Lost My Wallet

teflon6string · Oct 14, 2012

Im pretty careful about stuff, but it was a careless moment. Paid for parking with a Visa card, dropped the wallet onto my backpack in the passenger seat, went and parked near a half-dozen homeless wagon trains, grabbed the pack and hustled across the bridge to the salt mine where I work. All in the dark. Felt like ice water in my veins when I saddled up at my desk on an empty back pocket.

Long story short (and a fast sprint back to my car), I found it. I was super lucky it fell inside my car between the seat and the door. Not out in fair game territory.

This was just 4 days ago. My life could involve numerous pains in the buttocks right now, canceling or replacing ODL, credit and debit cards (one each), two concealed carry permits, military ID with my SSN on it, phone numbers, and strong passwords for a dozen work related things.

Suddenly a couple hundred bucks also tucked in there was the least of my worries. That was a VERY uncomfortable 15 minutes while my mind raced through all the possible scenarios.

Anyhow, Im putting together a scramble list to keep at home, and locked up at work. Itll have copies of everything in my wallet, and numbers to call if I have to perform damage control.

Any other ideas here that I (we all) should think about to minimize the negatives in a similar senile moment?

Solomon · Oct 14, 2012

It's a good idea. Having a complete copied set of your keys is important too.

longcolt · Oct 14, 2012

A few years ago I found a wallet in the street back of my office. Lots of cash and credit cards. I managed to find out the phone number of the guy that owned it, called him and I thought he was going to cry he was so happy. Offered me a nice reward and I just told him to pass on the favor some day, refused the cash.

The aggravation of replacing all your ID and credit cards is more painful than losing the cash, usually. Glad you found your wallet in your car.

johnnydwoods · Oct 14, 2012

I've found several iPhones within the last year. One of them was in a shopping cart which I grabbed at the front door of a store, and the other was sitting on my table at a restaurant under a napkin (the table had not yet been cleaned and it was happy hour). Both times I called numbers listed and was able to find the owner.

Be careful with cell phones too. It seems like most of us don't have our contacts backed up or written down anywhere else. That can be a huge hassle to replace. Plus, there's usually a lot of other personal stuff on those phones and apps which people can tinker with...

Cheesemaker · Oct 14, 2012

This is something that we all tend to forget about doing. I for one am guilty thinking that It'll be fine, I've never lost my wallet or my cell phone. But you see it everyday. People loosing their wallets, only to have their credit history and identity stolen. And the nightmare it costs them the rest of their lives. And with today's mentality on social media, they are absolutely careless about what is on their phones, and all their access to pictures, and passwords. Too many people's lives have been ruined by having inappropriate pictures on their phones of themselves or significant others.

I found a wallet once along the hwy, and I looked inside to get a name so I could find the other. Called her, and made arrangements to meet up with her, since she lived in the valley, and I lived on the coast. She was pissed that I looked into her wallet. She then wanted me to drive all the way out to Gresham to deliver it to her. I told her that I would take some of her cash out and use that to mail it back to her, and she went irate, and then said she would be down tomorrow to get it then. I was pissed at how ungrateful she was to me. I could have just took the money, used her cards to buy whatever I wanted, and tossed it all to the trash. But no, I did the right thing, the same thing I would want somebody to do for me.

And I hate that not knowing feeling, your heart sinks to your feet, and you just panic. I always double check things. Just like making sure the keys are in my hand before I lock the door. Or making sure you didn't forget your wallet just before you get up to the check out line in the store.

teflon6string · Oct 24, 2012

Cheesemaker said:
...And I hate that not knowing feeling, your heart sinks to your feet, and you just panic. I always double check things. Just like making sure the keys are in my hand before I lock the door. Or making sure you didn't forget your wallet just before you get up to the check out line in the store.

Me too, Cheese, I can't even watch someone else lock their car without patting my own pocket to feel for keys. So I was more than a little disappointed in myself for being in such a hurry - and careless.

I've made a central list of important cards, numbers and phones that I keep near my desk now. If Murphy's Law really exists, then I should never need it, right?

As far as paying to park in the dark... I leave the car in drive with my foot on the brake and make sure no one is nearby when I stop at the machine (it's a pretty desperate area - another reason why I don't leave valuables visible through the windows). I retrieve the card, put it back in the wallet, and make sure it's at least in my shirt or jacket pocket before I climb out - then move it to my back pocket while I hustle to the office. Tossed onto the seat in the dark, it might as well be out on the hood and save me a broken window once the sun comes up.

This is not to be a "nervous nelly" about things. Just precautions to avoid a massive pain in the *ss if my important stuff ever disappears for real.

Sorta like the automatic safe habits we all try to maintain at the range with weps. Consistency.