Finding things People Lost?

[ultrarunner]

Finding/Returning Lost Items...

I tend to come across things people have lost... some as part of my job at the Hospital and some by being observant or happenstance.

I will exhaust all avenues to return lost items... but surprised many don't

Last week I found a key ring with an expensive car key, house keys, etc... it had a Gym Membership tag... called the Gym and asked if they would contact the owner and let them know I found their keys... and it worked.

Reunited a lot of owners with lost cell phones too.

Is it that people are just too busy to be bothered or really not wanting to get involved?

My thought is I would hope someone would go to the trouble if I had lost something.

I can understand the part about not wanting to get involved...

A couple years back I found a cell phone that the entire State of California Law Enforcement was looking for... it had been stolen during the car-jacking of a highly placed elected official... finding he phone meant I had to appear in court to testify as to how it came into my procession...

Even having to go to court I would still have turned it in because it is the right thing to do...

 

[2LaneCruzer]

Finding/Returning Lost Items...

I tend to come across things people have lost... some as part of my job at the Hospital and some by being observant or happenstance.

I will exhaust all avenues to return lost items... but surprised many don't

Last week I found a key ring with an expensive car key, house keys, etc... it had a Gym Membership tag... called the Gym and asked if they would contact the owner and let them know I found their keys... and it worked.

Reunited a lot of owners with lost cell phones too.

Is it that people are just too busy to be bothered or really not wanting to get involved?

My thought is I would hope someone would go to the trouble if I had lost something.

I can understand the part about not wanting to get involved...

A couple years back I found a cell phone that the entire State of California Law Enforcement was looking for... it had been stolen during the car-jacking of a highly placed elected official... finding he phone meant I had to appear in court to testify as to how it came into my procession...

Even having to go to court I would still have turned it in because it is the right thing to do...

I don't see how you could go wrong. I try to do the same.

 

[ultrarunner]

A friends wife lost her purse in SF... it cost $1200 to re-key two cars and the house...

Turns out it was sitting at the parking garage attendant booth for several weeks...

A new employee was cleaning out the booth and was going to toss it and found the ID... everything was there including cash... apparently no one had attempted to call except the new guy cleaning up.

Last time I was away from work... when I came back there were several keys and a phone... I asked had anyone tried to find the owners... was told they knew I would when I got back.

More than a few times I have taken the address and stopped by to return a purse or ID...

Cars are more challenging... often takes more detective work... finding a receipt or something else to indicate ownership... be surprised how many cars end up in Hospital Parking lots... Towing is easy but costly plus the risk of damage.

 

[Wagtail]

One time, whilst living in Sydney, I went to use a banks ATM and discovered a debit card still in the slot. I called the 1-800 number (on the back of the card) to report that I'd found it so that when the owner called to cancel their 'lost card' to have them call me.

Sure enough, later that day I received a call from the son of the elderly lady who'd forgot her card. He swung by my place, with a box of chocolates, to retrieve it that evening. All's well.

 

[oosik]

I think once I found something lost - set of car keys - turned them over to a Mall Cop. My biggest problems over the 35 years living out here is loosing stuff I drop when working on equipment, vehicles, etc. And darned if it isn't normally "one of a kind" stuff - so you have to make a trip all the way in to the dealership to get a replacement.

You know what I mean - a nut, a bolt, a special retaining ring, a washer or O-ring. Once dropped in the grass, they seem to be lost forever. Well, about five years ago I purchased a cheap metal detector. By golly, now if its metal - I stand a whole lot better chance of finding it.

 

[Birdhunter1]

I saw something odd looking on a highway once, it caught my interest enough to stop and walk back to see what it was.
Turns out it was a wallet on a Friday afternoon, the guys paycheck was in it as well as about $200. I didn't know the guy but knew the address and had a good idea that missing it would be very detrimental to their household. I stopped by and the guy was beside himself near his truck trying to figure out where his wallet was, it was his first check from a new job. That guy greeted me and shook my hand every time we came across each other after that.

Phones, wallets, keys.... I've been apart of reconnecting alot of them with their owners, what surprises me are the ungrateful ones that are mean and snoody about it. They wanted me to bring their phone to them and were mad when I gave them directions to the office. Finally just gave it to the cops.

 

[ultrarunner]

^^^ I had that with a cell phone once...

It rang and I answered it and it was the boyfriend and he became unglued that man was answering his "Lady's" phone...

He insisted on coming to the Hospital with her to check things out... very strange.

I had found the phone in the nearby park and brought it to work with me.

99% are most grateful...

Found a dog... well a neighbor found it and had called animal control...

Friendly enough and it had a phone number... called it the guy was nearly in tears... said he had been looking 3 days and he owned a prominent SF Bay Area company... rushed over and what a reunion...

Refused a reward and he gave me his card and said if I ever needed anything from his company to call... too bad because I had recently finished a project... but I still have the card...

They were out hiking the trails about 2 miles away and got separated...

Figure what goes around comes around.

