Big Stuff you Lost and/or Found

[DeathVan]

What have you lost?
What have you found?

I was having this conversation with some friends the other day and the stories were pretty cool.

I'm sure the Maggot collective has lost and found loads of big shit.

Lost: I once lost my Mom's car (convertible '73 Super Beetle) for 2 solid days after boozing it up in NW Portland.

Found: 12 years old, walking through town, found a $20 in a bush. Walked straight over to the pizza parlor and spent the whole thing on Tron, Joust, Tempest and Dragon's Lair.

[Poop~Ghost]

My friend got lost when she was about 6 years old.

Her folks left for a couple hours her at a gas station on a road trip before they realized she wasn't in the car.

To be fair they had 3 kids, so losing one is understandable.

[Bobcat Sig]

After hooking a tip and wrecking in a skree pile, I lost my Suunto watch. It's going to cost nearly $300 to replace that thing. Lame.

/firstworldproblem

[Yanos]

My friend got lost when she was about 6 years old.

Her folks left for a couple hours her at a gas station on a road trip before they realized she wasn't in the car.

To be fair they had 3 kids, so losing one is understandable.

Are you sure that SHE wasn't a HE and instead of a Gas Station it was the Grand Canyon?

They should make a movie about that...

[stuckathuntermtn]

At 16 I lost my virginity and found out how much I fucking love titties.

[iceman]

Drove away from a 3-day-old mtb after a ride, left it leaning against a tree, didn't realize it until the next day when I went to put it in the truck to go ride again.


(Normally I put the bike in the bed of the truck first thing but it was scorching hot and I had run out of water so I grabbed some water from the truck first and then spaced, d'oh!)

[RShea]

Found- $300 dollars sitting on the sidewall one time at a Hotel. Reported to the front desk just I found some money and the guy that lost it inquired about it in the morning. I returned it since he knew the exact amount. He was carrying it stuffed down in his shoe.

[Missiongravity]

I got in a bad habit of setting my wallet on my gas tank while I filled my motorcycle...one day I had just pulled cash out to pay rent and had $450 in my wallet and left it on my gas tank. Forgot about it and never saw that wallet again.

Found so many things in my life I can never remember them all.

I did want a desert storm shirt so bad when I was a kid that I would beg my mom all the time to get me one. She politely declined while insinuating that only red necks wore shirts advertising the war. Well later that summer she took me to the beach and while I was swimming out over my head I decided to try and touch bottom and lo and behold what did I find? The Desert Storm shirt I had pined for all along.

[iceman]

This one was pretty weird. Okay my family wwas Catholic. I had my first communion at 7 and got a St. Joseph's medal on a chain, it's part of the deal that you get a medal of your same-name-saint I think. I can't remember half that shit any more.

Anyways I was spinning it around on my finger by the chain and it flew off into some bushes and I lost it.

Seven years later I was cutting some brush and there it was, good as new, hanging from a branch right at eye level. St. Joseph himself. Shortly thereafter I lost it again.

Seven years later I was home from college and I walked through the living room of my parents house and there it was in the middle of the living-room carpet. Just sitting there right in the middle of the room, not close to anything. It was pretty weird. Never figured that one out.

Shortly thereafter I lost it again. I've been semi-sorta-half-expecting it to show up at each 7 year anniversary since then, but no dice.

[MakersTeleMark]

When I was a kid I really wasn't into sports. My Dad was Irish, didn't know what to do with anything round, or fast. My Mom was a career waitress. Reggie Jackson was one of her regulars, and she got me an autographed ball. It's the only ball I would play with in the backyard.

One day, almost to the point where you couldn't see his autograph, I launched it into the woods. Never could find it.

Another day, much more recent, after a huge fun session, I pull out and the condom isn't there. It wasn't in the sheets either.

After a full fisting five finger probe couldn't find it, she goes in- I swear must have been past the cervix- because I Jacque Cousteau'd it, and, damn she finds it hiding - deep.

[Crass3000]

When I was in college I was doing some homework (in a hall sitting on the ground) and for some I noticed a girl playing with her ring. I'm assuming it must have been her new engagement ring since she was playing with it so much. Once classes changed she was nowhere to be found but I just happened to notice her ring was sitting there. It was a pretty big rock, I'm assuming roughly 2 carots from what I know now. It was so big I actually thought it probably wasn't even real. I ended up turning it into the office and didn't think anything of it as I thought it was fake. Couple days later the lady in the office that I turned it into saw me and said, "That was a really nice thing you did by turning that ring in the other day. The owner was speechless." I guess it must have been real. I'm assuming I must have found a ring worth upwards of $6K+ conservatively. No wishing i should have kept it. I was a dirt-bag college student who got by on next to nothing. I still think to this day I might have saved her marriage.

The person who started the thread mentioned losing a car for a couple days after a hell of a night at a bar. Unfortunately that's happened to me a few times. Take a cab to a few different bars and have no recollection of even being at the first bar. Man I was happy to see the my car when I found it a couple times.

[iceman]

The morning after a night out, my buddy calls me and says, "I can't believe this shit, somebody stole my car right out of my driveway."

I say, "That's messed up. What's even more messed up is that they drove it over here and left it in my driveway."

He had no memory of walking the 3+ miles home the night before. Good thing he walked, I guess.

[XXX-er]

I rented a windsurfer off of a very strange girl at the lake at 4pm who left and didnt show up again so at 7pm at night I took it home

when I called the RCMP to report the incident the cop on the phone told me that if I had found the property they would come & pick it up but I had entered into a business deal to rent said windsurfer so it was not really "found property " and so if the girl reported a missing windsurfer they would put her in touch with me, never heard from her ... used it for many years

[iceman]

I left a New year's party years ago and halfway home I found my best bud asleep in a snowbank. It was about zero or so that night, pretty sure he would've frozen, he was out like a light.

