The lost (stolen?) and found mobile phone
That was a close one.
About 15 minutes after I got home, I realized that my mobile phone was missed. I turned the apartment upside down looking for it - nothing. It wasn't long before the realization dawned. The phone was probably stolen, probably when I was traveling on the Brown Line (because that's when I fell asleep. And I would have to replace it ASAP, which was pretty damn inconvenient, since I have an assignment in the morning, and I wasn't sure how to go about replacing a stolen phone...
I tried to contact my mom through Skype to try to figure out what to do next. The fact that I was panicking (even while comforting myself that, hey, at least it wasn't a wallet) didn't help. I wound up e-mailing her, for the lack of other options. Feeling defeated, I decided to check all the social networks... Including Tumblr, which is where I saw a whole bunch of direct message alerts.
Turned out tweelore was trying to contact me. Someone picked up the phone on the Green Line. That the person on the other end of the line instructed me to go to 63rd/Cottage Grove 'L' station, and she gave her a number to call. The number looked familiar, and plugging it into Google confirmed my submission - it was one of the CTA's service numbers.
Barely bothering to grab anything, I ran out the door, went to the customer service booth at the 'L' station closest to me, and summarized what happened. The CTA employee got in touch with his 63rd/Cottage Grove counterpart, got my name, the description of the phone, relayed it, and told me to head down there.
It's quite a bit of a distance. Almost an hour and a half there, but at least, once I got there and I confirmed that the phone they presented was indeed mine, she just gave me the phone and I was on my way back.
Part of me is curious why she called Lore. The call history indicated she tried several numbers a top of the contact list, including skybreak_seeker's, then Lore's. Lore is listed as an emergency contact, but so are vladiatorr and my mom. And my mom is listed first. Yet she didn't try calling them. But I suppose that doesn't really matter. The important part is that she called someone who was able to reach me. And if she didn't reach anyone, the phone would have just languished in Lost and Found, because I know it wouldn't have occurred to me to check.
Part of me is a bit annoyed that, when Lore tried to reach me, she chose to do it through the one social network I was most likely to check last. If she sent me an e-mail, I would have found out about it an hour before I did. But I can't really get mad about it, either. Either way, I would've had to go to 63rd/Cottage Grove, and I would have gotten my phone back. Does it really matter when I got there? The end result was the same.
(But next time - I hope there won't be next time, but just in case there is - for the love of all that is holy, e-mail me)
I wonder what exactly happened. Was the phone ever stolen in the first place? Or did it simply slip out of my pocket, and either somebody turned it in or it was picked up during regular checks CTA employees do when a train arrives at a terminal. I was too excited to get my phone back to ask. And i suppose that, too, doesn't really matter.
All is well that ends well.
About 15 minutes after I got home, I realized that my mobile phone was missed. I turned the apartment upside down looking for it - nothing. It wasn't long before the realization dawned. The phone was probably stolen, probably when I was traveling on the Brown Line (because that's when I fell asleep. And I would have to replace it ASAP, which was pretty damn inconvenient, since I have an assignment in the morning, and I wasn't sure how to go about replacing a stolen phone...
I tried to contact my mom through Skype to try to figure out what to do next. The fact that I was panicking (even while comforting myself that, hey, at least it wasn't a wallet) didn't help. I wound up e-mailing her, for the lack of other options. Feeling defeated, I decided to check all the social networks... Including Tumblr, which is where I saw a whole bunch of direct message alerts.
Turned out tweelore was trying to contact me. Someone picked up the phone on the Green Line. That the person on the other end of the line instructed me to go to 63rd/Cottage Grove 'L' station, and she gave her a number to call. The number looked familiar, and plugging it into Google confirmed my submission - it was one of the CTA's service numbers.
Barely bothering to grab anything, I ran out the door, went to the customer service booth at the 'L' station closest to me, and summarized what happened. The CTA employee got in touch with his 63rd/Cottage Grove counterpart, got my name, the description of the phone, relayed it, and told me to head down there.
It's quite a bit of a distance. Almost an hour and a half there, but at least, once I got there and I confirmed that the phone they presented was indeed mine, she just gave me the phone and I was on my way back.
Part of me is curious why she called Lore. The call history indicated she tried several numbers a top of the contact list, including skybreak_seeker's, then Lore's. Lore is listed as an emergency contact, but so are vladiatorr and my mom. And my mom is listed first. Yet she didn't try calling them. But I suppose that doesn't really matter. The important part is that she called someone who was able to reach me. And if she didn't reach anyone, the phone would have just languished in Lost and Found, because I know it wouldn't have occurred to me to check.
Part of me is a bit annoyed that, when Lore tried to reach me, she chose to do it through the one social network I was most likely to check last. If she sent me an e-mail, I would have found out about it an hour before I did. But I can't really get mad about it, either. Either way, I would've had to go to 63rd/Cottage Grove, and I would have gotten my phone back. Does it really matter when I got there? The end result was the same.
(But next time - I hope there won't be next time, but just in case there is - for the love of all that is holy, e-mail me)
I wonder what exactly happened. Was the phone ever stolen in the first place? Or did it simply slip out of my pocket, and either somebody turned it in or it was picked up during regular checks CTA employees do when a train arrives at a terminal. I was too excited to get my phone back to ask. And i suppose that, too, doesn't really matter.
All is well that ends well.