Found Phone Follies
One month ago today, I found a gigantic cell phone on the ground outside the Quarter Lounge. I was walking to work, it was rainy, and I saw it laying in the mud while I strolled down Madison.
At the time, the phone wouldn't even attempt to turn on. The next day, it had dried out and would turn on, but didn't have enough battery life for me to get into the phonebook and try to track down the owner.
I posted a listing on Craigslist and used an email list at my company to try to track down someone with a compatible charger I could use. The Craigslist post only resulted in an email from someone who's son lost a RAZR - despite my clear description of the phone. The search for a charger led me to drop the phone off with a coworker, who took it home believing that the charger she had for her newer phone of the same style would work. Sadly, it didn't - leaving me with a giant phone that wouldn't turn on. Charger-woman also suggested that I swing by a Sprint store, cuz they might be able to help me. I kept meaning to, but just didn't find the time during the busy holidays and all. Eventually, I took it out of my bag and left it in our home office.
This morning, on a whim, I tried turning it on. It turned on and I was able to dig into the phonebook for the first time - pulling out numbers listed for 'My Number', 'Jessica' (speeddial #2), 'Jenna/Dave' (also on speeddial), Amanda (near the top of the list), and a number for a name that matches a guy I had a drunken 1-night-stand with many, many years ago.
I just called 'My Number', fearing it would just take me to voicemail for the crappy old phone. Amazingly, I was connected to a real live person (male), who confirmed he'd lost a big old cellphone. I asked if he wanted it back, and he said 'I guess'. So I gave him my home number, though he didn't have a way to write it down. I told him if I didn't hear back, I'd give him a call again. He really didn't seem that surprised or appreciative that I'd been trying to track him down for a month. Maybe he was just distracted.
A year or two ago, I found a phone and got it back to the owner before he had to get a new one... and he gave me a bottle of wine to say thanks.
Last year, seaoutcast found a driver's license on the ground near Group Health and I used MySpace to track down the person and return it.
I kinda enjoy solving the mystery.
At the time, the phone wouldn't even attempt to turn on. The next day, it had dried out and would turn on, but didn't have enough battery life for me to get into the phonebook and try to track down the owner.
I posted a listing on Craigslist and used an email list at my company to try to track down someone with a compatible charger I could use. The Craigslist post only resulted in an email from someone who's son lost a RAZR - despite my clear description of the phone. The search for a charger led me to drop the phone off with a coworker, who took it home believing that the charger she had for her newer phone of the same style would work. Sadly, it didn't - leaving me with a giant phone that wouldn't turn on. Charger-woman also suggested that I swing by a Sprint store, cuz they might be able to help me. I kept meaning to, but just didn't find the time during the busy holidays and all. Eventually, I took it out of my bag and left it in our home office.
This morning, on a whim, I tried turning it on. It turned on and I was able to dig into the phonebook for the first time - pulling out numbers listed for 'My Number', 'Jessica' (speeddial #2), 'Jenna/Dave' (also on speeddial), Amanda (near the top of the list), and a number for a name that matches a guy I had a drunken 1-night-stand with many, many years ago.
I just called 'My Number', fearing it would just take me to voicemail for the crappy old phone. Amazingly, I was connected to a real live person (male), who confirmed he'd lost a big old cellphone. I asked if he wanted it back, and he said 'I guess'. So I gave him my home number, though he didn't have a way to write it down. I told him if I didn't hear back, I'd give him a call again. He really didn't seem that surprised or appreciative that I'd been trying to track him down for a month. Maybe he was just distracted.
A year or two ago, I found a phone and got it back to the owner before he had to get a new one... and he gave me a bottle of wine to say thanks.
Last year, seaoutcast found a driver's license on the ground near Group Health and I used MySpace to track down the person and return it.
I kinda enjoy solving the mystery.