In Case of Emergency...

I was in Baltimore last week for a conference. This is not unusual - I travel on business once or twice a month. What was unusual was that I chose to fly back on the last day of the conference, rather than spending another night and flying home the following day. I did this for a couple of reasons having to do with my fiduciary responsibility to my company and a desire to get home a day early. But now I remember why flying home the next day is my custom.

By the time my plane landed I was exhausted. And by the time I got to my car to drive home I realized I had lost my phone somewhere between the plane and the car.

Well, that sucks balls, I thought. I'm sure I'll never see it again, and tomorrow will now include a visit to the Verizon store to replace it with $1,000 that is NOT in the budget for this month.

But then a strange thing happened.

While I was driving home, someone at the airport found my phone, used the emergency contact function of the iPhone to get Terry's number, and texted him to let him know they had found my phone and then brought it to security. They even sent a photograph of the location of the office for our reference. The next morning, the lost and found staff contacted my emergency contacts again, letting them know the airport had my phone. We picked the phone up on Friday, no harm, no foul.

The woman at the lost and found mentioned to us, however, that in her role, she has to try and find the owners of lost phones every day, and that people who put emergency contacts in their devices have a much higher rate of return than those who don't. Seems obvious, yes? I only put in emergency contacts because of my medication allergies, but enjoyed the unexpected consequence of not having to buy a new phone.

Once I got my phone back I texted the person who turned it in and thanked them for their kindness and effort.

Achievement unlocked: Faith in humanity, restored. At least for a while.