What would you do if you left your purse or wallet at an interstate rest stop?

Well, seeing how my phone would always be in my pocket, rather than in my purse…I’d cancel the credit cards and keep on driving…no need to go back 100 miles and the IDs I can retake…I’d be frustrated, but get over it…if I did go back, the chances that it would still be there would probably be high, actually…or that someone gave it to the security.

I would probably call the State Police and tell them, partly to see if they could help out by going there and seeing if they could get it first, and partly to see if they can provide a phone number so I could call the maintenance department or some place that could possibly help. Then I would drive back there and try to find it. If it was not there, I would only then start calling the credit card companies. I live in southern NY -also called “the Tri-State area” (I added that because you asked us to clarify what part of the country we live in).

I’d probably go back. Though now that I’ve read @jca‘s answer, calling the police in advance seems like a good idea.

Raised in Upstate New York, currently living in Virginia.

Cancel the cards and keep going. Even if they spent money between the cancelling, it can be recovered just as easily. My basis is that my wallet only has cards and some money in it. The money would be a loss, but I’m not wasting gas to go back and check. I’m 50/50 on someone stealing it or turning it in, but I plan for the worst.

Calling the police is a good idea. It would be a bummer to drive 100 miles back to find it gone.

I have a habit of losing my purse, my wallet, my jewelry. It has been my experience that 90% of the people in the world are good.
I probably would have called the welcome center first, then the Hwy Patrol and see if they knew of anyone turning it it.
If I was 100 miles away, I probably would then call and see if anyone had tried to use my credit cards.
If I couldn’t get a hold of anyone at the welcome center, I would probably sleep poorly, then repeat my calls in the morning.
If I had no success and it would be a while before I drove through again I would probably start calling the credit cards and canceling them.
I will tell you two Disneyland stories that built my faith in the goodness of mankind.
My husband and I were checking into the Disneyland Hotel. We were remodeling a house nearby and were so tired of sleeping with drywall dust that we decided to take a break and spend a night in a nice clean hotel and have fun in Disneyland.
Shortly after checking in, my husband started freaking out. He couldn’t find his Rolex which was in a zipper compartment of his bag.
He went back to the house and tore it apart. He was so upset. He couldn’t find it.
I told him that he needed to check with lost and found at the hotel. He said I was crazy. If someone found it they would never return it. He was driving back to the hotel.
After all that stress, I went to the front desk and asked if anyone had turned it in. Sure enough a bellman had found it. The zipper compartment was open and it fell out right in the middle of the valet area. He said he wondered if the company was testing him. We gave him a $100.00 tip. A funny side note, I guess Chuck Norris checked in around the same time we did and they took it up to his room and asked if it was his.
Next Disneyland story. Different trip.
We were in California adventure. I had noticed that the clasp on my diamond tennis bracelet had popped open, I re clasped it and went on my merry way. A few hours later, I looked down, and you guessed it, it was gone. Again, my husband was pessimistic. Who would turn in a diamond tennis bracelet?
Once again, I went to lost and found, and guess what. Someone DID turn it in!
There was the time my husband lost his wallet with $10000 cash in it and the many times my wallet was returned completely in tact.
Most people want to do the right thing and I choose to live my life assuming they will.

I would love to assume everyone wants to do the right thing, but I think reality sometimes gets in the way (i.e. people’s economic situations, for example).

I left a camera once in a historic church in Philly. It was returned to Lost and Found, and the woman there said that a lot of people are honest and return things to their Lost and Found. She said “maybe people feel like God is watching!”

A friend of mine left her pocketbook on top of the gas pump once. I told her what I do to prevent that, because I know myself and I would probably do the same thing. At a gas station, I take out only the credit card I’m using, and leave the pocketbook in the car. I put the credit card in my pocket after using it, and then when I’m back in the car, I put the card back in the wallet.

I very much liked @jca‘s advice to call the police. Having done that, I wouldn’t go back to try to find it – or even to meet the police if they had it. That is, I’d do that if I had enough cash (and/or another credit card) in my pocket to get home, and if the credit card in my pocket wasn’t one of the ones being cancelled. If I needed the cash that was in the wallet, then I’d turn around and meet them if I could. (A 100-mile return means an approximate minimum 4-hour delay in travel, which is pretty significant.)

If the police called back to say that they had the wallet in their possession and it did not appear to have been picked clean of credit cards and cash, then I’d ask that the wallet and contents (including a check for the cash amount, which I would not want to be mailed) be sent to the address on my driver’s license, which would be in the wallet, and I’d proceed on my way. I think that I would probably have called to cancel the cards as soon as I realized that I was 100 miles away from the wallet, before I even called the police.

