'So unbelievably New York:' 20+ times people lost their phones or found one and had ridiculous return stories

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  • 01
    "[Found a phone]... Guy was angry that I didn't leave it where I found it. 'No problem, I'll put it back.' And I did."
  • 02
    So unbelievably 'new york', why did I think it would be any different I'll keep it short. Found a brand new iphone laying on the ground at night walking home. I pick it up, google what to do when this happens. It says look for the medical ID option and find the family's details. I do this, see that he's got his mothers, sisters and dads numbers in there.
  • 03
    I call the sister because I think, I don't want to wake his parents up. She thinks it's a scam for a bit but that's ok, then his dad calls me (Siri tells me the lost phone guy's name is John). We arrange that I'll take the phone home, and his dad will pick it up in the morning. I'm feeling good, like I'm doing something really nice for him. . He's Then John calls. Wow, what an getting pissy saying it's inconvenient that I've got his phone because it would have been easier if I'd just left it whe
  • 04
    had half a mind to throw the thing in a gutter. It annoyed me just at how stupid this is, someone's got your possession, and to them. you're being So, being a good person, I actually say I'l| wait up for this guy to send an uber. He is short with me, and so being so unappreciative. This is what I hate about new yorkers, they're too stupid to even save their own skin. I think I'm the one person who would actually still help this guy get his phone back (never again btw...).
  • 05
    So, I give the driver the phone, block him, but before I do, I sent his family (mother, sister and father who said he was a cop?) a - small message telling them how I feel about their son. Not exactly getting even... but it's something.
  • 06
    22:48 15 LTE 72 3 People > Text Message Today 22:47 I just waited up to give john his phone, which I thought was a nice thing to do. He was really to me on the phone telling me how it was inconvenient for him. more than , I just thought - how stupid. what's stopping me from just throwing it in a river at this point? or giving it to some random stranger? or just dropping it on the ground? I just handed it to an uber driver to take back to him. he saved a few hundred dollars, but he'll always be a
  • 07
    • Cespenar 8h ago Someone left a phone at my work once. Way before iphones. We looked thru contacts and found "dad". So we called, and explained a person with him in the phone as "dad" left this phone at our store. His response was "So?" We... Took a few breaths. I said "so.. do you have some way of contacting him to let him know where his phone is?" He said, I you not, "I guess I could call him" "Does he have a house phone..?"
  • 08
    "No." "Ok. Is there someone that he might be with or near that we could call?" "I don't know..i don't know what you want me to do about it." "Ok well.. nevermind. Maybe he comes back for it I guess" ..five minutes later the phone rings. It's Dad. We didn't answer. Dude came back the next day and just rolled his eyes at the story. Nice enough guy.
  • 09
    0011010100110011 6h ago • My Father lost his phone back in like 2003 in an area that is known to be pretty unsafe. Just some flip phone that he lost due to being careless and rushing-like usual. He eventually realizes it's missing and calls his phone. Some guy answered. My Father was basically reaming this guy out for finding his phone. He convinces the guy to meet him at like 11:00P in a parking lot to get his phone back. He also decided to bring me, his eleven (ish) year old daughter to a late
  • 10
    We get to the parking lot and it's a little boy. Not kidding, he couldn't have been older than me. In a parking lot, alone at night, trying to just be a good kid. My Father walks up to him and snatches. his phone out of the kid's hands, and just walks away. No thank you. No reward. No, "get home safe." The little boy looked so... Confused-despondent almost. A big part of my respect for my Father died that night. Some people are the worst.
  • 11
    BakedBrie26 . 9h ago Also in NYC, I found a guy's wallet with a SIGNED blank check in it once. I returned it to him. He saw me wearing a shirt of a mutual aid group I volunteered with and asked me about it. Next day he made a $2k donation as a thank you. Not every one is horrifying.
  • 12
    • obviousbean 4h ago A friend and I found a phone at a Renaissance Faire once. Took a selfie for posterity and called the last contact, who happened to be the owner's girlfriend who was with him. We met to give them the phone back and they bought us drinks. It was nice.
