Bonnie and her kids came for a visit this weekend. (Another post and pictures to follow of course!) We had been having a lovely visit until Friday night. We had spent the afternoon going to my work to pick some stuff up, and at a variety of stores in a pretty large shopping center close to my house. We ended the day at Mimi's Cafe for some dinner. We were driving Bonnie's car all weekend, but I was the one driving because I know my way around the city better. I walked out of Mimi's a bit after 8 pm and dug around in my purse for the keys as I walked towards the car. Upon arriving at the car, I noticed Bonnie's tire seemed a little on the low side, so I checked it out a little bit, walked around the other side of the car (for comparison purposes) then ended up getting in the car and driving a short 5 minutes home. As I pulled into the driveway I realized my purse was missing. I searched thru the car a bit but began getting panicky realizing that I must have just put it down in the road by the car? Bonnie and I left the kids at my house and immediately drove back to the shopping center. It's a busy center, but Mimi's is kind of tucked to the far back corner where there is not much action going on. Bonnie seemed sure that we would pull up (not even 15 minutes after originally leaving the restaurant) and see the purse just kind of chillin there near where we had parked and I had possibly set it down. But no such luck, it wasn't there. I checked in the restaurant, yet nobody had turned it in. We began using Bonnie's phone several times to call my phone. Maybe a nice person found it and is planning on taking to the listed address on the driver's license? Nobody answered though. As I sadly got in my car, Bonnie had the idea that maybe as I had pulled up to the gate of my community, that maybe the purse had fallen out of the car as I opened the door and typed the gate code in (I had been driving most the day with my purse tucked nicely between myself and the car door. We called Aubrey and had her walk down to the gate, yet she found nothing. :( We got back home, I took the pups for a walk, then Bonnie told me that it was probably time to start canceling credit cards. Afterall, I did lose my purse in a parking lot connected to Walmart with my I.D. readily available to whoever had it.
Unfortunately, not only did my purse hold my wallet, but my phone, my only key to my car, my school keys (that was going to be fun to explain), and my camera.
So we spent the next while canceling cards and calling locksmiths in the area to take care of the car situation. Meanwhile, we continued to call my phone in hopes that someone had just found the purse, and would eventually answer it. We let the kids go swimming, and as we sat around the pool, Bonnie decided to text the phone, saying it was lost and please contact her if it was found.
As the night continued, the whole thing just seemed too weird to me. I had no idea why I would have just put my purse down in the middle of the parking lot and how in that short short time the wrong person would have come across it. But if someone nice had found it, wouldn't it be obvious to them that the person calling the phone over and over again was probably the owner of the lost possessions?
A friend of Bonnie's suggested sending out a "reward" text for someone who returns my stuff. So around 11 oclock that night we sent a text saying "reward if found." No more than 5 minutes later we got a response from someone in my neighborhood saying that they had found it at the gate! I don't know why he waited so long to contact us, and he wouldn't take the promised reward.
I looked through my stuff and everything seemed to still be there. Then on closer look, I discovered that I had several gift cards in my wallet that were now missing. Weird thing to take, but getting everything else back seems a small price to pay.
Unfortunately, it looks like the purse might have gotten a bit run over as well. Maybe I did it after dropping it in the first place? I had a busted (and sticky) lip gloss, a pen in pieces, and the saddest news of all. . . my beloved favorite camera. . . may it rest in peace. :(
5 comments:
I never heard about the gift cards! That is sad! Dont you know where this fellow lives now? Maybe he wouldn't take the reward because he rewarded himself with the giftcards. Very sad! Glad it all worked out in the end though! Oh yes - I hope you keep tally of your credit card purchases for a while - just in case he wrote down the numbers and have been rewarding himself with some credit card purchases online :)
hmmm didnt think of that. . . ubt i think when cards were canceled, all numbers are changed . . . few :) Besides pier one, what other giftcard? bummer
I am glad you got your purse back and what a weird chain or events and why take gift cards and no reward. Maybe, he found it after the gift cards had been taken??? I know- naive. I just hate when I do things to myself that make my day/life uncomfortable. Love, Aunt Gail (PS- thanks for visiting with us last Tuesday. It was fun being with you and seeing your new place.)
So crazy! I am glad you got it back even it was missing a few things.
I can't believe it took him so long to give your purse back. And I think you handled the situation a lot better than I would have. Sorry to hear about your camera though.
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