Okay, suppose a person who is not a long-time Doper has a person who is not his spouse who is not on a quick trip to Dublin.
Suppose this person left a purse on a Dublin bus from the airport to “Dublin 2,” wherever that is. Some cash, too many credit cards, ID, passport, iPhone, keys, more.
Chances of getting it back?
(No additional comments solicited… I know I KNOW I KNOW I FRAGGIN KNOW!… but it’s not by accident that I’ve assumed “Zathras” for my middle name.)
My inclination would be a fair chance. Just call the bus company. I did exactly that same thing in Birmingham, England, and I was flying back home in a couple days. Left my passport and a bunch of stuff in a backpack. Called up the bus company, and the driver took it on his route the next day and I met him at the nearest stop and he handed it off to me. I know it’s not Dublin, but I don’t know how specific you want this to be. It’s gonna be a crap shoot either way, but there are lots of honest folks out there.
Thanks. I have a kind of general sense about it, but I don’t know Dublin (or any of the Irish cities). They’re still waiting to hear from the bus company, who says it could be sometime tomorrow before the slow L&F process works through.
The most difficult part is that I only have three days to wipe away every fleeting trace of I TOLD YOU SO face. Every trace, every twitch. It’s going to be really hard in this case because there are so many compounding factors of utterly avoidable choices.
If it helps, that will be the 757 service to Dublin City Centre. Operated by Dublin Bus.
Email info@dublinbus.ie
Website www.dublinbus.ie
Telephone (01) 8734222
I lost a friend once during a pub crawl in Dublin but he found his way back by himself.
If it is of any consolation, you know that you, yourself would hand it in. So would I, so would my wife, my brothers, my sister, a fair majority of the dopers replying to this thread…and so on. There are a good many people out there that wouldn’t dream of taking it.
Plus, If this is an airport bus then there may be a better ratio of good people involved as they may be more sympathetic to the thought of a tourist being lost without their documents.
So changes are better than 50/50. I reckon there is an 80% chance it gets handed in.
Based on my father’s (born and raised in Ireland) stories, your chances are slim to none. Some years ago I was a a family reunion, in a fenced in yard of a family member. I left a camera on a picnic table, and my father pulled me aside and told me to keep hold of it or it would be stolen. Ever single person there was a family member.
Some Gardai, and other, websites that may help:
It is unthrilling the polis do not have an https://, but there you go.
I certainly think there’s at the very least 97% chance the finder was honest, as good as at an American airport.
Knowing the Irish, someone is smashing the iPhone with a rock right now, trying to figure out how the magical pictures are made.
I keed! I keed!
I couldn’t begin to answer before I understand fully…
Is the person who is not a/his spouse on a trip or not on a trip, and if that person is on a trip, is the trip to Dublin, and if it is to Dublin, is it a quick trip or a not quick trip? It seems not worth the bother unless someone has lost something in Dublin whether on a trip there or otherwise (said person lives there?), and said something must be recovered.
I’m just wondering why he is in Dublin with not-his-wife. :dubious:
This is a tiny point but may make a difference in getting it back: what you call a purse is I think what we call a handbag. A purse here has a slightly different meaning. So your spouse may need to state that she has lost a handbag, rather than a purse.
I would say there’s a very good chance it was handed in to the driver.
Was it actually a Dublin Bus or was it the aircoach?
Hey AB - why the complicated subterfuge? Why not just tell us your wife left her [del]purse[/del] handbag on the bus? Inquiring minds want to know.
Because if I had to actually write that out, my scream of irritation would probably blow the house off the basement foundations.
Just being clench-toothed funny. And not very.
For the record, she’s with a resident family member (an American expat she’s visiting), so she’s not stranded, moneyless, etc. Just out about $1500 in purse/handbag (and linguistic note made - I assume she/they described the bag carefully to the bus line and possibly Garda), iPhone, custom sunglasses, replacement passport, replacement DL, and at least two chipped automotive keys.
Cannot overstress this enough. While most of the bus services in Dublin are operated by Dublin Bus, not every Dublin bus is a Dublin Bus bus. Aircoach operates a number of routes from Dublin Airport to various parts of the city (including Dublin 2, which is the south innner city) and it has high visibility at the airport and is popular with tourists.
Unless not-your-wife is absolutely certain that she was on a Dublin Bus bus, she should be talking to Aircoach.
That may say more about your father’s family than it does about the nation as a whole. 
If she hasn’t already she should definitely ring the Gardaí as well as the bus company (be it Dublin Bus or Aircoach). If the worst case scenario happened where the bag was stolen, it’s very likely that they will have taken cash/cards and thrown the bag and contents away so at least keys/bag etc might be recoverable.
Delightful.
Purse/handbag recovered, intact down to the last Euro.
I’m a little unclear on the details but it appears to have simply been turned in to the bus driver and taken overnight to wend its way to the right person to call my wife.
Thanks for all good suggestions here, and for some very generous and kindly offers of help in PM.
It’s nice to have my faith in people borne out every now and again