You've found a cell-phone....what do you do?

[Mind_your_head]

[Blue-Jay]

1. Other: Call someone on the contacts list.

And tell them that I found their friend's phone, and to let them know about it.

[mike_c]

2. other-- call al-Qaeda or call a drug dealer and make a big buy!

Bonanza!

[Selteri]

6. LOL - Nice one.

[Bucky]

3. This actually happened to me recently. I looked in their phone book and called the one named "mom"

Mom, it turns out, lives in Denver, but she was able to call her kid (her 55 year old kid, by the by) and he met me at a bookstore to retrieve his phone.

[NoSheep]

5. love your sig line!

[Mind_your_head]

10. Sweet.....

:hug:

(gosh, I sure hope it's someone like YOU that finds my phone, b/c I've called several places that *claim* they don't have it, but when quizzed about their procedure for finding the owner....there is no 'procedure'. They throw the phone into a bin (and don't answer if the owner calls *hoping* that an honest person will answer and say *WE'VE GOT YOUR PHONE!*

[Greybnk48]

27. I called Mom too.

I recently found a cellphone in a Target parking lot. My daughter and I looked under contacts and called the owners Mom. We then left the phone at the service desk at Target.

[Orangepeel]

28. hah! I did the same thing last year.

I left the phone at a lost and found, but first I called "mom" and left a voice mail that it was there.

[petronius]

36. I did the same thing - called the number marked "Home"

It turned out to be the girl's parents on the other side of the country, and it freaked them out a bit to have some strange guy calling on their daughter's phone, but at least she got it back...

[Rhythm]

43. i did this numerous times when i worked in a grocery store...

we found at least a phone or two a week, and every one had 'mom' or 'dad' somewhere in the list, and they always know alternate numbers to get ahold of the phone's owner.

[Selteri]

4. Other, 1 2 3 and possibly turn it in to a representative store. NT

[BlooInBloo]

7. I would call 611 (or whatever their carrier's customer support was)...

Apprise them of the situation, give them my contact info, and wait for them to make contact with the phone's owner.

I see no need to dig into their personal life - and that could expose me to liability claims.

[kiahzero]

17. What liability claim do you think you could be exposed to?

Conversion?

[AJ9000]

8. Answer it and claim you haven't seen it.

[Blue-Jay]

9. HA!

:rofl:

[Nevernose]

11. Actually, I bought my very first cell phone last week

'Cause I'm a Luddite at heart, even if I am a nerd. I should have been a farmer.

I still haven't figured out how to put the S.O.B. on vibrate, much less refer to callers as "mom" or have any clue as to what the ICE number is. The technology has grown so far from phishing, and so far from me, that I have little idea of how to turn the thing on, much less use it to its potential.

[Mind_your_head]

13. ICE = In Case of Emergency n/t

[Nevernose]

19. Seriously?

In case of emergency, CALL 911! And do it on your own damned phone, 'cause I only have 37 minutes left this month!

But thanks for the info :D

[Mind_your_head]

23. Ha ha ha.......

[calimary]

34. Hey, I'm in the same boat. My husband has shown me, at least five

times, how to retrieve my messages, but damned if I can remember how it's done. And I can never remember my password, either. Luddite indeed. I sympathize. I'm amazed I can even work this whateveritis that I'm operating at this moment.

[Raine]

44. I've found at least 3 of them

one I found in the restroom in a store, so I took it to the customer service desk. One I found in a cart outside a store so I took it to the front cs desk in the nearest store. The last one I found at the market, I took it to the cs desk.

[RevolutionStartsNow]

12. Eek, I came so close to losing my cell phone today!

I was rushing out of a taxi, and was already to the front of the building when I realized. I ran back to the street where I was dropped off -- fortunately the driver had turned around and was waiting at the light. It was perfect timing. Damn that was close.

When I took a different taxi back to the airport I asked my driver about what he does when he finds a phone, and he said usually he waits for it to ring and answers it; usually it's the person looking for the phone. He complained that many people expect him to bring it back to them without paying the fare for him to drive to wherever they are.

There are many worse things than losing a cell phone, but I have to say I panicked for a second.

BTW, I don't use ICE, but I have a "Home" contact in my phone. I'm assuming someone would call that one.

[Mind_your_head]

15. That's the thing that I was horrified to learn today.......

that an individual will....but if you lose it like at a theatre, or a school, or somewhere 'group'.....they won't call you....it's your problem for being 'irresponsible'.

"I'll be there for you, you'll be there for me too".....I hope we can 'maintain' that courtesy.

Peace,
M_Y_H

[RevolutionStartsNow]

29. Well, it was stupid of me to leave my phone in the cab....

but I agree people should make an effort. The easiest thing to do if you find a phone is just make sure it's on ring (not silent) and answer it when the person calls looking for it.

Reminds me of that Seinfeld episode where Jerry's car is stolen and he calls and the car thief answers the phone...oh never mind, don't want to start a Seinfeld flame war. :)

[LaPera]

14. Use it until the battery goes dead, then use it as a hockey puck....

[LibDemAlways]

16. If I was in a store or public place, I'd turn it in to the manager

or lost and found because more than likely that's where the owner would look for it.

I took my daughter and her friend to Universal Studios last summer in LA and the friend lost her phone on a ride.A few minutes later she realized it was missing. We returned to the ride, but it was gone. Checked several times at Lost and Found. Called the number and left numerous messages: "Please return the phone." All to no avail. Whoever found it wasn't about to give it back. Finally, I had the girl call her dad so he could report the phone lost.

Pisses me off that whoever found it was a dishonest asshole when it would have been extremely easy to just turn it in.

