Hey all. I was surprised today when I received a call from a stranger who had apparently found my wallet insert (where I keep various things like a flexible spending card and a Duane Reade drugstore coupon card) on the street a few blocks from my house. I didn’t even realized I’d dropped it! Anyway, he works around there and I’m going to be picking up the wallet tomorrow from his workplace.
I’ve already thanked him profusely, of course. He said that last week he left his cell phone in a cab, and someone was kind enough to call him about it, so he was ‘paying it forward’. Nice to see, huh?
My question is: I feel like I should bring him a little something as a gift. I don’t think a monetary reward is appropriate (or is it?), but I’m a bit stymied as far as what sorta thing would work. A bottle of wine? But what if he doesn’t drink? Candy seems too girly/date-like. What do you guys think?
Why don’t you pay it forward too? Give him a thank-you note with a written promise that you’ll personally deliver the next lost item you find / volunteer two hours in his honor / owe him one. You can simultaneously offer him a monetary reward (it WAS a wallet, after all) – “And I thought I’d offer you a reward too!” – and see if he takes it. If not, the good samaritan in him will still get the warm and fuzzies from your promise.
Thanks guys. Oh, I’ll definitely pay it forward, Reply – actually, I’ve done similar in the past, and I wouldn’t hesitate to help out in the future. I’m not sure about the money, though I do like the gift cert idea from Scarlett67. (If I baked cookies for the guy, Reepicheep, it’d be more of a punishment than reward!)
You do realize tomorrow is April Fools day right? Good luck
No, really, I’d say just be very thankful to him that he returned the wallet. It’s unlikely he’s expecting or will be wanting anything in return. If he wanted something he’d have kept your wallet and kept silent about it.
I’d say I’m paying it forward and I’m making a donation to xyz food bank or whatever good deed you want to do. That is exactly what I did when a random stranger helped me out a few years ago when I got stuck with a flat tire and no lug wrench. I went to the store as if I was shopping for a family and donated the food in addition to the regular donations I usually made to a food bank.
Yeah, well. Turns out EpicNonsense was right. Except I doubt it was an April Fool “joke.”
I went to the hotel where this guy supposedly works as a maitre’d and guess what? No one works there with his name.
The only thing I can assume is that he called to lull me into a false sense of security so I wouldn’t cancel the flexible benefits card. (Which looks a lot like a credit card – it has a visa logo.) Fortunately it’s only good for medical supplies. Still, obviously I had to cancel it.
So I’m pissed off. I’d bought a Border’s gift card and wrote him a thank you note (“thanks for being a wonderful New Yorker” HA HA) and I feel like an idiot. Just glad that wallet insert didn’t have anything else in it, such as my real credit cards or any money. Argh!
Anyway, thanks for the advice, guys. These were all nice ideas.
You know, that was crappy. However, why not make some lemonade? Start your own pay-it-forward chain. Give a stranger the gift card. Buy a couple of carnations and give them to a friendly looking older woman.
As far as whether I got the hotel wrong – there’s only one Four Seasons on 58th Street. He told me clearly, “ask for Benjamin, the maitre’d at the ___ restaurant.”
Here I was gearing myself up for a “cute meet,” too! Would’ve been a great story to tell our kids!
If I hadn’t heard from him soon after the cards went missing, I would have cancelled it in a trice. I dunno … maybe he knew it was a flexible benefits card and wanted extra time to buy up all those Band-Aids and Tylenol.
Flexible Benefits cards can be used to make any purchase, just like a Visa. It’s just that they’ll start sending you nastygrams about having to show the items purchased were eligible medical expenses. If you can’t prove the items purchased were medical goods or services they’ll deny the claim. Your next X dollars of claims will be accepted, but not reimbursed until you’ve had to pay out of pocket an amount equal to what they paid for the non-eligible items.
At least that’s how it works if you accidentally use your card for non-eligible purchases. For fraud I’d assume you’re not responsible for the charges but you’ll have to call and ask what the policies are. Hopefully it won’t be a big deal.
That sucks - it’s bad enough losing something, it makes it worse when you are led to believe you can get the item back for little cost/inconvenience, only to find this is not so. I have had a similar thing happen to me (though in my case it was, I think, as a result of a genuine mix-up).
Anyway, all I was going to say in response to the OP (before it turned bad) is that a bottle of wine is a fine gift. Even if the recipient is a non-drinker, decent bottles of wine are a sort of currency - the non-drinking recipient is almost sure to soon find themselves in the situation where a bottle of wine is an appropriate gift, so this could save them buying. The wine will therefore find an appreciative home eventually.
At least you didn’t lose much.