This is a story about technology-enabled kindness. It starts in Brooklyn, continues in Manhattan, and reaches its happy ending in the South Bronx.
New Yorkers are known to be neurotic. This fact has recently been verified by a study of the geographic distribution of personality traits, so it's pretty much official. And, if you've ever taken a cab in New York, you may know why we are neurotic. Wishing to simply get from point A to point B could become a death wish from hell when the person behind the steering wheel doesn't speak any language you could understand, and goes 50 MPH above the speed limit while exhibiting classical suicidal rage symptoms.
I took one such sanity-defying taxi ride last Thursday night, and at the end of it was so anxious to leave the cab that I left my bag on the back seat. It's a cliché, but all of my life was in that bag: home and car keys, check book, and of course my wallet with credit cards and all. The panic took over exactly five seconds after the cab started driving away and I started running like crazy chasing it and screaming (yes, I am aware of the canine association). I ran a few blocks before it was gone from sight, leaving me standing in a dark corner of Brooklyn, panting, and feeling completely helpless... As soon as I caught my breath it was time to start the phone marathon to cancel all the credit cards. I did not have the cab medallion number, and without that it was clear that my wallet could not be traced.
But this is when this story takes surprising a turn. New Yorkers are neurotic because they expect the worst from people, and so did I. And I couldn't have been more wrong. The first to surprise me were the reps on the phone when I called to cancel the cards while my wife drove us home to the suburbs. All of them genuinely expressed interest, asked me questions, and reassured me that no harm would be done. Then, when I got home around 2am, an email was waiting in my inbox titled "your wallet"! A nice midtown dentist who had gotten in the taxi right after me found my wallet, and emailed me the taxi medallion number. He emailed me from the taxi in real time - "sent from my iPhone" - thank you technology!
The saga was not over yet though, as the cabbie refused to give him the wallet. However, now armed with the medallion number I had something to work with. I went on Twitter and wrote "Please retweet: wallet left on cab number XXXX (medallion number on top) in NYC please DM @signalpatterns if you found it. Thanks". Hopefully my followers will re-post my message, and it will continue to propagate through the social network. I went to bed with the comforting thought that countless eyes will be watching the streets of New York for my lost taxi. Thank you technology - again!
Friday morning as soon as I opened my eyes I reached out for my iPhone laying at the bedside and checked for an email or a reply tweet. No useful info, however some of my Twitter followers had sent me comforting replies suggesting that I try to find an upside in the situation and offered their sympathy. These messages were all from folks I didn't know. What a positive way to start the day - t h a n k y o u - technology!
Long story short, I was able to find the garage in the Bronx where the taxi was located. I drove their twice and eventually got most of my stuff (some of the cards were missing). The wallet saga was a difficult episode: I had to change the locks in my house, make urgent calls in the middle of the night, drive to places I didn't know, and be at the mercy of people I didn't know. Oddly enough though, I remember it as a positive experience. Not that I would choose to lose my wallet again. But the surprising kindness of people (enabled by gadgets and software) really helped sweeten the bitter pill.
Yes, a happy ending. And according to positive psychologists, all those folks who were kind to me are now also happier themselves because of their own acts of kindness - but that's a whole different story...
PS - follow me on twitter!
