Simon Barratt

Faith in People

I just had my faith in people restored!  Which is always a good thing.

During my Thursday evening commute home, I let my Treo 650 slip from my pocket.  I realised almost as soon as the train pulled out of the station!  I tried calling the phone and sending some text messages over the next hour or so, but did not get a response.  I was beginning to think that I would not see it again.

However, later that night, I received a call on my home phone from the gentleman who had found it on the train.  After a few minutes of discussion we agreed it would be more convenient for him to return it to my office, as he goes right by it each day.

So, come Friday, I left a note with security on the front desk, to expect my phone to be dropped off.  Later that day, I was informed that a package had been dropped off for me, and my phone was duly returned!

I haven't made up my mind whether this story is a good or sad one!  It's good, due to the fact that this gentleman did the honourable thing, it's also bad in that my expectation from people has dropped so low!  I'd like to think that I would respond in the same manner as he did.  Thanks much!

Now for a technical detour!  I was able to run through the lost device routine for the Treo 650 within the Intellisync console.  I flagged the device as lost at about 7:30pm, knowing that it would auto connect at about 9pm.  It connected which was when it received it's Hard Reset command, erasing all the data from the device.  So all my emails, appointments and contacts from Lotus Notes were kept secured.  I was surprised however, that this erased the contents of the SD card too!  Good to know this works in the real world!