Lucky Me

I may be the only person in recorded history to have lost a cell phone in a taxi and get it back. While in San Francisco on business last week (part of the reason for the recent blackout in postings here), my phone popped out of its cradle while I was in a taxi from court back to my hotel. I realized it once I got to my room. My head immediately swam with dark thoughts about how much it would cost to buy a new phone and how complicated it would make the rest of my day, which involved flying home, then driving down to San Diego to join the family at a vacation already in progress.

Thankfully, because I was traveling on business, I had collected a receipt from the driver. A taxi receipt isn't much more than a slip of paper smaller than a business card that has blanks for date, amount, route, etc. Crucially, it also has the name and telephone number of the cab company. Since I never look at or care what taxi operator is providing the ride, I would never have been able to figure out whose taxi I used.

I called the operator of the cab company. He eventually was able to figure out who the driver was, and they delivered my phone back to the hotel.

Of course, the story can't have a completely happy ending; I had to pay for my phone's solo ride from the financial district back to my hotel.