  • 13
    Natural_Garbage7674 .7h ago Had something similar happen. Guy was also angry that I didn't leave it where I found it. "No problem, I'll put it back." And I did. Unfortunately for him, he only knew that I'd found it on Abc Street, not exactly where. He asked me to send a photo of where I left it. "No need, bro. I left it exactly where you left it." Guy doesn't know where that is. He makes a point of telling me he didn't leave it anywhere, he lost it. Pity, my dude, that no one found it and was wi
  • 14
    Free_Jelly8972 • 8h ago Back in 2013, someone found my iPhone in a cab in Chicago and mailed it back to me from Canada. I mailed him $100 USD cash and thank you card for saving me the trouble. Being nice it's own reward but rewarding nice people should also be more frequent.
  • 15
    Mend35 • 9h ago. and This happened to me years ago. I found a phone in the park, waiting for a call so I could tell them I had the phone and where I'd drop it. The phone call came in and it was from his wife, she was so incredibly accused me of stealing his phone, I tried to explain without luck. I put the phone down where I found it and told the dumbass to instruct her husband to retrace his steps.
  • 16
    • Instantly_New 12h ago Reminds me of the time, this was years ago, when I found someone's phone on the train. I grabbed it and waited for a call, which eventually came through. It was the owner's co-worker, calling on behalf of the owner, as he didn't speak English. itch was SO to me, basically nearly accusing me of stealing his phone. I was just like, "listen, I found it and picked it up so I could hopefully get it back to the owner. Relax." Stupid itch still has me heated a whole decade later
  • 17
    K44no 11h ago • That's mad. I was once on a ferry from England to the Netherlands and found a random phone lying on the floor. It was unlocked so I just looked in the contacts, found "mum" and sent her a text saying I had her son's phone. She called it about 5 minutes later, couldn't have been more thankful and arranged for me to meet him in the ship's bar. Got there a short while later, the guy hugged me, thanked me loads cos it had important pictures on it he didn't want to lose, then he bough
  • 18
    cheapdrinks 10h ago My uncle is a taxi driver so it's very common for him to find phones left on the seat when they inevitably start ringing. His standard procedure is to say "ok here is where I am, if you would like for me to bring it back now I'll run the meter and you can pay the fare for me to drop it off otherwise when I finish work at midnight I'll put it in the lost and found box back at the taxi base at [address] for you to collect at your own convenience".
  • 19
    The number of people that get abusive or demand he drive 30 minutes out of his way to drop it off for free *because THEY up* and left their phone in the cab is unreal. One guy was screaming at him on the phone so bad he just chucked it out the window on the freeway. Another guy agreed to have it dropped off and when he arrived like 4 dudes carrying knives and bats started rushing the car so he sped off and slammed the phone out of the window at the ground.
  • 20
    People are responsibility for their own and never want to take actions or stupidity. I remember I left my phone in a cab once and the guy was only a few minutes down the road and I was so happy to get it back I gave him a $50 tip.
  • 21
    Psychological-End222 9h ago my husband found an iPhone in the middle of the road late at night, and almost got punched in the face by the owner for it. he was literally setting it down outside the nearby bar next to the bouncer, and the owner came up and accused him of stealing it. some people, man. I just I don't have a clue how their parents them up so bad.
  • 22
    BatDynamite • 6h ago . When I was like 13 yo, I found an obviously brand new phone and a wallet laying on the grass where I was playing football at (nearly stepped on the phone). The mic seemed to be broken, because no one could understand what I was saying, so I communicated through text and told them to go to my house, that I'll be sitting on the curb waiting for them. The phone belonged to an absolutely stunning young woman. She was a tourist and was skeptical about coming to my address, but
  • 23
    VeryNonyIdeas • 7h ago I found a flip phone on a bench once back in undergrad, and so I opened it and called "Dad" cuz I knew how panicked I'd be if I lost my phone. I explained that I found this phone on a bench and wanted to get it back to their owner. Come to find out the woman who owned it was on a business trip and they were from a different state. The guy was super thankful I found it and asked if I'd mail it to him via fedex. Thankfully I had enough money to do so and it wasn't all that e
  • 24
    A few weeks later, I get a call from the woman to thank me for returning her phone and to tell me she had shipped me a gift in thanks. Then she found out I was a poor college student and apologized for sending just a gift, and said she should have just sent me the cash. Very nice of her but I was cool with the gift since I wasn't expecting anything in return. It ended up being a party dish with 3 connected bowls and for 3 flavors of popcorn. Free dish for food! lol I still have the dish. I hope
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