Losing My iPhone

When I’m really busy at work, I forget things, personal things. The last time this happened it was in 2007 and I ended up flooding the bathroom in my apartment.

Luckily for me, this happens so rarely because I’m completely OCD about not forgetting things. But this year, the night before my birthday party, I lost my phone at work.

Was running late to meet co-workers for dinner, but wanted desperately wanted to find it. I ran quickly back into the office to look for it. Using Find My iPhone, I see that it’s still in the building, however when I trigger the alert I don’t hear it in the bathroom or anywhere near my desk. Now, very behind for dinner, I put off the hunt to quest for it later.

1am later…

Yeah, seriously. I want my iPhone back in my possession. All throughout dinner and game night (Magic the Gathering draft, nerdcore, I know), I longed desperately for my iPhone and secretly stressed over the next day when I knew I would get actual calls, even though on any other day I wouldn’t expect any.

I run back to the office with iPad in hand to try to find my precious again. I look at the iPad on the Find My iPhone app and where GPS says my iPhone is, and zoom into the map. Hrm… my phone is actually on the side of the building that doesn’t belong to our group. I move into that area and head towards a row of desks near the window on GPS. Now it’s time to trigger the sound alert that you can ring for 3 minutes.

By George! I hear it. Darting in between a couple cubes, I start getting excited to be reunited with my right arm again. I hear that it’s coming from a file cabinet drawer, and low and behold I reach out to pull on the drawer…

It’s locked. Sadface! The remainder of the 3-minute alert continues to ring as I jingle the drawer, hoping that through some miraculous turn of fates, I am able to break my iPhone free from its steel prison. No such miracle occurs, and instead, I take note of who’s desk it is and email them once I stroll crest-fallen back to my apartment.

I’m sad and cynical. My iPhone is locked in someone’s drawer and it’s 2am. “What if this lady isn’t willing to come in on the weekend? What will I do?”

Unable to sleep without a plan B, I decide…

I will pick the lock if she doesn’t come in, after all, it’s my phone that this lady locked in a drawer.

Reality calling “Jess, you do not know how to pick locks?”

“I may not know, but YouTube will!” Take that Reality!

Criteria for lock picking is this:

  1. Needs to be easy
  2. Must be done with something I already have at home
I youtube “file cabinet lock picking” and come up with this. It fits all the criteria and allows me to drift off to sleep knowing that I have a backup plan.
The next morning, I discover the lady who found my iPhone is an early riser. We email back and forth several times and she came in and unlocked the drawer before 10:30am. I skipped over to retrieve it, and thoughts of righteous cat burglary remain only as thoughts that in my imagination.

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