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I just lost my wallet on the way home from work

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Re: I just lost my wallet on the way home from work

#101

Post by bradlys »

djrogers wrote: post #82
es-hn wrote: post #72

Coincidentally, I was able to return four peoples' IDs and other cards just this afternoon. Yesterday I was walking in East Oakland and found a pile of credit cards, debit cards, and IDs. Oakland Police Department wouldn't take them so I brought them home and started googling names and addresses. Of the four IDs I found three belonged to adults; the third was a state ID for a minor related to one of the adults. I was…

> wish OPD had taken an interest in the theft Sadly, in California most theft is merely a misdemeanor, and busy PDs do not have time to chase down criminals to give them a ticket.

> Sadly, in California most theft is merely a misdemeanor, and busy PDs do not have time to chase down criminals to give them a ticket.

But they sure do like camping out all the time to give people speeding and parking tickets. Priorities!

Re: I just lost my wallet on the way home from work

#102

Post by ztratar »

benatkin wrote: post #97
timcameron wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hi, I’m the guy who lost his wallet! I agree it’s a convenient overlap and understand your cynicism but I assure you that it’s genuine. I can even provide you with the receipt from me riding a jump bike around for an hour looking for my wallet! :) EDIT: spelling + I did pin the tweet about transferwise after it blew up, and I also changed my bio to share my small side project: Podmast.com - check it out :)

That's what someone who does this kind of thing would say. I'm not saying I think it's fake, but I think it might be. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence, and posting a defense isn't evidence. Edit: I wondered if I got this slogan right, and it turns out to have a name - The Sagan Standard! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sagan_standard

The amount of cynicism is too damn high!

Re: I just lost my wallet on the way home from work

#103

Post by JenBarb »

A few weeks ago I found a working iPhone X on the side on the sidewalk. I thought about using siri to call a recent contact and try to get it back to the owner, but I found the language was set to Chinese (which I cannot read or speak) and I gave up and put it back on the sidewalk in case the owner came back.

In retrospect, I don't think I could have done anything even if the language was English apart from wait for the owner to call their phone. That said, I'm curious if anyone has any suggestions about how I could have been a better Samaritan.

Re: I just lost my wallet on the way home from work

#104

Post by Nition »

wolco wrote: post #100
petschge wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A lot of US based startups make a lot more sense to us Europeans in case we move to the US and notice how broken all infrastructure is. Banking still uses cheques, so you have Paypal, Venmo, CashApp and so on. Public transport is bad or even non existent which is why Uber and Lift exist. The programm of over-the-air TV sucks and you get Netflix, HBO, Hulu and so on.

Over the air has the newest stuff. Streaming is for yesterday's hit. Uber exists because taxis suck. Cheques are safer and more portable than give me your bank account because you choose where to deposit. Paypal is for websites no stores accept it and doesn't replace a cheque

> Cheques are safer and more portable than give me your bank account because you choose where to deposit.

Maybe it's different in the US, but I have a different account number for each of my bank accounts. So I can still choose where I want to deposit someone's money when I give them my account number, by choosing which account number I give to them. And no-one has to go to a bank.

Re: I just lost my wallet on the way home from work

#105

Post by mikestew »

alexis_fr wrote: post #63
SI_Rob wrote: post #51

Every so often my pessimistic tendencies get a healthy slap across the face by the actions of someone who took the high road when they easily could have chosen otherwise. It's a couple summers ago, at the height of the summer tourist season and I'm cycling up 4th ave SW in DC. Somewhere between the NASA HQ and the National Mall my camera bag - packed full with a fairly new DSLR, a few lenses, and a secondary cell pho…

Is it actually legal? In France, a bag in a public place is deemed to be a bomb and the military has to come, secure the area and destroy it. Happens on a routine basis, not even worth the newspapers. You don’t have such laws in Washington DC?

You don’t have such laws in Washington DC?

Funny you should ask. A few years back my wife and I were stuck in Reagan (an airport in D. C.) for a super-long layover. As I'm watching my first ever episode of Archer, I notice the family a row over gets up and walks down the concourse, leaving their bags. Now, I've heard a bit of their conversations as I've sat there, and I gather they're American and probably self-centered and clueless. Or maybe that's what the terrorists that just walked away from their explosives want me to think. Regardless, we're sitting at the gate and there's a gate agent right there, so I put this in the "not my job anymore" bucket.

It's been a few years, but I'll bet it was at least ten minutes before the agent called security. It was long enough that I was about to get up and ask, "ya know, I'm not the super-paranoid type, but don't you think you ought to give the dog a little practice sniffing bags?" The dog and an agent or two show up, give the bags a sniff, and wait for the owners to return. I was disappointed that there wasn't at least a little ass-chewing. I mean, what U. S. resident doesn't know not to do that? And if they don't, how about driving that lesson home?

But anyway, we don't get too worked up about a random bag lying around. Because in the U. S., thus far it hasn't been shown that it stands much of a chance of blowing up. My sympathy to countries that have not been so lucky.

Re: I just lost my wallet on the way home from work

#106

Post by kraftman »

dpcan wrote: post #93
lucb1e wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't this a success story of a regular bank account though? I would find this super far-fetched as some sort of weird promotion, especially where OP's company is never mentioned and not actually posed as better than a regular bank account (or a regular bank account as bad). Let's just enjoy nice stories that we come across.

Marketing is not a banner ad or billboard anymore. A viral tweet like this could land him 5 minute segments on any number of local-news stations that need a feel-good piece. He'll then have the opportunity to talk about his company. And followers. As this tweet makes it's rounds through the media, he'll get more. He can then use that following to promote his business. It opened the door for people to openly bash thei…

Those things don't have phone numbers/email on them, so getting in contact with the owner isn't that easy.

Re: I just lost my wallet on the way home from work

#107

Post by benatkin »

ztratar wrote: post #102
benatkin wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's what someone who does this kind of thing would say. I'm not saying I think it's fake, but I think it might be. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence, and posting a defense isn't evidence. Edit: I wondered if I got this slogan right, and it turns out to have a name - The Sagan Standard! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sagan_standard

The amount of cynicism is too damn high!

I'm not all that cynical about it. I don't think that people (micro-)blogging made up stories (which this may or may not be) means there's something terribly wrong with them. It's a white lie told repeatedly with a straight face. It's worse than a white lie told once, but not as bad as a more directly harmful lie like faking an illness and collecting money from strangers on GoFundMe.

Re: I just lost my wallet on the way home from work

#108

Post by beefalo »

astura wrote: post #78

Stupid American question - how does someone get your bank account information from your wallet in the UK?

The bank account number is written on the card. European bank accounts make a lot more sense than in the US, your account number is a public number that can be used to receive money only and there is a transfer number for making payments.

Re: I just lost my wallet on the way home from work

#109

Post by detaro »

alexis_fr wrote: post #63
SI_Rob wrote: post #51

Every so often my pessimistic tendencies get a healthy slap across the face by the actions of someone who took the high road when they easily could have chosen otherwise. It's a couple summers ago, at the height of the summer tourist season and I'm cycling up 4th ave SW in DC. Somewhere between the NASA HQ and the National Mall my camera bag - packed full with a fairly new DSLR, a few lenses, and a secondary cell pho…

Is it actually legal? In France, a bag in a public place is deemed to be a bomb and the military has to come, secure the area and destroy it. Happens on a routine basis, not even worth the newspapers. You don’t have such laws in Washington DC?

What is illegal? To inspect a bag you find in public? To inspect a bag you see someone dropped? Would really be interested in a reference to a specific law.
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