May 22, 2011 23:49
Today as I was walking to lab down the infinite corridor, a man came out of a lounge and asked me where the lost and found is. I didn't know, and after he asked if I was a student, he handed me a wallet that he had found. I told him I'd work on it, assuming it belonged to a student and that a quick search on the MIT directory would lead me to its owner.
But as I walked away and opened it, I was dismayed to find a number of Italian cards-- ID, credit cards, bank cards, all from Italy. This person definitely is not a student here.
When I got to lab, I started trying to see what information I could find. I googled various combinations of information from his ID card: his name, his name and birthday, his name and hometown... and that last one brought me to the page of a researcher. The birthday was listed and matched-- and the logo on the website matched the logo on what I presume to be some sort of university card. There was an email address, and a few hours later I got a reply from someone who had indeed lost his wallet and was staying at Harvard as a visiting professor for just a few more days.
It is pretty amazing that in just a few minutes, you can track down a complete stranger from across the world.
This happened once last year too-- I found a health insurance card. I googled the name and immediately found a facebook page of someone in Cambridge by the same name. Sure enough, it was the right person, glad to have found her card.
Since I once lost my wallet in Europe, and faced a lot of difficulty thereafter (and was saved by my friends' generosity), I was especially glad to have found this person so promptly. I will give him the wallet tomorrow.