet 1 time in Brazil and 7 times in Germany?
- epx 7y agoVeeeery funny >:(
- shpongled 7y agoOof
- rainyMammoth 7y agogood one!(americans will not get it)
- Infernal 7y agoAu contraire mon frere, I always mention BRA71L when I’m up 7-1 in Rocket League
- Trill-I-Am 7y agoWhat is the joke?
- madmax108 7y agoContext: https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/events/2014-world-cup-semfinal-brazil-vs-germany https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/events/2014-world-cup-semfina...
- roenxi 7y agoThere is an interesting selection bias at work. 1) If someone on the street approaches you, they are probably up to something. 2) If you randomly select someone on the street you have probably picked a moral and upstanding person who would love to do you a good turn. Because of (1) people tend to be a lot more defensive than they need to be when assessing what the average stranger is likely to do.
- jjeaff 7y agoThe same thing applies if something gets stolen. Countless individuals have "not" stolen that item. You only take note when it gets stolen.
- ethbro 7y agoI call this the subway train theory. I am nervous with one other person in my subway car. I feel completely safe with 5+ unrelated people in my subway car.
- TylerE 7y agoYou shouldn't. I had my iPhone stolen on a nearly full DC metro train. Thief grabbed it out of my hands just before the doors closed and dashed.
- HeWhoLurksLate 7y agoOuch. Sad anecdote.
- bigwavedave 7y agoIn the Philippines, my companion and I went to an atm to withdraw our monthly support (something of a stipend as missionaries) and my companion was unfortunate enough to hold his in his hands just a little too long before putting it away and it was snatched by some kid who vanished into a sea of people.
- stef25 7y ago
- js2 7y agoI left a MacBook Pro behind in the bin at a security checkpoint at Miami International Airport a few years back. I realized it when I got home, looked up the airport's lost & found number, called them, and they had it. I was shocked. They held it for my dad to pick up.
- reaperducer 7y agoI left an iPad in a men's room at Tokyo SkyTree. Went back 20 minutes later and some random guy (regular guy, no uniform or anything) came out of the men's room and handed it to me. I guess I had that "just lost my iPad" look on my face.
- lostlogin 7y agoI’ve grabbed the wrong Air out the airport scanner. It even had a dent in a similar place. I opened it to check on it as I walked off and the saw it was wrong. The other laptop was just leaving in someone else’s hands. Close call.
- hanniabu 7y agoI was checking in at a hotel in Amsterdam with my suitcase 2ft behind me with a duffel bag on top and my backpack inside containing my laptop. In the 30s it took me from the point where I took my wallet out to the point I was done paying somebody had opened up my duffel bag and stolen my backpack. I just bought that MBP 2 weeks earlier and just finished the hassle of setting it up. TBH, whoever took it deserved it, it was the smoothest thing ever. I had friends with me all standing around and nobody saw it get taken.
- DoreenMichele 7y agoI turned in more than one lost wallet or debit card to a librarian (or similar) while homeless. I didn't want to call them myself or whatever because I was homeless and I knew I was automatically suspect as a thief because of it. So I wanted someone the world would trust/believe to deal with it. Well before I was homeless, attempts to return wallets or found ID cards or whatever were consistently met with suspicion. One woman tried to run from me and my husband on the assumption that we were up to no good for trying to catch her because we happened to see her drop her wallet just before she got in her car. But, obviously, we must have been muggers or something. No other explanation was possible in her mind.
- fortran77 7y agoI am 56 years old. I have never found a wallet or a debit card except one I found a card in a restaurant where I just hand it to a server.
- tlb 7y agoI've found 2 and lost 1 in 49 years. But you'd need more than a couple data points to suggest anything. Let's at least require p<0.05 before suggesting something is "odd".
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- hermitdev 7y agoIve both once lost and found a debit card in an ATM. The one I found was left in a drive thru on a Saturday morning. The branch was open, so I walked in and dropped it off. I have no idea what the bank did after that. I once left mine at an ATM, the bank cancelled the card and issued a new one before I even realized I'd left it behind.
- virgilp 7y agoBut how? Doesn't the ATM eat it up if you don't take it in 30s or so?
- FineTralfazz 7y agoWhile I was in college, there was a summer I couldn't find any tech work and ended up doing property claims for a tour company. It paid minimum wage, but it was pretty fun. What really surprised me was how many valuable items (camera bags full of lenses and an expensive-looking camera, CPAP machines, etc.) we would find with absolutely no identifying information whatsoever. We were able to track down some of the owners, but not all of them. If you're traveling, you should definitely have your name and contact information not just on, but inside your bags. It could come in handy someday.
