Notes from the Road-The Land of Lost Things

Upon your reading of this tidbit you may view what I offer here as a cautionary tale, or a bit of self help advice. While on the road in Traverse City this week I discovered that I had left the phone charger for my LG phone back at the house several hours away. While the battery life on my current phone unit is good, about 3 solid days of standby time, it is not infinite. Nearing the three day mark of the trip this was going to soon be a problem.

While contemplating my dilemma I remember how I had left one of my chargers at a hotel in Toronto once. On my next visit to the same hotel about three months later they still had it and gave it back to me. My guess was that because my phone was fairly common, it was the midgrade Verizon giveaway about two years ago this hotel if it kept lost property would have one. Thus I came up with my plan; I would borrow a lost phone charger from the front desk. No one would be hurt and my pocket would not suffer the pain of paying resort prices for a phone accessory.

Quickly upon formulating this plan I went down to the hotel desk and asked a very genial clerk if he might be able to show me the chargers the hotel had in its lost and found box. Communicating my desire to simply borrow one I was somewhat surprised when the counter guy laughed out loud. He told me no one had ever asked to borrow a charger before but that he was more than happy to accommodate my request. He actually thought it was a very cool idea.

Based on the way he was acting I could tell the representative of this fine hotel was having some fun with my request. Getting up from his seat at the front desk the clerk then led me down a back stairwell to where the room cleaning staff’s offices, lockers and supplies were. In the well lit basement room there were a number of large blue Rubbermaid storage tubs sitting on a table off to the side. The one closest to me was literally overflowing with hundreds of cell phone/camera/computer chargers. Hell there were power supplies for the original Apple computers in this thing. I was in awe. Cords and plugs overflowed the tub Medusa like. It took about two minutes of looking but I did find a match for my phone. The clerk told me I was the first person he ever remembered asking for a phone cord and that I should keep it.

So should you ever be caught without a power supply on the road, don’t be afraid to ask at the front desk. I note that the second tub in the basement was a little different/scarier. While equally full it appeared to contain equestrian equipment-you know riding crops, police goods-I am pretty sure I saw some handcuffs and when I accidentally bumped the table on which the tubs were located that sucker began to whir at what appeared to be several different speeds. This hotel must hold a number of conventions. I am guessing horse breeders, police service groups and blender salespeople spend a good deal of time here.