 

[two_bit_score]

Have you ever been hesitant to turn something in to the management of the location it was found because you didn’t think it would ever get back to the proper owner?

 

[buckeyefarmer]

Found an Iphone in my yard, along the road, was able to track owner down.
Found debit card in ATM outside a bank, took it inside.
Had a person stop by looking for a lost dog, had a reward, saw the dog in field across the road later as i was mowing my yard, stopped, went in house and called them. Dog was gone when i went back out. They came and looked. Dont know if they found it.

 

[4get gto]

Have you ever been hesitant to turn something in to the management of the location it was found because you didn’t think it would ever get back to the proper owner?

Stayed at a motel in Virginia last year and talking to the manager in the parking lot. Said he made out better with the stuff that gets lose or left behind than he gets paid. Hard to look at the guy after that. How the topic came up is after I found a 5 dollar bill laying in the parking lot. He took it ,put it in his pocket. His face didn't even turn red. Didn't know what to say! Wasn't expecting that.

 

[ultrarunner]

Have you ever been hesitant to turn something in to the management of the location it was found because you didn’t think it would ever get back to the proper owner?

It has happened to family staying in nice Hotels...

Last time it was Newport Beach CA... went down for a wedding and had a great time... my cousin with with us and about 20 minutes after we checked out she remembered she left her clutch bag on the vanity counter... turned around and was in the room an hour later... bag was gone... housekeeping didn't know anything about it???

Very strange for it to just disappear from a locked room in less than an hour...

 

[smstonypoint]

I somehow managed to lose a key fob with the keys for my B2320 and my ZTR mower back in June. The key fob is orange and has the Statesville Ag and Turf logo. Let me know if you find it.

Steve

 

[ultrarunner]

Will do... can't emphasize enough how much help it is to have some way of identifying lost objects...

Even something as simple as Gym membership locker key was enough for me to return keys...

This morning I have a drawer full of keys... many have expensive remote key fobs for cars... not cheap to replace.

 

[mjarrels]

Found a $20.00 bill on **** river bridge leading into Olongapo City Philippines. Probably 20,000 people cross that bridge each day!

mark

 

[k0ua]

I found a hundred dollar bill laying in the middle of the street in Texarkana. Right in the middle, and that is the state line between AR and TX. A coworker stepped over it and I bent down and put it in my pocket. If it had been a wallet I would have returned it to the owner, but since the only name on the bill was Benjamin Franklin, and I know for a fact he is dead now, I figured it was mine.

I found two wrenches in a ceiling of a commercial building while pulling cable. They had been there for some time by the dust on them. I still have those too. But I would certainly return someones wallet or keys or ATM card if I could figure out who they belonged to or who to give them to. But tools left in a ceiling or money blowing in the wind on a street is mine by definition.

I have lost tools too. I hope someone is enjoying them. OH, I found a fishtape in a ceiling too.. I still have it also.

 

[PILOON]

Driving on a side road I spotted some tools on the pavement.
Wife thought I was nuts but I did retrieve a 3/8 ratchet, 6" extension and 2 sockets.

Buddy was renting out parking spots for local events when next morning he walked the area to clean up the mess the clients made.
He picked up a wad of cash in the grass, $3000.00 that nobody ever claimed.

Theory was that since it was a rock concert event the wad was probably a pushers take.

 

[k0ua]

Driving on a side road I spotted some tools on the pavement.
Wife thought I was nuts but I did retrieve a 3/8 ratchet, 6" extension and 2 sockets.

Buddy was renting out parking spots for local events when next morning he walked the area to clean up the mess the clients made.
He picked up a wad of cash in the grass, $3000.00 that nobody ever claimed.

Theory was that since it was a rock concert event the wad was probably a pushers take.

I wondered that about the bill I found in Texarkana. A pretty rotten drug infested place. In my opinion. If I never go back to Texarkana, it will be too soon.

 

[rox]

I hardly ever find anything that has been lost, my eyes just don't pick up on it. Years ago I was at a big Greek Church annual Greekfest, they brought in carnival rides & everything & I took my kids on a Tilt-O-Whirl and found a man's wallet with quite a bit of cash in it. I turned it into the off duty cops who were working the event. That must be 30 years ago now and I don't think I've ever found a single lost thing since.

 

[ovrszd]

My wife found a women's leather high lace boot in an old Gold/Silver mine site above treeline in Colorado a few years ago under the rotted floor boards of a bunkhouse. She put it back so someone else could enjoy finding it. She struggled with the find until I asked her what she thought a woman would be doing up there? She hesitated for moment with a thoughtful look on her face, then said "Ohhhhhhhh".

 

[/pine]

This past spring a friend of mine was working in his garden and he found half a gold necklace with gems that appears to have gotten cut and turned up with his tiller...it is high quality gold and marked "Tiffany & co."... just the gold part of what he has is worth about $500...he has been looking for the other half since...
He bought a cheap metal detector from a pawn shop with no luck...he asked me to bring the detector I have over and look for it...have not got over there yet...