- njovin 7y agoNot too long ago after a series of unfortunate events I spent the night on the floor of the international terminal of the Atlanta airport. The next morning I (exhausted) was riding the tram back to my departing flight's terminal and noticed a kid left a little dinosaur action figure on the tram. I didn't notice until the next stop. I grabbed the toy, hopped off the tram, sped-walked back to the last stop, and walked through a handful of gates looking for the kid. In the end I didn't find him and left the toy on a counter, hoping he'd find it. The whole thing bummed me out. My own kid's lost a few toys and I know how devastating it can be. Granted I was sleep deprived and emotional, but it put a damper on my day nonetheless. Everyone I know who's worked in restaurants or as a delivery driver tips very well. In my limited experience, teachers make some of the best parents when it comes to student interaction and parent participation. I'd bet whoever found the wallet had lost their own at some point. Empathy is a powerful, powerful thing. I wish that more people would recognize that and work to instill it in their children.
- qxfys 7y agoI live in Sweden. Lost my wallet during my bike to work time in the morning. Not sure why it fell from my pocket, but it might because of the bumpy road due to some construction. As most of the things inside the wallet can be replaced in a couple of days (bank card, and some ID's), I did not worry that much. But, a nice guy from the neighboring office took the high road by calling the contact point of my office, which ended up in my boss hand. faith in humanity restored. :-)
- 2rsf 7y agomy daughter lost her SL card (Stockholm public transport) that had a phone number written on, and on another occasion forget her debit card at the business. Someone called her with her SL card (worth around 100$), and the business kept her card and verified her identity when she called. Clothing items are constantly being lost and left in-place mostly during winter, some might be relatively expensive
- checkyoursudo 7y agoWhen I lived in Germany, I would sometimes notice items placed up on fences, stone walls, the side of a fountain, etc. Things like keys, or a small child's toy, or a hat, for example. I asked a couple different friends about this, and they said that often when people see something that looks like it was lost, they will place it up somewhere more conspicuous right be where they found it, so that hopefully whomever lost it can more easily find it. I always thought that was a little bit of a nice touch of humanity, even if it doesn't take a lot of extra effort to do.
- pflenker 7y agoAnother reason why people are doing this is to protect it from getting "even more lost". An item sitting on the road might be picked up by dogs, kicked away by mistake, or get dirty from people stepping on it. Putting it on the nearest fence puts it out of harm's way.
- mring33621 7y agoWe do this in my Chicago neighborhood. Often it's gloves, mittens or hats, but once a big set of keys sat on my fence for a week.
- Al-Khwarizmi 7y agoA few weeks ago, my partner and I, together with our 1-month-old baby, were rushing to a courthouse as she needed to do some paperwork for a case she's involved in. We were under high pressure as the courthouse would close in like half an hour, but our son was especially hungry that day and we had to stop several times to feed him, etc. In one of these stops, probably due to the stress and rush, we left her handbag behind. We noticed when we got to the courthouse (with around twenty minutes left until it closed). This not only implied losing her credit cards, house keys, healthcare card, some money and her phone, but also her ID card which was needed for the paperwork in court. The deadline for the procedure was the next day so we might still have a chance by going to the police and asking for a temporary ID or something, but I'm not even totally sure it would be possible, and in any case it would have been an absolute mess and we would have spent the next morning running here and there. One or two minutes after we realized the handbag was missing and we were feeling like crap and powerless to do anything, my phone rings. Someone had used my partner's phone [1] to call her mother (because "Mama" is usually a reliable contact, I guess) and she told them to call me. I met the finders in a nearby square five minutes later. They returned everything, and refused any compensation. We completed the paperwork in time that day. They will probably never know how big a favor they did to us (of course returning cards, phone, money, ID, etc. is always a big favor, but in this case it was even more important than normal due to the court issue, having very little time due to a newborn baby, etc.) and how grateful we are. [1] In case you are wondering, indeed she didn't have her phone locked with a PIN number, pattern or similar... I know, this goes against every security recommendation. It's just laziness. In this case, it probably helped by accelerating the return, though.
- kieckerjan 7y agoA found a phone a couple of times. Calling "mama" always works! :-)
- tialaramex 7y agoOn a current Android (presumably iPhones are similar) you can set information and a list of contacts, when somebody picks up a locked phone they can pick emergency and then either: Make whatever the local emergency phone call is (112 or 911 whatever) which will work if the phone can figure out any way to make that call (e.g. it works if you have no credit on a PAYG phone or the "right" network isn't available) OR Display the information and list of contacts, then make calls to any of the contacts just as if the phone wasn't locked by its owner. I wouldn't expect a random person to necessarily know this will work, but I expect police lost+found departments know it exists and maybe other types of emergency responder would know or at least won't be scared of pressing "emergency" on somebody's phone. Mine gives my first name, and contacts for some close friends.
- erikbye 7y agoWhy is every top comment on HN a personal anecdote?
- phendrenad2 7y agoA lot of people don't want to become a criminal by taking a bag that doesn't belong to them. Not exactly shocking.