A Pleasant Evening Highjacked

I recently traveled to join a friend and his family at a college graduation. The night before, we were to meet for dinner and then go to the outdoor dance on the campus. Seemed straightforward enough, but the evening went much differently than I expected.

The dinner at a nice Italian restaurant was excellent. We then took a taxi to the dance, where 10,000 people were expected. When we got as close as we could to the entrance, we hurriedly paid the fare, jumped out of the cab and got into line. We opened our umbrellas as the night’s rain persisted. The crowd was dense and it took a long time to get through the entrance and to our table. I put down the umbrella to check my iPhone to see whether the rain might stop soon. But, to my shock, where my iPhone would usually sit in my pocket was emptiness. What? Despite the fact that I always keep it in the same pocket, I feverishly checked my other pockets. Nothing. I lost my iPhone! I racked my brain. Where could it be? In the last half hour, we were only at two places – the restaurant and the taxi. I remembered using it at the restaurant, and thought I may have left it on the table. My friend let me use his iPhone to try to recover mine. I called the restaurant; they looked around our table, but did not find it. So I hoped that meant it was in the taxi. I called the cab company and the dispatcher curtly replied that he could do nothing until morning. I asked him if he could contact our cab driver and he said no. What? I could do nothing until morning? I’ll be preoccupied with this the rest of the night? (I do not compartmentalize well.) I hated the thought of someone finding my phone, getting past my login and into my electronic world.

Then I remembered seeing an icon on Apple’s iCloud site called Find My iPhone. I found the app and downloaded it to my friend’s iPhone. I logged in as me, chose my cell phone number and it showed a map with my iPhone located on Rte 195! So I concluded it was still in the cab. But what now? Should I call it? I hesitated to do that because then someone would definitely find it and keep it. My best chance was for it to remain hidden in the cab and I could recover it the next morning. I was feeling vulnerable and tempted to use a button that I saw on the Find My iPhone screen that would remotely erase my data. Then I thought I was being dumb; calling my cell phone was the most direct route to recovering it. Why not opt to trust? I dialed my number and the taxi driver answered. He said the fare after me found the phone and gave it to him. He was willing to drive it back to me, but wasn’t sure when we could meet because he still had to respond to assignments from his dispatcher. We eventually connected about an hour later, and he returned it in perfect working order. I was so grateful and relieved!

Reflecting on the experience, I am thankful for Apple’s Find My iPhone tool and am surprised that I remembered it in the midst of my torment. It is now a permanent addition to my cell phone risk management satchel. Also, I’m embarrassed that my first instinct was to distrust and am happy to have been proven wrong. An honest person found the phone and gave it to the cab driver, who returned it to me. I hope this experience builds my faith in my fellow man. Would you have been cynical or trusting?