Lost and found has it originally uploaded by Quinn Dombrowski
Last week’s poll asked what type of device you use to surf the web. I wasn’t all that surprised by the results with laptop leading and desktop taking up the second most number of votes but I have to admit I was a little impressed by the numbers utilizing tablets already. I guess it was more jealousy than anything ;-)
This week’s poll comes after reading this article in the Savage Pacer where a Savage woman wrote into the paper to thank two young men who returned a purse she lost in a local park. She seemed genuinely surprised that these people returned her things to her in the midst of her calling banks and the police about the situation.
I recently left my iPhone in the Mall of America bathroom. While I immediately noticed it wasn’t on my person and returned to the bathroom to retrieve it, it was already missing. Apparently visibly concerned as I checked my pockets once more, a gentleman entering the restroom noticed me and asked if I had lost a phone. I indicated I had and he said he found it and returned it to the information desk across the lobby. I thanked him profusely and he noted that he had his phone taken from him, and not returned, and wouldn’t allow that to happen to anyone. I tweeted something about how there really are good people left in the world. It’s clear from my experience and the one of the women in Savage above that is definitely the case.
What about you? Have you had anything lost, found by someone else and then returned to you? What do you do when you find someone’s belongings? Do you attempt to track them down yourself or would you bring it to a person of authority instead? Do you believe people are generally good and do the right thing or do you believe it’s just becoming harder and harder to find decent people anymore? Whatever you have to say about this one vote on the sidebar and then comment on below. After you do both of those things feel free to check out our expired polls in the archive or read through the previous posts about polls here.
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January 29th, 2012 at 8:06 am
Check your donation tab for your broken server.
There are plenty of people out there ready to do the wrong thing when they find your phone, but they are still in the vast minority.
I think most of us choose to put ourselves in the shoes of the person who left their phone/purse/whatever when finding something and make the right call. As well, I think it feels a lot better being the “good guy” on that than it ever could make you feel by stealing something and the benefits of getting profit from that act.
January 29th, 2012 at 8:11 am
I recently found a very nice Sony digital camera, in a case, along side an on-ramp in St Louis Park. I drove straight to the SLP PD and turned it over to them – never even fired it up to look at the photos. I then posted some of the particulars on Craig’s List – Lost and Found. I received several emails describing lost cameras and asking if the one I found might be theirs. One inquiry matched quite well. I emailed them it’s whereabouts. Never heard anything further.
(By the way, I could have punched multiple buttons on this survey.)
January 29th, 2012 at 8:19 am
Where I work we get a ton of stuff that ends up as lost & found, including lots of phones, iPods, etc. It always amazes me how much stuff we accumulate. The other thing that I notice is how few people leave any kind of identifying info on their device. If we have a phone turned in, for instance, we’ll call “Home” or “Mom” or “Dad” if those are choices, but if not, there’s nothing we can do with it but hope someone figures out where it MIGHT have been lost. Most times, that’s the case.
January 29th, 2012 at 9:41 am
i think most people will do the right thing. my first thought is “i can get away with it”, human nature i guess. the bottom line is someone for whatever reason goofed up and needs a bit of help.
i hate to agree with anything lefty says just on principal, but alas, i do agree with his post. this time:)
bb
January 29th, 2012 at 10:42 am
C&V, sounds like the product of a stolen purse or similar. The standard MO of purse thieves is to quickly take anything of value, then toss the rest in the nearest garbage can or out the window.
I’m always grateful when I’m on the receiving end of lost & found situations (usually my kids’ stuff). I feel like I go to some pretty extraordinary lengths to return found things to their owners. Sometimes it’s kind of like a little detective mystery. I was walking past an ATM once and found a significant amount of cash in the tray. I figured it belonged to the last person that used the machine and they just forgot it in a hurry. I called banks, the ATM company, etc. trying to see if they could simply look up the last person that used the machine and do a match. No luck. I ended up turning the money into Security.
Anyway, I believe most times people do the “right thing”.
January 29th, 2012 at 11:28 am
I had just left the drive thru at the bank so in the little cash envelope was my ID, check card and $160 cash. I went to Target, made a purchase and went home. When I got home, I couldn’t find the envelope. The next morning I called Target and they said they had the envelope at Customer Service. Someone had dropped it off. I couldn’t believe somebody didn’t take it, with the cash in there. It was only a few bills, a $100, $50 and some smaller bills. They could’ve easily taken the cash and left the rest of the stuff but they returned everything.
Just last night I found a cell phone in a parking lot or a restaurant I was dining at. I returned the cell phone to the front desk of the restaurant and it turned out someone in my dining party had dropped their phone and it was theirs.
However, I had one instance where something wasn’t returned. It was more my fault anyway but I lost an expensive sweater and really expensive sunglasses.
January 29th, 2012 at 11:33 am
In college my buddy Josh found a mobile phone in a parking lot and brought it home with him. I looked in the contacts and found and entry for “Mom and Dad”. I gave it a call and explained the situation to the apparent father of the mobile phone owner. They said they’d be over later to get it.
They arrived and the father thanked us profusely and then elbowed his son and said something along the lines of, “tell them how thankful your dumbass is.”
Heh.