I’m a New Englander by birth and choice now, but I’ve worked all over the US and I’ve done a fair amount of world travel, too. I expect to get the wallet back intact, but I still take precautions that I won’t. (And now I’m going to start keeping more cash in a hidden place in the car, too.)

First, I would turn around and make sure that your pocketbook was either there or not there. If not, I would immediately call the credit card companies, in order to save yourself the loss of money.

Next, call a State Trooper, at the rest stop location, to come and make a police report for you.

This is just about all a person can do for that moment.

I have not read any of the other answers, but somehow I think a dog might be involved in your missing pocketbook.

What did you do??

I would go back….immediately.
I would not think of calling the police on the way.

and I need to know…what did you do??? Get your stuff???

@jca, when my husband lost his wallet with $1000 in it in the Home Depot parking lot, he didn’t get it back for a month. When the person called us, we went to pick it up in a run down trailer park. We figure the delay probably had something to do with economics. The people probably borrowed the cash. We gave them a $300 reward. We had already recovered from the pain of losing $1000 but it was obvious to us that it could make a big impact on the life of the people who found it.

I’d be all “aww, man!”

Here is the rest of the story:

So, I realize my purse is missing and I am very sure I must have left it in the rest room at the Welcome Center. I am immediately pretty upset about it. I had a few credit cards, my husband’s money clip with $300 in it, over $100 in my wallet, my license, two pairs of sunglasses, one pair was Prada, and some medication in my bag. Worst of all I don’t want to add any stress to our trip that is already very exhausting. Our two day travel was going to be over 16 hours, FL to Memphis, after a long weekend of car racing, and my husband is one of the racers/drivers.

My husband immediately says he will start driving back. I say, “wait, why? If it was turned in it is locked in the welcome center, if it was stolen it’s gone. I doubt it is still sitting in the bathroom.” He starts to worry about throwing out the trash in the car. Huh? Remember we are stopped at the gas station. This kind of pisses me off, because our long term fight in our relationship is how once he decides what needs to be done, and the order it should be done he cannot waiver, even if new circumstances or information is introduced. We had stopped for gas, throw out the trash, and go to the bathroom, gotta do that first right? I only mention this because it ties into him having to drive all the way back, which is what he feels must be done.

I stop him from cleaning the car and start ordering him around a little. I tell him to try to get the number of the local police down there, and I will start cancelling my credit cards. We are both on the phone, he gets in the car and we start driving back. It is a crazy twenty minutes of phone calls, being on hold, and I even mention maybe I should call the house vmail to see if they tried to call our home number, but I am still on hold with credit cards. My husband, I found out in the middle of this, had trouble getting the local police number, and eventually called 911, which neither of us wanted to do, because we fully respect 911 should be for emergencies.

Anyway, after about 20 minutes, he gets a call back, we are at mile 80 more or less, and the voice on the other end says, “the police called me, I have your wife’s purse.” She went on to say someone had found it and turned it in, and even commented we had a lot of money in there. I felt immediate relief. I was ready to turn around, and have her send the purse to me fedex, but my husband had to go back and get it. She agreed to drive back to work, in the dark of night, and meet us there. Which is exactly what happened, and everything was intact. I tried to give her money, but she would not take it. I asked her if she had the name of the person who turned it in so I could thank them, and she didn’t. She actually had left a message at my home number, but I had not checked it, and she would have sent me my purse overnight.

I talked to my husband afterwards, and he said there was no way he could have not gone back for it. I asked him if he had felt any relief once we knew she had the bag, and he said no, none. See, I am that woman, I was the person working at Bloomingdale’s who had customers leave behind wallets, and phones, and lost jewelry, and we always did our best to get the items back to their owners. I trusted her, I am her. I initially was frustrated because I was assuming the reason he would not change plans and let her just send it, was because of that personality trait he has, once he decides what should be done, he isn’t going to change his plan easily. But, more than that, more accurately, I now understand he simply did not have the level of trust I did in the woman sending my bag. In the end, it was nice to have my purse back that day, but I think still, I would not have driven back.

He also said he feels it is his responsibility to take care of his own things. Kind of lending to the finders keepers losers weepers idea, which I think is an awful saying. I prefer treat others as you would want to be treated. My husband has incredible integrity, he would definitely turn in the purse also, no question, but how he grew up, I don’t think that was necessarily the mindset or what he expects from others. I related it to how he and his family think about driving. When I was lecturing his nephew about driving too fast and recklessly, that people need to predict what they are going to do next on the road, his mom actually took the kids side and said, “if they wreck into me or go off the road because I cut in front of them, if they aren’t alert drivers, that is their problem.” It is all the same thing to me, not thinking of how we all interact and fit into society, but rather just worrying about ourselves, in a more selfish model.

I, like @Judi, have had a few times in my life where I have lost something and got it back, I think the majority of the time you do get your things back, but not always of course.

