If You Love Something, Set It Free...
Over the weekend, I managed to pull off the mind-blowing feat of losing not one but two items in Stockholm's vaunted transportation system. On Friday night, heading out to an outdoor concert, I somehow left my umbrella in the subway. Not just any ordinary umbrella, mind you, but a nice windproof model that my folks had just mailed to me in a care package. Then on Saturday, I left my cell phone on the train heading for the ferry terminal. I don't know what's wrong with me—I seem to have caught a case of the stupids, possibly from staying out late one night too many, and am now paying the price.
This morning, I mentally re-traced my steps: I knew I had the phone a few minutes before heading out the door, since I'd replied to an SMS as I was getting ready; but by the time we arrived in Visby, I was going to call some friends to make dinner plans for the evening, and I noticed it was gone.
Having convinced myself that the only place I could possibly have left my things was on one of the trains, I called lost and found at Storstockholms Lokaltrafik (SL), the organization that runs the local city buses, trains, and ferries. They had me go to the lost and found office in person, since there are so many umbrellas in there that doing it over the phone would be impractical. Not surprisingly, no one had turned in my phone... but sure enough, there's my umbrella right on the front of the first rack, with a sticker indicating that it was turned in yesterday.
So I point it out to the clerk at the counter, and she says, "twenty crowns, please." Yes, you understood that correctly: they don't ask for any identification or proof of ownership, but they charge you to get your own belongings back. With customer service like this, I might as well sign up for AOL, then try to cancel my subscription.
Remarkable. Despite the fact that I live in one of the world's most highly taxed countries* (Iwill have more to say on that in an upcoming this post), I have to pay for the privilege of getting my own stuff out of the #@$%ing lost and found. Sheesh.
*Official motto: "We're going to tax the living bejeezus out of you... and you'll like it." Which, though it is not widely known, narrowly edged out the other leading motto candidate: "Bend over."
This morning, I mentally re-traced my steps: I knew I had the phone a few minutes before heading out the door, since I'd replied to an SMS as I was getting ready; but by the time we arrived in Visby, I was going to call some friends to make dinner plans for the evening, and I noticed it was gone.
Having convinced myself that the only place I could possibly have left my things was on one of the trains, I called lost and found at Storstockholms Lokaltrafik (SL), the organization that runs the local city buses, trains, and ferries. They had me go to the lost and found office in person, since there are so many umbrellas in there that doing it over the phone would be impractical. Not surprisingly, no one had turned in my phone... but sure enough, there's my umbrella right on the front of the first rack, with a sticker indicating that it was turned in yesterday.
So I point it out to the clerk at the counter, and she says, "twenty crowns, please." Yes, you understood that correctly: they don't ask for any identification or proof of ownership, but they charge you to get your own belongings back. With customer service like this, I might as well sign up for AOL, then try to cancel my subscription.
Remarkable. Despite the fact that I live in one of the world's most highly taxed countries* (I
*Official motto: "We're going to tax the living bejeezus out of you... and you'll like it." Which, though it is not widely known, narrowly edged out the other leading motto candidate: "Bend over."
posted by Biff at 01:56
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