NEW YORK, NEW YORK...
I lost my wallet in a New York City cab earlier this week.
I know I lost it there, because I remember taking it out to pay the driver, and then putting it back into my pocket.
It must have fallen out as I struggled to get out with some packages and bags.
Over my two decades in NY, I've developed an instinctive habit to look back into the cab's back seat while closing the door. I've almost never lost a thing as a result, especially a wallet.
Yet this time, that habit failed me, and I didn't see the wallet as I got out of the cab.
I noticed it was missing literally three minutes later waiting for the elevator in my building. I ran out, but it was too late...the cab was gone, and I didn't have a receipt with the cab number.
I hadn't felt this stupid in quite some time.
What to do?
I mentally wrote off the $500 plus in cash I'd just picked up for a weekend trip from the ATM. Of greater concern of course were all the credit cards, driver's license and other assorted paraphernalia that accumulates over the years.
The odds of not getting the wallet back seemed very high to me.
Someone could get into the cab next, see the wallet, would have to decide between keeping it, or alerting the driver. Then added in the odds of the driver deciding to keep it or trying to return it.
It seemed like a hopeless hope over a hapless happening.
So I started to go through the inevitable procedure of canceling all the credit and bank cards, applying for a duplicate NY Driver's license online, along with other organizational IDs, and trying to remember what else I had in the wallet.
To my surprise, I was done with all the major, critical stuff, in less than 45 minutes.
The air-conditioning repair guy who was fixing stuff in the building and had heard of my loss in the lobby, was stunned I could get most of the damage of losing a wallet fixed in so short a time.
He asked me how I did all so fast.
"Online", I answered without thinking, as what I'd said just registered with me as well.
I was already thinking about where to go to get another wallet, when the phone rang.
A woman named Karen was on the phone, and said she had my wallet, and would like to return it.
Thrilled of course, I first thanked her, and we arranged to meet in the city.
As I was hanging up, I asked her how she found my phone number, since there was no phone number in the wallet, other than the address on the Driver's license.
"On the internet", was her answer.
Thank you Google, Yahoo! and all the other online services that make such an experience so not a big deal it used to be.
And of course, thank you Karen, for bothering to track me down to return the darn thing.
And no, she didn't accept any kind of reward that I tried to offer, including a contribution to her favorite charity.
So I'm making a contribution to one of mine, in her name.
The whole thing makes you believe in New Yorkers again, and of course makes you take online services a little less for granted.
That's quite exceptional. I expected a different end to the story though: you telling us that it took dozens of phone calls and several hours to undo all what you'd achieved online in 45 minutes:-)
Posted by: Zoli Erdos | Sunday, July 02, 2006 at 10:59 PM