Feb 22 2007
It’s A Thankless World
This post was inspired by one of DigitalRichDaily’s. In his post he recounts how his lost wallet was returned to him … sans money.
This reminded me of a time when I was on the finding side of the wallet.
Several years ago I was jogging in the early morning hours. I saw a wallet on the street right next to the curb. Even though there was no one else around I looked around anyway.
There is something furtive and embarrassing about picking things off the street or sidewalks. When I pick up pennies (if they don’t look gross) I wonder if people think I’m cheap. When I’ve picked up a wallet or small purse I worry that the owner will shoot out of nowhere and accuse me of stealing.
I also have a vague “You’re On Candid Camera” fear whereby the wallet is attached to a fishing line and gets yanked away. Ms. Q is not a big fan of either being humiliated or watching it.
I pick up the small green zippered wallet and open it up. It had a 20-dollar bill, driver’s license and credit cards. The owner was a woman.
Based on the location, I would guess that she dropped it while getting into her car. I search through the wallet looking for her phone number. Nothing.
I’d be upset at losing my wallet, especially the credit cards and driver’s license. Even if you don’t lose any money, replacing everything is a hassle.
When I return home I try to see if I can find her phone number online. Nothing.
I have to resort to the old-fashioned White Pages and hope she’s listed. I do find a possible match – the address doesn’t match the license but it’s near the neighborhood I was running in. The first name is initialized indicating it’s probably a woman.
I call. A woman answers and I ask for the name on the driver’s license. Turns out I got the right person and she had no idea she had lost her wallet.
I explain where I found it and mention when it would be convenient for me to have her pick it up.
She tells me that the time doesn’t work for her and could I drop it off at her place.
Excuse me?
I repeat my schedule and she tells me how it’s out of her way, it’s too early, she has a tight schedule.
I reply that I could put it back on the curb where I found it and she can retrieve it at her convenience.
She responds with okay, she’ll pick up her wallet at the time and place I specified.
I tell her to meet me at an intersection in about 30 minutes. Thirty minutes later a car drives up, a young woman behind the wheel. We look at each other. She unrolls the passenger side window. I pass in the wallet. We exchanged a few words and none of them involved her saying, “Thank you.”
Maybe I should’ve kept the twenty so I could have said, “Thank you.”
Wow.. that is just… I think I would have forced a thank you from her, and said something like, ‘Umm don’t I get a thank you for helping you find your wallet? With money in it none the less?’
This may be just an extreme case, I recall picking stuff up when people dropped it in crowded areas, running up to them and having them be surprised and very thankful when I returned them.
Hi, Jakub – I like your site design!
Usually people are surprised and thankful when you point out they dropped something or go out of your way to return an item. I wasn’t about to force a begrudging thanks out of her. She didn’t “get” it – why bother?
You should have just took the wallet and threw it on the ground so she had to get out to get her man wallet
Hey KrazyKorean:
Haha! Well, my photo wasn’t of her wallet, it was the only photo I could find of an open wallet on the ground that kinda sorta worked.
I wasn’t angry about what happened. More surprised and annoyed.
u shoulda told her to f*** off !lol i’d get pissed if someone spoke like that to me on the phone and then didnt even say thank you