Well, at least now we know. The only difference would be that my wife would have held a gun to my head, in order for me to turn around to retrieve her pocketbook. Just kidding, but I would have made that return trip, just to make sure that everything was back on track with our trip and no more surprises. jp

@jca A common theft practice is to steal pocket books from a car while the woman pumps her gas. Many women tend to leave their bag on the seat and not lock the car when they get gas. The thief opens the door from the other side of the car, staying below the window line, without notice. Happened to a friend of mine.

@CWOTUS yeah, I always try to keep money in two places, but my husband gets frustrated when everything is not in its place. In his mind there should not be cash laying around in the car, that is just me being sloppy and not putting it where it should be. But, maybe now he will go for it.

@john65pennington Actually, the majority of my friends who I told the story to, which is only 3 people, said they would go back also. I am very greatful that my husband was not angry. In the end I think we handled it well, even though we would have handled slightly differently if the other was not there.

Oh, and I did get the name of the woman who works at the welcome center, and the name of her boss, and the department to write, so I can send in a letter about how much I appreciate all the efforts she made.

@bob_ So, does that mean you think that’s it, it is gone, no way you are getting it back, no point in even trying?

From the answers here it seems like maybe men are less likely to think they will get their stuff back.

I understand where your husband is coming from; obviously so do some of your other friends. But the way I look at it, when the thing came up missing I would have written it off as lost then and there. I would certainly have appreciated the safe return, same as you and your husband, but I would not have expected it. So I’d be on Plan B by now: managing to live without it, and I would never have turned back.

And when I got it back, then I would be every bit as diligent as you in tracking down and thanking / rewarding the person who turned it in – and her boss and everyone within earshot! – so that she got proper recognition and appreciation for being exactly the kind of person she should be. But those credit / debit / ATM cards would have been cancelled first, too.

@CWOTUS I was doing both at once. Hoping for the best, and taking the precautions for the worst.

I one time lost an earing, and was pretty sure I might have lost while trying on clothing. I called the store, and it was not in the lost and found. When I worked in a store we were supposed to turn everything into lost and found in customer service, not keep it in the department. There was no way I could go to the store the next day, but the day after that I asked my husband to stop at the store on our way somewhere. He thought I was nuts, that I would never get it back. The earing was gold with diamonds, fake diamonds, but at a glance it is a very pretty, expensivish looking earing. I went back to one of the departments where I tried on clothes, and they had it. Had it in their drawer at the register. The salesperson said she had found it in the dressing room on the floor.

Another time I realized after a trip that I was missing a pair of shoes. I called one of the hotels we had stayed at, and the maid had turned in the shoes to the front desk. They sent me my shoes.

Another time I left my phone at a register at Walmart, and someone turned it in immediately. It all happened in atwo minutes, the people who turned it in were still at the register where I left it. I hate to say that I am not so sure I would have gotten the phone back if I had not gone back right away. They took a long time to get my phone out of the “back” and once before I had lost an address book in that same Walmart, and they were awful! I knew almost exactly where I lost it, either near the exit, or in the parking lot, which was dark now. Security, management, clerks, all horrible, unhelpful, and disgusting. After I went back and badgered them the next day because I could not let it go, security finally came up with the photo of me in the store where I have the book, and a mi ute later where it is missing. If they had helped me that night I might have gotten it back, at least I would have felt like they gave a shit. I hate thinking that their attitude was no way you are getting it back.

These four incidents are over years of time, I don’t really lose things often.

I have heard stories where people lost their wallets, and gotten them back with credit cards intact but cash missing. To me, that would still be a relief – to at least have the wallet and cards, without the cash. It’s the cards that’s a hassle to stop and replace, and the ATM card is a hassle, because until it gets replaced you have to go to the bank only when they’re open.

Knock on wood, I don’t lose things that often, either. I am usually pretty good about double chechecking when I get up from a chair in public.

As far as my pocketbook getting stolen out of my car when I pump gas, I am very observant of my surroundings. I’m not one of those dizzy broads that spaces out when I’m in public!

I’ll tell you of one of my experiences from the other side.

Many years ago I had a business dinner and late meeting at a nice place that we used to frequent in central Wisconsin. When the meeting broke up we all went to our cars in the back of the parking lot, which was pretty dark. I wasn’t drunk at all, but I was a little too careless when I backed my SUV out from the parking spot I had been in, turning the wheel too soon and accelerating too much; I completely stove in the door of a black Camaro that I hadn’t even seen parked next to my truck (when I looked out my window before I backed out of my spot I was looking right over the black roof of the car, and the spot looked empty).

There was nothing at all wrong with my car, so I drove up to the front of the restaurant and parked. I went inside to tell the manager that I had hit someone’s car, but I didn’t know whose. As I was telling him the story, I heard sobbing from the back of the restaurant, as our own waitress came in from the parking lot to wail that someone had done a hit and run on her car, and she’d never be able to pay the damages.

