Lost & found- affirmations of goodness in many people

[Adventure Girl]

I lost a diamond earring in an aerobics class. (I found the back!!). I filed an insurance claim and before I received the check, someone at the gym found the earring and turned it in to the front desk. I was shocked to get it back! I never found out who found it and returned it!

My husband was on a cross-country motorcycle trip. He left his wallet at a gas station in Colorado. The lady who found it searched through the wallet and called the only phone number she found in it. The number belonged to our insurance agent. The insurance agent contacted me. I contacted my husband. He contacted the good samaritan and retrieved his wallet. The woman would not accept ANY reward. I really don't know what would have happened if he did not get his wallet back. It had all is money, credit cards, ATM and ID! He was 1500 miles from home!!

[Catrin]

11 years ago when I moved to Indianapolis, I left my purse in a shopping cart at Kmart. I didn't notice it for about 20 minutes, went back and of course I didn't find it. Headed home kicking my butt...and opened my apartment door to find it sitting there in the middle of the floor! Someone found it, looked up my address and took it to my apartment manager. The apartment manager put it in my apartment and nothing was missing! The manager checked with me the next day to make certain that nothing was missing, it was all pretty amazing and it happened so fast! I DID go to a small thing at church before going home, so probably 2 hours had passed between losing it and arriving home.

[Kathi]

My SO found a money clip in a ski area parking lot. It contained a drivers license, Amex credit card and $200 cash. Because of the cash we were reluctant to turn it into lost and found so we took it to the local police dept. They called Amex, got the guys telephone no. and called him. He was on his way to the airport with no ID. He had looked for it but gave up. He was able to turn around to get it and still make his flight. The guy made a point of calling and thanking my SO.

On a different note a local shop that I buy my skis and boots from sent me an email and told me how much they appreciate me continuing to do business with them. I live in ski country and could get better deals from many other shops but I know the owners and their service is so good. Last year I bought a pair of skis from them. I paid for the skis but somehow the charges on my credit card got reversed and I ended up owing $0 for the skis. They probably would have caught it sooner or later but I told them immediately about the reversal. I couldn't "cheat" them out of their money.

[VeganBikeChick]

It's so nice to hear about the goodness of others. I lost my wallet last week - pretty sure I left it at a restaurant I picked up takeout from. Have called several times with no luck, even put up an ad on Craigslist with no response. When I called my bank to report my card lost, there hadn't been any fraudulent activity, so I just keep praying that some good soul will find it. In the meantime, it sure has been a pain getting replacements of everything!!

[shootingstar]

I would have visited the restaurant in person to make the query with a piece of paper/business card in hand. Have you tried at least reporting it to the police? You never know.. Make sure you do this. The police aren't looking at craiglist (much).

Catrin, that's cool.
Adventurecycling, impressive. A diamond earring. Now, I would not be good with quite expensive jewellery.

Oh yea, more stories:

*My partner left behind his pannier full of some clothes, etc. in a parking lot. We were finishing a group bike ride. He forget to check on the other side of the car that was giving us a car lift with bikes, belongings. Then 30 km. later, he realized his pannier wasn't there. They drove back to parking lot but it was gone.

Dearie received a phone call a day later. A woman with her child when shopping, picked up the pannier.

So dearie went from Vancouver (cycling), took a 2 hr. ferry ride over to Vancouver Island (where we did our group ride) and biked, then got the pannier back from her. He biked over 120 km. that day.

[Owlie]

My dad lost his wallet in the Dallas airport, somehow. (Luckily, he was on his way home when it happened.) Some kind soul found it, got our address off his driver's license, and mailed it to him, cash and everything still in place. Dad sent him a very nice thank-you note.

More recently, he left his wallet in a hotel room in Boston and checked out. He discovered his lack of wallet when he got to the airport. (They did let him on the plane. How, I do not know. I think he had alternate but unconventional forms of picture ID on him.) The hotel housekeeping found it, and the hotel called his cell phone to tell him they had found his wallet and that they'd FedEx it.

Yes, my dad has a knack for losing his wallet while traveling.

[OakLeaf]

Years ago I was between jobs and, when the end of the semester approached, I went back for a couple of weeks to the college where I'd graduated, to type people's term papers and try to make a few bucks.

This was in the days before ATMs and large chain banks. All my earnings, like $1500 in cash and checks IIRC, were in my wallet. I was couch surfing and didn't really feel I could leave anything valuable in the apartments and dorm rooms where I slept for a couple of days at a time before mooching off another friend.

This was also in the days before cell phones, Facebook and Google. My name and home address 100+ miles away were in my wallet. No local contact information, since I didn't really have any.

I skipped off to church one morning. By the time I came back from services, the person I was staying with had had a phone call from campus security that someone had found my wallet in the grass. I hadn't even yet noticed I'd lost it. They'd tracked me down through the grapevine. Nothing was missing.