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  • Left Behind

    The thread about canes being left behind reminded me of some of my favorite left behind items:

    (1) Bitter cold outside. Temperature outside hit a balmy 5 degrees Farenheit (not sure of the Celsius, about negative my butt hole is frozen shut), and at the end of the day, we have in one of the chairs: hat, gloves, scarf, and winter coat. Now I can see being forgetful, but you think the weather would have promptly reminded the person, and no, we didn't find any frozen customers outside.

    (2) A nickel bag. The customer who found it wouldn't touch it. So I went and retrieved it. By the time the police showed up, I remembered who had been sitting there and had pulled their paperwork. Cops later told me they ended up busting a small ring.

    (3) Birth certificate. It was in our lost and found for about 6 months, and then the father called in. "You have it? Great, we'll come in and pick it up." Another 6 months pass, and I pitch it. Two days later, the mother calls, "I will be in today to pick it up." It's gone. "Gone? How could it be gone? We told you we would be in." Yeah, six months ago. "That is a very important document." That you treated like waste paper.

    (4) Dang it all, I wasn't here that day: women's used panties. Eww.
    To seek it with thimbles, to seek it with care;
    To pursue it with forks and hope;
    To threaten its life with a railway share;
    To charm it with forks and hope!

  • #2
    Quoth Mondestrucken View Post
    (3) Birth certificate. It was in our lost and found for about 6 months, and then the father called in. "You have it? Great, we'll come in and pick it up." Another 6 months pass, and I pitch it. Two days later, the mother calls, "I will be in today to pick it up." It's gone. "Gone? How could it be gone? We told you we would be in." Yeah, six months ago. "That is a very important document." That you treated like waste paper.

    God, the number of times I've had that happen.

    Two quickies off the top of my head:

    1. Folks had us reload Windows on their HP tower. They were moving. Never bothered to leave us a new phone number, address, or any other info. Never made an effort to contact us. After something like 5 months we deleted their data and resold the computer. Naturally, they finally came in 2 weeks later to be informed their computer was sold. I was expecting more of a fight but they were reasonable about it, at least.

    2. Woman dropped off her son's laptop for diagnosis. Needed a screen or something. Way too expensive to fix. Never responded to phone calls. Finally we found an email address in a document on the hard drive and emailed her. She finally came in 6 months later. I told her we were about 3 days away from selling it on Ebay. "You can't do that." she said. "Well, yes we can. We have a sign posted there..." *pointing to a sign stating we reserve the right to recycle computers after 30 days* "Plus you signed this dropoff sheet indicating we had the right to do just that." "Well you can't do that." "YES. YES WE CAN. YOU SIGNED THIS LEGALLY BINDING DOCUMENT." - she took the laptop and left, pretty much muttering that we didn't have the right to recycle her laptop. Read the fine print next time, idiot. I've already told the employees if she comes back in no one is to let her leave anything.

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    • #3
      Quoth Mondestrucken View Post
      (4) Dang it all, I wasn't here that day: women's used panties. Eww.
      <Insert Japanese vending machine joke here>
      I have a...thing. Wanna see it?

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      • #4
        Quoth Mondestrucken View Post
        ... favorite left behind items:...
        One day someone left behind a live parrot in a paper bag.

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        • #5
          My favorite from my library days were car keys. I dunno how those people got home, but their keys were in our lost and found drawer for months. Years, even.
          I am no longer of capable of the emotion you humans call “compassion”. Though I can feign it in exchange for an hourly wage. (Gravekeeper)

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          • #6
            The lost-and-found drawer where I work has a nice collection of eyewear and cell phones, last I recall. I think I saw at least one keyring, too. Wallets, purses, and such get locked in an office safe, and a manager will check for ID/contact info.
            "Crazy may always be open for business, but on the full moon, it has buy one get one free specials." - WishfulSpirit

            "Sometimes customers remind me of zombies, but I'm pretty sure that zombies are smarter." - MelindaJoy77

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            • #7
              Anything and everything was left behind at the motel.

              Nests of dildos and vibrators were left behind. I'm talking at least four separate occasions while I worked there, people left bags of dildos in their rooms. Bonus points for one of the vibrators going off when you picked up the bag and having to fish through to figure out which one was turned on. When I quit, we still had one of those big tupperware bins full of dildos in lost and found. We were collecting them. I'm not really sure why.

