I was in Toronto this week for three days of meetings, and yesterday evening, I met a friend for dinner and offered to pay for our first round of drinks. As I reached into my purse, sure enough, my wallet was missing.
I’m not the type of person to freak out about this kind of thing, so I stayed pretty calm and pulled everything out of my bag and looked at the ground around me, just to be sure. My next step was to mentally retrace my steps:
– I took my wallet out at the office to take out a subway token
– I left the office, and took the subway
– I stood on the subway for 30 minutes.
– I walked West on Queen to University, waited there for my friend for 15 minutes, then continued on to my final stop, Queen and Spadina.
I called my boss, who was still at the office, because I figured that that was the most likely place for it to be (while fervently hoping that I hadn’t dropped it on the subway), but checked and found nothing.
I decided to retrace my steps back to the subway station. I knew that there was no way that it would just be sitting on the ground, but I felt better knowing that I had done everything I could. An hour later, I met up with my friend again – lucky for me, she paid for my dinner!
I started thinking about the next step – what did I need to do about the situation right now? Step 1 was to put a hold on my credit card and confirm that I could get a new debit card in the morning, and step two was to figure out how I could fly home next week without ID. I had no idea what to do – Air Canada tweeted back to me, which was really nice, but only to wish me luck. When I was mugged in Peru, my situation was much worse, but at least I knew to go to the embassy and get myself a new passport. Does anyone know how to fly domestic with no ID?
Beyond that, there was nothing I could do until I got home, so there was nothing else that I needed to worry about, and I got on with my evening.
As was lying in bed last night, I started trying to think about everything that was in my wallet, to figure out if i had anything irreplaceable. All I could think of was my credit and bank cards, a couple of gift certificates, and some cash. I was also thinking about all of lost receipts for my travel expenses.
I got up early this morning and went straight to the bank, where they gave me a new debit card after asking a series of very specific questions. I got to the office, and was still hopeful that someone had turned in my wallet. My plan of action was office -> subway lost and found -> Eaton Centre lost and found -> give up hope. My wallet hadn’t been turned in, but I was still hopeful. I went into a meeting, and by the time I came back at 11am, my wallet had been returned! Someone found it late last night, and put it in their desk. She was late coming into the office because of subway delays, but she had it!
Everything turned out really well, in the end! But I still wonder what I would have done to get home.
Just for fun (I’m currently sitting on a train), I decided to figure out what I would have lost, had I actually lost my wallet.
– Two credit cards and one bank card
– Health card + insurance information
– Driver’s license
– $310 in gift/cash cards
– $80 in cash (I never carry cash! This is the first time I’ve had any in months! Figures.)
– $150 in work expense receipts
– A bunch of loyalty cards
– An mystery 8Gb SD card containing 1500 photos, most of which I haven’t seen since I took them. Thanks to my misadventures, I discovered cool things!
This picture from a market in Mali
Never before seen pictures of my adorable nephew
Teaching my Katimakids how to bake bread
My pictures of Key West
Photos of me at Hopewell Rocks
Where's Allie? 