January 29th, 2012 at 11:43 am
I know that I’ve found things and either given it to a lost and found department or in one case I recall tracking the person down. But it has happened so many times I forget the details. Most often it is running something out to someone at the gas station when they leave it sitting on the counter and I notice it after I go up to pay.
Locked phones are a little tough to track the people down. Wallets can be tough as well. My wife and I have found a couple at various sporting events we attended for our kids, or when we were coaching. Usually womans wallets which fell out of their purse when sitting on the grass and cheering on their child. We find a way to track them down though.
I known people that would take the cash from a found wallet and the drop the rest in mail box. I’ve know people that would take the cash and credit cards and throw the rest in the trash. In neither case were those people I bothered to get to know better. My dad lost his wallet once and never got it back. That can be such a pain, that I wouldn’t want anyone else to have to deal with that.
January 29th, 2012 at 12:02 pm
Way back when I was a kid, soft drinks came in bottles that had a cash deposit. I would earn my spending money by scouring ditches and always find more than just the bottles. It became a habit to be very observant wherever I go. I have found numerous wallets in store aisles and along highways, as well as purses and other items. I have always turned them in but always take note that two people see me do it and I ask their names and to verify the contents. That way I know the person I turn it over to won’t just keep it. I have had an advantage in finding things the last few years. I became disabled, unable to stand or walk, so I ride a scooterstore powerchair in the stores and can see items under shelves, etc.
January 29th, 2012 at 6:33 pm
I don’t know that I’ve ever found anything of value, but I’ve lost plenty of things. The two that I miss the most are a drawerful of clothes I somehow forget at a hotel room until I was four hours away and a blue iPod nano whose whereabouts will forever remain a mystery.
On a smaller scale, I lost my favorite winter hat a week ago, but was able to find it by retracing my steps. Thankfully, some nice soul had picked it up and placed it on a table out of the way of skyway traffic, so it was no worse for wear.
January 29th, 2012 at 8:44 pm
Last summer I found a purse in St. Paul with a few hundred bucks in it on the street. Not knowing where a St. Paul police department was, I biked home to it. I brought it to the Minneapolis precinct by my house, but they wouldn’t take it. Said it had to go back to St. Paul.
Then I found the woman on Facebook and sent her a message, but she never responded. I now know it probably went to the bizarre and useless “other” folder that no one checks.
So a couple days later I brought it to a St. Paul precinct. A pain in the ass, and I still don’t know if she got her purse back or not.
January 30th, 2012 at 5:57 am
I wish I had a nice story to tell about that. I left my phone on a gas pump in St. Paul. When I discovered it was gone I called. Lady answered, whispered to a guy I over heard “it’s the guy, it’s the guy” “Ask him what the code is. tell him we can’t give it back without the passcode.”. I told her I could come pick up. “He wan’t to come get it.” “don’t tell him where we live.” I asked if they just return it to the gas station. “How much is the reward.” I said $50.00.. “We want $100″
At that point I sincerely wised there was a feather where I could enter a code and make the explode. Never saw the phone again.
January 30th, 2012 at 9:18 am
Sadly, after reading that, I didn’t need to read further. There was a time when I could drive into the inner ring suburbs or even the cities and not have to pay before I pumped. Once they started doing the pay before you pump I knew I wasn’t in Kansas anymore.
January 30th, 2012 at 1:05 pm
Once found a “manpurse” sitting on a pillar in front of a bus top in Minneapolis. I was afraid to grab it right away and stared several minutes to see that no one was claiming it. After several minutes I made a quick hussle, grabbed it, and continued directly to my car. I poured the contents out and didn’t find a lick of identification and it all appeared to be junk (old eyeglasses, empty pharmacy bottle, chapstick, and stuff that made my hands sticky). When I got home I searched the side pockets and found a stash of over $100. I called the pharmacy with the info from the bottle and asked them to relay my information to that person. Soon got a call back saying it was their Father’s bag. Arranged a pick-up, and all I got was a quick “thanks”. Not sure to this day if I should feel self-rewarded or slighted.
January 30th, 2012 at 1:14 pm
Jerry,
Maybe this person’s father only had $100 as his only money in the world. It seems pretty sad that you expected a reward.
lefty
January 30th, 2012 at 2:18 pm
Never said anything about a “reward”. Maybe a look-in-the-eye thanks would have been nice.
January 30th, 2012 at 2:22 pm
I didn’t realize it was permissible to look someone in the eye in Minnesota.
February 1st, 2012 at 8:35 am
I think the only thing I can recall losing in the recent years would be my phone.. in the middle of Rollag… about the time I noticed I lost it, and hadn’t a clue where it was, one of our friends came by with it.. He found it, and had no clue how to find the owner information. He gave it to his kid to look at, and within about 15 seconds she found out who it belonged to.
Granted that was not in as crowded of place as MOA, but it was in a span of 200 acres I could have lost it.
Good to know people do the right thing, at least some people, some of the time.
Most anything else I lose, it’s because I forget where I put it!
February 5th, 2012 at 7:02 am
[...] week’s poll asked about losing and finding items and whether they were returned. While I was surprised at how my lost item was recently returned I was really surprised at how many [...]