During a recent weekend trip downtown I accidentally left my cell phone in a taxi. Maybe not the end of the world, but it would require a potentially costly and certainly aggravating and time-consuming set of steps to fix. The next morning, when I discovered that the phone was missing, I dialed the number and, sure enough, there was an answer. I assumed that someone had found it and was running up the minutes before I had a chance to turn off the account. Instead, I was pleasantly surprised to find that the cab driver had found it (maybe a passenger found it for him, I didn’t ask) and, after calling the cellular provider, directory assistance, and the police (trying to return it) had resorted to leaving the phone on hoping I would call. When we talked, he offered to bring the phone to the hotel where I was staying, which he did.
I might just be cynical, but this seemed remarkable. I thanked him and gave him a small reward, which he initially didn’t seem comfortable accepting, but I was not going to let him go without a reward. After he left, I checked the memory, which keeps a log of about fifty of the most recent calls made, to see if he had called any outrageous numbers, but he hadn’t. No 900 calls, no international calls, no bunch of local numbers to check with friends or family to decide if he should keep the phone or return it. Basically, he was just an honest guy. One wishes that were the norm, but it’s all too rarely the case.
My only other comment: If you ride in Cab No. 3309, tip big!