[Mind_your_head]

21. Yep, but the general attitude is that "irresponsible asshole" for losing it

in the first place.

They throw these phones into a "big bin" that they 'give to the poor'......GIVE ME A BREAK!!!!

[LibDemAlways]

39. Actually, at Universal the "Lost and Found" guest services

people were quite helpful. Three phones had been turned in that day, but not the one we were looking for - naturally.

[sam sarrha]

18. i found a phone at the bank, text message said, Bill come over 2nite and suck my dick.. i gave it to

pretty little young Christian cashier and said i found it...:rofl:

[LSK]

20. whats an "ICE" number?

:shrug:

[Mind_your_head]

22. In Case of Emergency.....n/t

[Amonester]

24. Other: Keep it on and wait for the owner's call.

(Well, it really depends on... where you live.)

Seriously, a friend of mine lost his cell-phone in a bus once. He called the woman who picked it up, and asked where they could meet in order to pick it up, and she was kind enough (and "secure" enough also, I guess) to tell him to go knock on her front door. That's simply how he got he got it back. This city here is kind of "cool" (well.... it is, most of the time).

[Lisa]

26. That's what I did last year ...

I found it late one night, in the middle of the road -- nearest police station was miles away, so I took it home. The owner, some frantic Vancouver yuppie, called and woke me up very early the next morning (I forgave him for that) -- but also got nasty with me when I said that I would be unable to deliver it to him just then. I explained that I didn't have a car (earning his immediate scorn!) and even assuming that I was generous enough to spend $30 on taxi fare to go across town for his convenience, without any assurance from him that I'd get compensated -- I had to go teach a class so I wouldn't be free until later that morning, and I don't bail out on my students unless it's a real emergency! (I did say that he would be welcome to drive over himself and pick it up at the departmental office on campus while I was occupied.)

I guess he remembered that there was no way to stop me from "accidentally" leaving in the roadway where he had dropped it, because he called back and apologized profusely. We arranged for me to drop it off at his friend's house, which was near the campus (so it still did take me out of my way, but not too much).

I don't regret being nice to him, though, because if there is going to be a twit in a situation, I'd rather it not be me.

[Amonester]

35. You handled this case very well, and thank you for writing it here.

It's giving me hope all is not lost (yet) on this only home planet we have. :thumbsup:

[renate]

41. Ow! I hurt my jaw

It went like this

:wow:

and hit the floor.

You are a saint. Did he SERIOUSLY expect you to deliver it to him?

:wow: :wow: :wow:

I'd have left it with the department office and let him come pick it up, and I'd have considered myself a good citizen for not throwing it in the nearest dumpster after that kind of behavior. My goodness gracious.

:wow:

You are clearly a person who has accumulated much merit and positive karma in your lifetime. Will you come be my neighbor?

[MazeRat7]

25. I can tell you what the local Sun Harvest grocery did....

They found Ms MZr7's phone in a basket, they looked at the phone book and called "home"....

Of course when I answered and said "Hey baby... are you naked" (paraphrased) there was a really long pause before she identified herself as an employee of the store. Damn caller id... its not always right.

We both had a good laugh and we did get her phone back... but I would have paid $$$ to have seen her face when for a moment she "reconsidered" doing the "right thing".

MZr7

[calimary]

37. LOL!

[flyarm]

30. i found a phone last night!! in the san fran airport ladies room!!

and i ran out of ladies room yelling did someone lose a phone ..did someone leave a phone in ladies room??

i was screaming it..my husband who was standing outside ladies room thought i was off my rocker...but i yelled and yelled it..and all of a sudden a young lady came up to me and thanked me profusely ..as she came back ...to back track and see if she left her phone in the ladies room...

and here i was yelling inside security at the door of the ladies room ..with her phone in hand..

she was very thankful...

i didn't want to take phone with me, as i was leaving for the east coast on a flight shortly..but i was also thankful she came back for her phone!!

fly

[951-Riverside]

31. Leave it ;) n/t

[SeattleGirl]

32. I dropped my cell phone in a casino in Las Vegas last year.

AND SOMEONE TURNED IT IN TO SECURITY! Could have been a coctail waitress, could have been one of the folks who picks up trash, could have been someone playing there. But nevertheless, whoever found it turned it in to security. I called the security desk just on the off chance that someone found it, and was so happy when they said they had it. I sincerely thank whoever it was that turned that phone in.

[buzzard]

33. I found several cell phones dumped near my house last year I called the

home number if I could find it and the owners came to pick them up. It was funny most were neighbours who had had their phones taken from their cars.

[Solo_in_MD]

38. Someone found my wife's cellphone recently and called me

Thinking it was her, I answered with a glib comment...turns out I can still turn red from embarrassment.

[The Animator]

40. If you're in Agrentina, don't use it at all. It could be Barbra Bush's.

[GreenTea]

42. Eat it...very tasty!

[GliderGuider]

45. Last Number Redial works pretty well

I've been involved in two lost phone incidents in the last month or so. In both cases the finder used LNR. In one case he got us because we were the last call, and we were able to ID he phone's owner. The finder was able to the walk to the owner's house while we gave him real-time directions over the hone, and left it in the owner's mailbox.

In the other case an out of town visitor had lost his phone, and had called it from his Crackberry, but got no answer. We were just sitting down to dinner when his Blackberry rang, and it was the finder calling from his cell. I drove him out to the finder's home to pick it up.

People seem to be pretty good about not calling Thailand for an hour first...

[xultar]

46. I would drop it off @ a carrier's store. Most phones are device locked

now a days. The store could do a sim # check and call the owner.