found: one wallet

this weekend, my sister, of rampant douchbaggery and my mom and i went mattress shopping. it was a 60th birthday gift to my mom, who was badly in need of a new mattress, her last one having been purchased before carter was in office. so, we went to american mattress, where the badly coiffed salesman put the pressure on us and his badly bad manager put even more pressure on us. so we went across the street to bedding experts (ah, you gotta love the suburbs. oh wait. no, you don't). we get a bed there. but it all happened too quickly. it was only 2:30. the day couldn't be over yet! we. must. do. more. shopping!

against my mother's wishes, we went to the mall. the aspect of a free clinque make-over appealed to my sister (and i think i heard my mom inwardly groan). so to woodfield we go! we park somewhere within the same zip code and rest on a planter once we reached the doors to macy's. i notice a business card on the ground. and my mom notices a wallet in the planter.

"is that a real wallet?" she asked? i pick up the buldging item, promptly spilling everything that's in all over the ground, but not before i notice that there's actual greenbacks in there.

"it IS a wallet!" i declare. mom thinks we should turn it over to macy's lost and found. having worked retail before, i know how long personal items can languish in a department store's l & f. i decide that i'd find a way to get the wallet back to its rightful ownwer.

when scott, shannon and i went out for pizza later that night, i pulled it out and tried to see if there was some contact information i could use. here is a brief list of the items that were in there:

NJ ID
NJ driver's license
SS card
2 credit cards
a signed check for $25
black check with dupe attached
a check for the wallet owner's birthday for $25
an expired phone card
recipt for $800 worth of suits
birth certificate
$140 in cash
many, many business cards and notes

there was a business card with a website on it, which lead me to an email address. i wrote, saying if an identification could be made, i'd return the wallet. and he actually wrote me back! i guess he had come to chicago for a convention and he was sitting on that same planter waiting for his hotel bus. his wallet must have fallen out of his back pocket. he said that he had been looking in three states for it. when he asked me if there was anything left in it, i said, "everything is left in it." he was incredibly grateful.

so i sent it back to him today. but here's a picture for those of you who just can't quite comprehend how much stuff was in this wallet.

ps. makeovers were had, much to my mother's chagrin.