A storm was blowing in, and it was starting to rain, hard, so my wife, Michelle, and I bolted from the truck into Bran-don Princess Auto. We were looking for some dock components for the lake, so we brie铿倅 stepped out of a family gathering, and we wanted to get back quickly.
We went straight in, found our dock cleats, couldn鈥檛 铿乶d long enough bolts, and went to the front to pay. I stopped brie铿倅 to look at pliers. It鈥檚 just a few seconds I thought.
Those seconds would prove quite fateful.
Just as Michelle swiped her card to pay, the power went out. No power, no bank card. The store said to those in line they would take cash, so I realized I had cash in my wallet, which was in the truck, so I volunteered to run back to the truck to get it.
I searched the truck from stem to stern three times. No wallet.
A little panicky, I went back to the store. A clerk with a 铿俛shlight walked with me back to the dock cleats, bolts and pliers. No wallet.
No cleats, then, either.
We ran back to the previous store we were at. Nothing. Checked with customer service, nothing. No wallets left in the garbage can, either. And a phone call to the family function revealed it wasn鈥檛 there, either. So now I am a long ways from home, on holidays, with no intention of heading home back to Estevan for several days. Oh boy.
Beyond my bank card, credit card, safety training tickets, drivers licence and a little bit of cash, there鈥檚 the whole possibility of identity theft. And then there鈥檚 the fact my blood glucose meter is also in the wallet.
I realized the last time I touched the wallet was when I tested my blood sugar prior to lunch, at a restaurant in Portage la Prairie, 125 kilometres away.
And when we got back in the truck, I couldn鈥檛 find my favourite hat, so I grabbed another.
My wallet and my hat were in the same place. At restaurants I鈥檒l often put my wallet and cell phone in my hat, keep-ing them together so I don鈥檛 accidentally forget one. Well, this time, I left the whole kit and caboodle.
Calling the restaurant, I got someone who didn鈥檛 speak English very well. That person wasn鈥檛 there at lunch time. But perhaps the person who was earlier in the day would know something about it.
At this point I was on the phone with the bank, cancelling bank cards.
There鈥檚 a good ending to this tale, however. The next day we heard from the restaurant manager. My wallet, and hat, had been found. A friend of a family member, someone who I never met, stopped at the restaurant and drove it back to Brandon. We drove back to Brandon and picked it up. Everything was there, and I was told the people who picked it up wouldn鈥檛 accept a reward, either.
There鈥檚 this new Bluetooth tracking device called Tile on the market now. It can be used as a keychain, in a wallet, purse, on a remote control, on a drone, anything that could go missing and drive you crazy looking for it. It鈥檚 science 铿乧tion come reality, and if it works, could make my forgetful life just a bit easier.听 I can de铿乶itely see a use for it.
It might be time to Tile my life. Or at least, my wallet.
听