I raised my hand and gave her a weak smile as I told her, “I had to run in here to confess.” She was all smiles after that; it was worth the insurance claim just to see what my confession did for her disposition.

@jca I don’t have ATM cards, and only 4 credit cards, two of which are the same “bank” so that was one phone call. They say even if you get your wallet back, best to cancel the cards, because someone could have written down the numbers. American Express actually overnighted the new card, which I did not expect.

@CWOTUS My husband once did something similar, he left a note on the car, and they worked it out between he and the driver. The other car was old, and had several dents, I think the guy was very ok with getting some cash from us.

I also had a boss once who accidently hit a car in the parking lot, and she left a note. A small hit, kind of more of a swipe, having not judged the distance of the car well. The owner of the car tried to say my boss had done some of the other damage on the car. Literally, basically impossible, unless she had hit her, backed up, and then come at her again from another angle. The chutzpah! Here my boss did the decent thing, that many people would not do, and the owner of the car tried to take advantage. I really believe she just thought the insurance would cover it, and it does not hurt anyone, but my boss told the insurance she did not cause the other damage the woman was trying to claim.

Once when I was in a car accident, caused by someone else, they were cited by the police and everything, a friend of mine said, “start complaining about your neck and back, they’ll just give you $10k.” Seriously disappointing to me people think like that.

This is the reason they make chocolate, strawberry and vanilla ice cream..

Different strokes for different folks.

@JLeslie; we really need to meet in person sometime. Our husbands would get along great too.

I’d have called as you did and then gone back, yes. The driving would be worth the headaches of replacing the credit cards, DL, etc. etc. Although the Fed Ex idea was a good one too!
I left my wallet in a grocery cart a few months ago with cash, credit cards, DL, the usual whole nine yards of walletdom and was so happy that someone found it and turned it in to the store. I’m with you on the integrity bit, and agree it is pathetic how some people immediately look for ways to dishonestly profit. I have been rear ended and hit twice and it never has crossed my mind to fake an injury. Bah!

I also left a note on someones car once when I clipped them backing out of a parking space, I could see no visible damage, maaybe a faint scratch and they called to tell me no worries and were profusely appreciative of my integrity.

Glad it all worked out!

I’d go back. I’d call the welcome center if there was anybody there to ask them to get the purse. If it’s lost, cancel the credit cards, etc.

I, um, went to the registrar’s office in a town about 20 miles away to request my transcript. Half way home they called to tell me I HAD LEFT MY PURSE IN THEIR OFFICE!!! Thanks a lot @JLeslie! I could NOT figure out how I could have done that though…until my daughter got out of the car and we realized she’d been sitting on my billfold. I often take just my billfold in to stores so—that’s how it happened. Anyway, I have all my important stuff…phone, keys, billfold so it’s no biggie. But still. I can’t believe I did that TODAY after reading about your escapade this morning! I don’t suppose your husband wants to go after it for me…? PS. My husband does the same thing. Makes a decision and goes no further, even if better options pop up. What’s with that??

@Dutchess_III :)

@Dutchess_III That’s how I left my wallet in the shopping cart. I HATE lugging purses around. :-)

Me too…but we come in handy for OTHER PEOPLE with them things, don’t we. “Hey, Pack Mule Baby! I love you! Would you slip this 52” flat screen in your purse so I don’t have to carry it around?”

I had the same/very similar thing happen to me. Coming back from Disney Wolrd we landed and took the shuttle to the car. One hour into the ride home I asked for someone to get the water bottle out of the camera bag as I was thirsty. 10 silent minutes go by and I hear the camera bag is not here!?!

((STOP THE CAR))

I searched and searced no bag. That bag had not only my brand new video camera in it but my digital SLR as well. I had a tired family 10 minutes from home so I called the shuttle bus and they could not find the bag and suggested I come back tomorrow to see if it has been found…

YEAH RIGHT!

Devastated I just drove home. 4 am I get a call from the airport shuttle and they tell me they found my bag, HS! YAY!

Next day I went to pick it up and as they handed the bag to me I expressed my utter surprise that someone would find and turn this in.. He told me camera gear is NOTHING! He said we get TV’s, Fur Coats, Rolex watches, wallets full of $100’s…. He wished me a Merry Christmas and I vowed to always fly out of Mitchel Airport any chance I get!

We truly have lots of honest peeps here @Cruiser ;)

@SpatzieLover I know this very well because when I was scheduled to depart from Mitchel I hear my name on the intercom for me to return to the ticket counter where I had left my wallet which was loaded with cash. All of it still there too! I was amazed and humbled by both incidents.

Panic and drive back to get it.