Since I bike everywhere I often see things that elude drivers. Twice I found phones that I was able to reunite with their owners.

In the first case it was an iPhone that was not locked. This was at least ten years ago so iPhones had not existed for very long and were a big expensive deal. Since it was not locked I went to Facebook and posted a message with my email or cell phone number I forget which.

In the second case it was a more rudimentary phone but I called a frequently called number. Between my crap Spanish and the little bit of English spoken by the lady who picked up, we figured out that she was the phone owner’s mother and so again I was able to get the device back to its rightful owner.

In both cases it felt really good to be able to help people in this way. Another time I found one and the best I could do was turn it in to the store, where they told me that they could probably contact the owner. I can’t understand why anyone would keep a found phone.

Another time I was able to reunite a found wallet with its (frantic) owner. A coworker assumed I had taken the cash out of it. When gave him a dirty look he said, “That’s what you do.” “Well maybe that’s what you do,” I replied.

The good feeling you get by returning a lost item is worth astronomically more than any phone. Establishing moral superiority over a jerk coworker — priceless.