Learn From My Experience

It was a beautiful day, the last day of summer vacation. The perfect day for a walk. I parked the van in a sunny parking lot near a well-used trail and shooed kids and dogs onto the path. I grabbed my purse to take with me, along with a bucket in case we found berries. On second thought, I tucked my purse back in the car and hid it under some stuff between the seats.

You know where this is going, don't you? We returned to the van 15-20 minutes later to find a window smashed in and my purse gone.

Another car was also burgled - they lost a wallet.

I called my bank first to cancel my debit card. I knew to do that much. (skip 3 hours of phone calls, police reports, etc.) Dad and I hit the trail and started searching the bushes. Dad found purse and wallet less than a quarter mile down the trail behind a stand of trees. The only things missing were my cash and about $200 in gift cards - my birthday.

I spent a lot of time today trying to recoup those gift cards. I've had about half the cards replaced so far. Some of them I can't replace since I have no receipts or information about where and when they were purchased.

Here are the lessons I've learned:

1. Take your purse or wallet with you. It's way better than getting your window smashed in.

2. If you carry gift cards, keep the original receipt in a separate place. If you give a gift card, give the receipt as part of the gift or hang onto it.

3. Most people are nice. Despite the one bad apple, everyone I talked to in the parking lot yesterday was sympathetic and every customer service person I talked to today really did want to help me. Some went above and beyond what I expected of them. Judy, Mom and Dad, and a city worker named Tim all went out of their way to help.

Thanks for all the help. And thank God - seriously - that no one was hurt.