October 13, 2006
None of the Old Ladies Wanted to Cross The Street
filed under: Stuff you never, ever needed to knowSo I'm parking my scooter by the Harmony Playground, to meet Lisa and Max after work today. A guy goes by on his bike, with TWO kids on it with him - one in front of him, one behind - and as he goes by me his wallet flops out onto the pavement. I call after him, but he doesn't hear me.
In retrospect, I should have just jumped back on my scootch and gone after him - I probably could have caught him in a few blocks. But I went to check in with the fam first, then looked through the wallet for an address (I also ducked into the playground to avoid the attentions of the two homeless dudes who saw the whole thing go by, who had their own opinions on what should happen to the wallet).
Anyway, the address on the Driver's License was on our street, and I nipped over on the scooter and found the guy still getting his kids inside. He didn't even know the wallet had been gone, and goggled at me for a while before he realized what had happened. He thanked me profusely, his older kid said some hilarious stuff about cheese pizza and, mysteriously, that he would "see me in the morning" (?!) and I left.
The guy's stunned reaction and some reactions I've heard since - congratulating me on taking the wallet back - have left me wondering: Is there really anyone out there who *wouldn't* take a wallet back to somebody?
Plus, CoolTools had a fun interactive poll today that I wanted an excuse to try out. So, here:
Posted by rjt at October 13, 2006 07:12 PMYou can't have an actual memory of this, of course, because you were 2 months old at the time, but when we were camping in Canada we went to the beach and on the way my wallet fell out of the diaper bag where I'd put it while gathering all the stuff I needed for you and the older guys and the dog at the shore.
The wallet had all the cash we needed for the trip plus credit cards (though not as many as there would be now, given that credit cards were still fairly new in the world) and when I discovered that it was gone, your father stayed at the campsite with you while the other four of us went frantically back along the trail to look for it. No luck. Disaster loomed!
We went to the ranger station where one registers for a camp site to report it missing, and the ranger smiled beatifically and handed it over. A teenaged girl had found it and brought it straight to the ranger station. Her parents wouldn't let her take a reward even.
That trip went badly wrong later, but it nearly got ruined that day for sure! And the wallet remained with us miraculously TWICE!
So the first answer is definitely the one all of us would pick!
Posted by: Procrastimom at October 13, 2006 07:30 PMWhen I was around 6 or 7 years old, I found a wallet in a park by my grandparents' house. I brought it to my mom and we mailed it to the owner, all contents intact, along with a note explaining who found it. The guy sent me back a ten dollar bill and a thank you note. I used the ten dollar bill to buy my first 45 rpm single (Kenny Rogers' The Gambler/Coward of the County). I think that opened the floodgates for my media-buying addiction. It always feels so rewarding when I do it, hence, several thousand CD's and hundreds of albums and DVD's for me; and my kids go to public school and I drive a crappy Saturn!
The Moral? You should always return a wallet, it builds character.
And truly, R.J., character is all!
Your very proud Mama-San
This story would have been better if the guy had been single and you returned the wallet and he said "these aren't my kids" and you said "my friend Kate is single, and now you have money to take her on a date."
Posted by: beeg at October 16, 2006 02:06 PMSure - I didn't even mention that he was a tall, good-lookin' fella, with a British accent, did I? Or am I just teasing you now...
Posted by: rjt at October 16, 2006 06:20 PMI will keep an eye out for Kate. But given my track record, perhaps, in this case, it is the thought that counts.
Mama-San
PS: Maybe your bloggies can keep an eye out for both of us: Kate is young and lovely; Mama-San is older and well, older. And now R.J. has a dating service blog feature!