Last week I came back from class and was waiting outside the Livi Student Center for my friends to get off a bus. I put my phone and brand new Rutgers wallet ($6 at the Livi store) next to me on the wall by the bike rack and was talking on the phone to my family (yes kids, we are supposed to still be calling home once in a while). From there I went to the post office, the library, and finally to the dining hall where suddenly, GASP, I realized I no longer had my wallet.
I called home, again, and explained that I love my brand new wallet with: my car key, room key, student ID, drivers license, credit card (with a $10,000 limit), AND my Auntie Annes Pretzel stamp card (after 50 pretzels I get one free!!!!). Don't worry, I got my pretzel card back along with all of my other belongings. But I had to jump through hoops to get everything settled again. Here's a list of things to do if you lose any of these items:
1. Retrace your steps pronto. Don't go to the dining hall or gym first, make sure you figure out where the last place was you had your wallet and check everywhere you have been since then. Ask at the student centers and any other public buildings (on Livi, this includes the dining hall, post office, store, sutdent center reference desk, and library reference desk). If you can't find it...
2. Call the RU police and explain you think you have either lost or stolen your wallet. They will help you determine if it was lost or stolen. For me, they filed it under a theft because no one had handed it in to lost and found. So if you have retraced your steps and checked at all reference desks and no wallet had been turned in, you CAN call this a theft (because, while you were still the dumbass who left your wallet somewhere, someone else still picked up your wallet and walked away with it).
3. The police dispatcher who you speak with on the phone will ask where you are. STAY THERE until the police come and meet you.
4. File a Case Report with them. They will ask how much your wallet (or whatever item it was) is worth, how much money was in it, and what else was in it (keys, ID, credit cards...). They're going to give you a Case Report number.
5. Change your locks. The police will call the locksmith who will come to your door and change the locks FOR FREE (only if you filed your wallet as a theft). You will then need to take your roomates old keys to a Housing Office and hand them in.
6. If you are like me and have the luck of getting your wallet back, make sure you call the police to cancel the case file and return your key to housing also.
If you ever find a wallet/keys/personal belongings: get the name of the owner if it's on the belongings, and give it to the closest lost and found. This may be a student center, library, cafeteria, etc. If you hand it in the authorities will be able to contact the owner and return it before they go through the trouble of filing case report and changing their locks. Just MAKE SURE you find them on facebook if you have their name and let them know where you handed in their belongings so they know where it last was and who had it.
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