How on earth can you leave a whole camera bag in someone else’s car without realising? I’ll come to that in a bit. But first, I must say it’s not often that I take Uber since I’m a strong advocate of using honest taxies but I didn’t carry enough cash and needed to get to my destination in the shortest time possible to pick up a car and rush to my next appointment so Uber it was.
Since my next appointment was located at a site that’s quite suitable for a quick photoshoot, I decided to take my camera along.
Booking a ride this morning wasn’t difficult although I had to pay 1.5X the usual rate due to high demand. Confirmation of a vehicle came within minutes of booking and the vehicle arrived within 5 minutes. It was a white Axia, relatively new and being driven by a middle aged Malay uncle.
It was, as most Uber vehicles are, clean, bad odor-free and comfortable – well, as comfortable as an Axia can be. The smaller camera bag went into the car first, followed by my larger laptop bag before settling my arse on the rear left passenger seat. Abidin was his name and he was well-dressed and polite. Asked me if we could use toll roads to get to my destination. I said sure and he seemed to know his way well around town.
Thinking back, it’s so easy to overlook an extra bag, particularly when you’re used to carrying just your laptop bag around. The car stops by the side of a busy road, you sling your laptop bag onto your right shoulder, while your head swivels to your left as your left hand opens the door and off you go.
I did not realise I had left it in the car until 30 minutes later when I took delivery of the media car.
You can imagine the ensuing panic and the frustration I had at myself for being so absentminded.
Fortunately, Uber keeps track of all of its rides and it was a matter of recalling the history and finding my last ride details.
Need help? Sure I do and one of the help options there is “I lost an item”
I had to censor the details of the driver to protect his identity just as how Uber protects his details by asking me to enter my contact number. Uber then calls me (with a foreign number that has a registered origin of Bessemer, AL, United States) and patches me through to the driver.
He didn’t answer but I did get into his voice mail (which gave me his contact number because it stated “this is the mailbox for the number XXXX). I left a message asking him to check his back seat and call me back with my mobile number.
Two hours later, he did return my call, saying he found my camera and can meet me somewhere to return it. I said to him since it’s close to Friday afternoon prayers, please perform your prayers first. We can meet later. I could hear in his voice that he sincerely wanted to return it sooner but I was insistent so he said he will meet me around 3pm.
Then, I received this email from Uber
Seems that the moment you make a call to Uber, they have a system to check if a passenger did indeed leave something behind. I didn’t say the lost item was a bag so the description must have been provided by the driver.
He came, right on time and my camera bag was returned intact. He said he picked up two more fares after me but fortunately, no one took it and he himself didn’t realise it was there until I messaged him. I wanted to give him a reward but he kept saying it is his job and no reward is necessary. I kept urging him to accept for his troubles and in the end, he relented, which made me feel so much better for putting him through so much inconvenience.
To Encik Abidin, thank you so much for your willingness to meet me and return my camera. We might say that it’s all in the system and we can track it all but he could have easily said that he didn’t see it and the camera might have been taken by his fares, which makes the tracking process a lot harder and I might not even get it back.
I wish I could do more to reward your honesty but I guess for now, this would have to do. May all your endeavors be blessed. That fortune always smile upon you and income flows easily to you.
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