              We had a motorized wheelchair left behind. It wasn't in great condition, but still. We let a few guests use it on occasion before it made its way to the local Lions Club.

              Guests would leave suitcases full of clothes and stuff. Like, would you not miss an ENTIRE suitcase?

              Some people moved in with like their own furniture (chairs, nightstands, etc), and then just ditched.

              Quoth Mondestrucken View Post

              (2) A nickel bag.
              I worked at a "Hotel 4+2", so it was a given. Pot, heroin, cocaine...I found a lot of drugs (mostly pot and heroin). Lots of used syringes, too. One guy was a regular, we would never find less than 10 syringes in his room (to his credit, a few were sometimes still unused).
              Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.

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              • #8
                Quoth SixFortyK View Post
                One day someone left behind a live parrot in a paper bag.
                There's a Monty Python Dead Parrot joke in there, but I'm too tired to figure it out...
                It's floating wicker propelled by fire!

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                • #9
                  Quoth SixFortyK View Post
                  One day someone left behind a live parrot in a paper bag.
                  Quoth Pagan View Post
                  There's a Monty Python Dead Parrot joke in there, but I'm too tired to figure it out...
                  Bet you by the end of the day it became an ex parrot.

                  I'm sure there's a Dumb and Dumber joke also to be found.
                  To right the countless wrongs of our days... We shine this light of true redemption, that this place may become as paradise...Oh, what a wonderful world such would be...

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                  • #10
                    It's happened a few times at the library that someone has left a stroller behind - not sure how the customer could have forgotten that. (as far as I know, nobody ever called or came in looking for the said stroller(s), not sure what staff did)

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                    • #11
                      Quoth Mondestrucken View Post
                      (3) Birth certificate. It was in our lost and found for about 6 months, and then the father called in. "You have it? Great, we'll come in and pick it up." Another 6 months pass, and I pitch it. Two days later, the mother calls, "I will be in today to pick it up." It's gone. "Gone? How could it be gone? We told you we would be in." Yeah, six months ago. "That is a very important document." That you treated like waste paper.
                      I can't wrap my head around this. Leaving behind the birth certificate is one thing, not realizing it was missing for six months is another thing. If it is a very important document -- which it is -- shouldn't you make sure you still have it?
                      Eh, one day I'll have something useful here. Until then, have a cookie or two.

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                      • #12
                        One time I found a guitar left behind in a carriage in the parking lot at work. Obviously used and somewhat battered, but it seemed to still be in working order when I strummed the strings a few times (I don't play). I was totally bemused carrying that thing into the store to the lost & found, especially since it was very likely dumped with no intention of ever returning for it.

                        Seriously...you want to get rid of an old guitar, and your first instinct is to drive down to the local supermarket and leave it in a random carriage? Why not just leave it by the side of a road with a "FREE" sign taped to the neck?

                        Weird.

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Quoth Android Kaeli View Post
                          I can't wrap my head around this. Leaving behind the birth certificate is one thing, not realizing it was missing for six months is another thing. If it is a very important document -- which it is -- shouldn't you make sure you still have it?
                          I understand the how forgetting it for six months, what I don't get is after being told it was still there that they didn't go in immediately to get it.

                          I understand because I have no idea when I lost my son's birth certificate and I didn't realize it for 3 years. My husband was active duty military and I somehow lost it when we were in Germany. I didn't realize it because I didn't need it for anything. When he was leaving active and we were moving back to the states was when I realized that it was gone. I was worried about enrolling my son in school, but the school took valid passports so I used that. I didn't have to get another one until 2 weeks before my son turned 15 (he was 9 when I realized it was lost) because my husband had taken a job in another state and his passport is long past expired.

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                          • #14
                            Quoth SixFortyK View Post
                            One day someone left behind a live parrot in a paper bag.
                            What?? What did you folks do with the poor thing?
                            Gah! Animal abuse and abandonment bothers me to no end.
                            Poor lil' parrot!
                            I no longer fear HELL.
                            I work in RETAIL.

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                            • #15
                              I want to know precisely what the person who used the phone kiosk before was doing. I'm sure there was a good reason they left behind a whole bunch of tomatoes on the vine on the top of the phone receiver...
                              The Copyright Monster has made me tell you that my avatar is courtesy of the wonderful Alice XZ.And you don't want to annoy the Copyright Monster.

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