I was on a continuous set of calls while at Newark airport recently and absent-mindedly left my bag at security. I got food and reached my gate with plenty of time to spare.
It was only when the calls were done that I realized that my bag was not with me. I had walked around plenty while on the phone – so, I traced my steps back and didn’t find the bag. I checked with airport police – no dice. I walked back to security check and asked two guards who weren’t helpful either.
So I went back to the gate and asked around – starting with the attendant at my gate. It wouldn’t have been possible for someone to be more unhelpful. “Not my problem” sounds painful when you’re dealing with said problem. I asked a few more people – nobody really knew who could help.
A gate helper at a nearby gate shared that my flight was going to be delayed an extra half an hour. That was a relief – and I was grateful to her for sharing that.
Still, I was getting increasingly desperate as I continued asking airport staff. That’s when a gentleman named Eduardo – also airport staff – walked by. He said he’d just helped someone find a bag and he’d help. He asked me questions about where I’d been and we began retracing steps again. Again, no luck. But Eduardo was calm, patient, and collected.
There was a moment during the questioning when I said – “Eduardo, I think I didn’t have it then.. but at this point, I’m feeling like an idiot. So I don’t really know whether I’m right.”
To which, Eduardo simply replied – “It’s okay man. You’ve just lost your bag.”
His message was loud and clear – don’t overreact. It’s just a lost bag – we just have to go through the process step-by-step. Something about that message got me back to problem solving mode and gave me home. As we’d exhausted all our options, I asked if it made sense to go back to security.
That was the only logical option. But we’d have to run as the flight looked like it was about to board.
And so we did. This time, I walked past the unhelpful first set of agents to the next set. Did they have a gray bag in their lost and found?
Voila – they did.
I thanked Eduardo, scanned the airport’s compliments website and left him as nice a note as I could.
4 reflections –
(1) Multi-tasking always has a cost. Stay extra vigilant with your stuff in new places.
(2) Focus on the problem vs. your feelings about yourself or what caused the problem. It will help you solve problems faster.
(3) Often, our days and weeks are made positive by the kindness of strangers. Eduardo saved me so much trouble. And he did so by simply being kind – kindness that gave me hope. His kindness will remain etched in my memory. Thank you, Eduardo.
(4) I’m not generally thankful for flight delays. But, if it wasn’t for the delay, I wouldn’t have found my bag.
As the saying goes, good? bad? who knows?
