Dear Friends,
Losses come in a variety of ways – and sizes. For example, a few weeks ago on my way home at suppertime I stopped at Stop and Shop, like the name suggests, and got dinner. It wasn’t until the next morning, while in my office, that I noticed my wallet was not in my back left pocket where it was supposed to be. My concern was minimal – I figured I had left it on my bureau that morning – not cause for immediate concern.
When I got home that night I immediately went to see if it was there, and was surprised that it wasn’t. It was then that the shock hit. I called Stop and Shop to ask if anyone had turned in a wallet to ‘lost and found.’ “No.” A little while later, in high anxiety, I drove to Stop and Shop to have someone check ‘in person’ while I was there; no luck.
The next morning I went to People’s Bank at Stop and Shop, and talked with a customer service manager who advised me to stop all payment on my debit account, change the checking account and put a lock on savings account. I got a new drivers license and called the credit card folks and closed the accounts and started the process of getting a new Social Security and Medicare card, and health care card, etc. None of that was easy, but, with patience, it was all do-able.
The customer service manager at the bank suggested the store’s security tapes may reveal what happened to the wallet, since I last had it in my hand when I took my Stop and Shop card out at the check-out; I was sure I had left it on the counter. I checked with an assistant manager to ask if they had looked at the tape, as the People’s Bank manager had asked them to, but they had not. I went in three more times and was given a brush-off, so I called the corporate offices, got the right person to whom I told my tale of woe, and she got in touch with the supermarket manager who called me the next day and told me that he had looked at the tape and didn’t see the moment when I left the wallet, saying, “The camera does not stay in one place, it moves, so you don’t necessarily see what you’re looking for.” I thanked him for trying, at least, and accepted the loss.
A couple of days ago I took the mail from the mailbox on my way into the driveway and saw a smallbox with my name hand-printed in bold black marker, thinking it was meds. There was a letter from Social Security, so I opened that first and was disappointed that they had rejected my request for a new card because they didn’t accept the photo copies of identification I had sent.
Then I opened the little box and was stunned to see my wallet, exactly three weeks to the day since it went missing. I was so stunned that I put the wallet back in the box and waited for Lory to come home so she could open the box and look inside as I had done. Everything was intact, including the $92 in cash. The Good Samaritan paid the $2.97 postage. In the bottom of the box, in the same bold blackmarker, was written: “I kept forgetting to send this, sorry.” Sorry? I’m only sorry I can’t say a heartfelt thank you. If there’s any good thing you can do…do it now…you shall not pass this way again.
Frank