It Came Around

I just returned from one of the most enjoyable weekends I’ve experienced in recent memory—I went to England to spend time with my oldest friend and her oh-so-sweet baby.  For my return trip I arrived at the airport with plenty of time to spare, so I indulged in one last round of British food.  Since I needed to reduce my supply of Pounds Sterling, I paid in cash.  I found a sunny spot to sit and tucked into my breakfast. 

Once I’d finished, I straightened up my purse and wallet and discovered that, unfortunately, I had £5 less than I should have.  I thought back over my morning: paying the taxi driver and getting change, purchasing my food—and surmised that I had given the man at the food counter £11.70, not £6.70 as I had intended.  In turn, he gave me change as though I had paid him £6.70.  I went over every possibility in my head and realized that was the only plausible scenario.  

At this point it had been at least 15 minutes since I’d made my purchase.  I turned to look at the checkout area and saw that there was a long line.  I checked the line every minute or so, and it never seemed to get any shorter.  I looked at my watch.  In a few minutes I should head to the gate area.  Was it worth it to even ask the question?  I decided to give it my best.  I found a break in the line and jumped in.

Me: I’m sorry, I’m sure it’s too late to do anything about it, but I believe I gave you £10 instead of £5

Checkout Dude: You know, I just found a £10 note in the £5 slot. I wondered what happened.
Me: I meant to give you £5. I’m so terribly sorry.
Checkout Dude: So, how much do I owe you?
Me: £5

And with that, he handed over £5.

I’ve always been a big believer in karma.  It’s one of the main reasons I often try to do the right thing—I simply don’t want to deal with payback down the road.   You might recall that I had a similar experience in November of 2008.  So, if you’ve ever wondered how long it takes the universe to return $10 (or £5), it looks like the answer is just about three years.

Comeuppance

As I may have mentioned before, I’m a bit of a late adopter.  My TV screen is not flat. My car (when I had one) did not have GPS.  And, until quite recently, my phone flipped open.  The phone became a bit of an issue.  Since my new job involves social media, everyone in my office has the latest and greatest in calling wizardry.  Left to my own devices, I probably would have upgraded eventually.  Probably.  But I quickly realized that not upgrading might prove to be a career-limiting move.

I ordered my Fancy New Phone (FNP) and immediately put the unopened box on the bottom shelf of the coffee table, where it remained for the better part of a month.  When I finally activated it, the heavens did not open and light did not suddenly fill my benighted life.

But there were little things:

• Two friends and I arrived at a theater only to discover that the movie we wanted to see was sold out.  I pulled out the FNP, found where else the movie was playing, bought tickets for the next showing, and got directions to the theater.
• A few weeks later I was casually shopping and couldn’t remember where a particular store was.  FNP to the rescue; and yes, I had been walking in the wrong direction.
• Last night I turned on my laptop to look for airline tickets.  After a few minutes I saw a pop-up that Security Shield had been installed, and everything on my laptop stopped working.  I tried every trick I could think of, and nothing was getting me anywhere closer to a functioning computer.  Try finding solutions online when your browser doesn’t work.  In desperation, I pulled out the FNP, searched for help, and found very specific instructions on how to fix my problem.  They actually worked. 

I don’t think that the outcome in any of these scenarios would have been drastically different without the FNP.  I could have called Moviefone and found those tickets.  I would have walked around a couple blocks and found the store eventually.  And I simply would have lived without my laptop for the night and, after a fretful night convinced that I would loose everything on it, used my work computer to find a solution.   No, the outcome wasn’t different, but it sure is easier to get there with my FNP.

Just don’t tell anyone I said that.