[hitek79]

My wife lost her wedding ring. Came out ok with insurance though.

Not sure if this is the typical find, but my dad bought a big warehouse that a couple of brothers and sisters sold after their dad died, and when he and I started cleaning it up, we found a baseball signed by the entire St Louis Cardinals including Stan Musial, and a ball signed by the Yankees including Roger Maris. We also found a sweet ass old golf cart that my dad had totally restored. I want to say it was built in the 40's or 50's. Pretty crazy that no one ever went to see what was left there.

[ACHTUNG]

I used to buy salvaged sailboats and would restore them for re-sale. I found a 1.5 carat diamond earring when I was cleaning out a Norseman cutter that I had just bought.

I had the stone appraised and found out it was worth just over $7K. After leaving the jeweler that appraised it I stupidly put it in my car's coin tray where it sat for a few days. Then I let my girlfriend (at the time) borrow my car. Being nice she took it to the local car wash for a wash and a vacuum. She didn't know it was in the tray and vacuumed it up.

We went back, told the car wash guys what happened so they let us sift through the vacuum cleaner but we never found it.

c'est la vie...

[iceman]

Not sure if this is the typical find...

Oh yeah, people find those things all over the place, you can hardly walk down the sidewalk without stepping on them.

[HankScorpio]

I had my car broken into last year. Assholes stole my GPS, wallet, Camelback and iPod. Some lady returned my wallet and GPS because the crooks tossed it onto her lawn while the cops chased them.

It worked out well for me. I got my wallet and GPS back. Insurance paid for a new iPod, Camelback and all the tools in the Camelback. And I read in the paper the next day the jerk offs got arrested and tossed in jail. I think my renter's insurance went up $2 a month because of the claim.

[DeathVan]

A buddy and I were drinking at Tony's Bar "The Biggest Navigational Hazard on Kodiak" last summer and boat crews were in from halibut fishing so guys were flush with enormous cash rolls. As one drunk got up to leave he threw his coat over his shoulder and walked out, I looked down on the ground where he had been sitting to see a 3 inch diameter cash roll (probably in the $5-7 range). I picked it up and fondled it for a minute then told the bartender, she rolled her eyes and 5 minutes later a panicked drunk deckhand came running back into the bar. Needless to say he was stoked and rang the bell for the house.

sidetrack: Do you guys have bells at your bars?
ie. You ring the bell and buy a round for the house?
-tourists often ring the bell and don't know what it means which causes severe anger and yelling

[iceman]

Bells at bars I have worked at or hung out at are usually for the bartenders/wait staff to ring when they get a big tip, it's sort of encouragement for others to tip, basically.

[GeezerSteve]

IME, you ring the bell or direct the bartender to ring the bell, you are obligated to buy a round for house. I stay the fuck away from the bell.

[HD333]

Bells at bars I have worked at or hung out at are usually for the bartenders/wait staff to ring when they get a big tip, it's sort of encouragement for others to tip, basically.

That is how I understand the bell ringing works, big tip bell gets rung. But from what others said I am not touching a bell in a bar, unless I find a bankroll on the floor.

Back on track:
Lost/Found- I once lost my wedding ring in the water in front of the lake house. I gave up after a half hour. Wife found it in the sand 5 hrs later, she wasn't looking for 5 hrs just dumb luck.

[Mofro261]

My wife used to fly to Manchester UK for work every couple of months, and would always stay at the Golden Tulip across from Man U stadium. I'd given her a pair of white gold and diamond earrings worth ~$2-3K as an anniversary gift, and they went missing out of the hotel room/were lost on a trip around Christmas. She searched all her stuff but they never showed up. She was embarrassed to tell me, they hadn't been insured, and we were certain they'd never be seen again.

2 trips and about 4 months later she is back at the Golden Tulip and sees the front desk clerk wearing earrings that look verrrry similar to the lost ones, but they're diamond hoops and maybe she's not totally sure since they were not an uncommon style. She contacts the hotel manager with her suspicion the the girl says they were a gift from her dad along with a diamond necklace, and agrees to let the manager show them to my wife. My wife is then convinced they are hers and we contact the small jeweler we bought them from for any unique markings, and the hotel manager has the necklace and earrings sent out to a UK jeweler for appraisal. Jeweler confirms earrings are 18K and marked with a K- common in US and high quality diamonds, and necklace is cheap glass chips and 9ct, common European stamp.

Wife gets earrings back, hotel girl is sacked.

[userA]

i lose shit all the time but found an angel that lets me ski anytime i need.
i need alot
bobby

[Crampedon]

I found a beat up back pack on the beach it St. Martin in 1980 with a nikon motor drive and two lenses. It had been rained on but still worked. I used it for a few years and sold it for $1000.

My dad was visiting me on Block Island once, went in a surf shop and was picking through a bunch of canvas velcro wallets in a big bin. He opened one and said hey look, showed me it had 6 $100's in it. Bonus!

A few months ago Marcus walks in my shop and sees my black canon camera, says he found one just like it at Burning man. He turned it in to lost and found, no one claimed it and they mailed it to him. I said bro, take a piece of paper, write your name and number on it and take a pic of it, in case you lose it. I did mine right in front of him. A week later I left mine on the hood of my truck and pull out of my pasture. Looked everywhere for days. 3 weeks later I get a call, some tourists on a bike tour down Haleakala found it as saw my name going through the pics! Gave them a nice little rolled up reward.

Found a hot asian chicks ski pass on a lanyard WITH car key on it outside the George in Vail. Went all through the place, found her by her pic and gave it to her, was a total bitch, did not even offer to buy me a beer. Should have let her walk to Denver.