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The Good Samaritan That Recovered My iPhone!
Monday, February 11, 2008 at 11:43AM You won't BELIEVE this! A guy who works in Alexandria, VA, found my lost iPhone on the Metro Friday and wants to return it to me. I had texted my work number out of the blue, to whomever had it, just in case. I covered every avenue I could think of, as I said in the previous entry. Still, I did not expect much. Everyone I knew told me, "Well, I think you saw that thing for the last time."
I get in today, check my phone messages at work, and there is one left by a guy named Daniel on Friday, not even five minutes after I had stepped out to head home that day. The downside was that the message was low in volume and difficult to make out, and when I called the number I thought I'd heard, it was for a hospital, and at that time, I didn't even know his name, only that he got to work at 11 p.m. and could be anyone working in that hospital. My spirits sank. Great news, I thought, but I still wasn't sure if it would pan out. I wondered if since it had been two days, and I'd not gotten the message and called him, he hadn't already pawned it or given it away. Then, just as I am worrying about this, he calls. Throughout three dropped calls on his end, we manage to connect. I carefully record his address, check and recheck it and note his mobile number. I'm picking it up tonight right after work! I can't believe that anyone would be so honest in such a metro area as Washington DC. If it all works out, I'm writing in to the newspapers about this one.
Now here, the story gets even stranger...I was in Daniel's same position 2-3 weeks ago when I found someone's lost phone in our apartment complex, just lying in the hallway on the carpet. A photo of a little girl dominated the phone's wallpaper, and I thought 'Oh no - someone will really be upset that they lost this.' I may not be the most religious person, but I am spiritual, and I knew what felt right to do. I picked it up, took it inside and posted a notice that I'd found a lost phone, and how the owner could reach me and give his description of it. No one ever called, and, after a week, Tim suggested it had been so long that I should probably just turn it in to Best Buy for recycling. But I didn't want to give up hope yet. I decided to hold onto it for a few more weeks, just in case someone should turn up. There it sat beside my computer, untouched, for weeks.
So, today, this same day that Daniel amazed me by being such a Good Samaritan and trying hard to reach me to return my iPhone, Tim calls me and says, "You'll never believe what just happened!" On this chilly Monday, when Tim's car isn't even in drivable condition, and he has no appointments, and no real reason to venture out anywhere, synchronicity strikes. One of the apartment maintenance workers walks up, out of the blue, during those few seconds Tim is outside fetching his coffee cup from the car. He asks Tim if he's found the phone that he dropped the last time he was in the building. Since he regularly works on so many different apartments and in other nearby complexes owned by the leasing company as well, he's not there on a regular basis. THIS is why he never saw the notice I posted. We had wrongly assumed that it was a tenant, and that's why we thought it would be recovered fairly quickly.
Tim said the guy described the phone in detail, and he went to retrieve it for him.
I'm truly amazed that these two occurrences happened on the same day. A skeptic would tell you that these are just two random unrelated coincidences; but I choose to think that serendipity shines on us once in a while, and that if we do good for others in this world, never expecting anything in return, we sometimes get lucky.
Isn't that something though? Wow, that's inspiration for a Monday.
Now, just to be on the safe side, I'm going out of my way in distance to drop by home to take Tim with me, because, good deeds aside, you never can be too careful. It's a long haul from Columbia, in this heavily-trafficked area, to Oxon Hill, MD (which is in Maryland, but might as well be DC for as far as it is). But hey, it's worth not having to fork out another 400 bucks! I may offer him a reward just because I'm really so grateful. Maybe he'll not accept it. Maybe he will. Still, it's cheaper than a new one!
Have any of you had any experiences like this before? If so, I'd love it if you would share those in the comments. I also had a humdinger of one about a month ago. Check out Synchronicity At Work To Merge Us, Lost Friends After 7 Years. I definitely believe there are forces at work in this world that are just as real as you, me and the frustration that comes from Beltway traffic on a Friday evening. Whoever was responsible... God, Buddha, Shiva... I thank him (err...it? her?) from the bottom of my heart.
thatswhatithink
Following up on today's entry, I am happy to report that this amazing citizen met me this afternoon and delivered my phone back to me, completely the same and unscratched. No matter where I go in the world, it gives me joy to know that some amount of good people will always exist. I'm just lucky that out of the hundreds of people who rode the Metro that day, I got the one who didn't decide to keep his find.
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Reader Comments (1)
great to read your experience. our business is based totally on good samaritans and we are constantly suprised how decent people are. we even ofer a rewwad for finders but a big number dont accept the reward - "what goes around comes around"