Jetlag

Things could happen in life that make us lose trust. But we need to be able to trust, even if it’s hard. Never give up on that. Trust again, trust in life, trust in people, trust in yourself, trust in luck.

I have just attended the SCA coffee trade show in Chicago, and on the second day I lost my mobile on a taxi.

It shouldn’t be that hard to get it back, right? Right?

Well… I thought it so.

I took the taxi leaving the trade show for lunch, I imagined I could recover it back if I go there again. So I went. And I wait. And I wait. But it didn’t come, my taxi.

Eventually I saw a policeman, two actually. Very kind. Extremely kind. They helped me by lending me their mobile so I can call my number. No one replied. I tried again, and nothing.

They tried to identify the identity of the taxi driver by the number of the cab but they couldn’t. Apparently the Chicago taxis are operated by a sort of lease which makes hard to actually identify taxi drivers. Crazy, isn’t it?

The policeman told me: I have to tell you something, it is quite possible you won’t see your mobile back. Even if we could identify the driver he might just say he didn’t see it and probably another passenger took it.

I went to my hotel. We put so many things on our mobiles these days that losing it, you almost feel naked.

I started talking with my wife (through a colleague’s Whatsapp) and clever as she always is on these situations, told me: let me locate it with the IPad. And she did. One hour from my hotel, north way the suburbs. But not moving. Took my chance. Not any taxi wanted to take me that late, there, on a Saturday eve. Until one did. I didn’t know if it moved already, but we leave blindly.

We arrived to a neighborhood where I was welcomed by an old guy asking me what the heck was I doing there. I gave the number of the house I had. He said it was next door. And I was welcomed back again by an old lady asking what was I doing there, that I did not have nothing to do there. I told her my story, and she said I should see the guy next door that initially welcomed me, as his soon was a taxi driver. Went back to him, explained my story. And he said “well you know what, my son is at the mosque, but the taxi is parked here, let’s go see”. We went, and my mobile was there. He called his son and put me on the phone “I am sorry, you were my last shift and I didn’t see your mobile. Went back to my house and had a sleep before going to the mosque. Please don’t think I was trying to steal it from you, I’d ask my dad to offer you a courtesy drink”.

And I smiled. What else you could do?