So I found a ring on the sidewalk...

[Siamese Kitty]

Wow, what an amazing story! And a very happy ending (for the ring and the couple). Yikes, I feel bad now for dismissing the possibility of finding the owner.

Lesson learned for sure.

 

[Deactivated member 42515]

im still kind of in shock about the whole thing! I cant believe the owner of the ring was someone that was so close! i never really think of the small world we live in, but i guess its true. like the thing with kevin bacon haha is it like 7 steps to kevin bacon or something?

Maybe PS has special jewelry magic behind it hehehe

I wish the best to the couple to reconcile. She seemed pretty happy about them getting back together. and now that she has the ring, she doesn't have to feel bad. She told me she was worried about telling him because he had been asking haha crazy...

 

[Collee]

Date: 12/26/2009 9:32:06 PM
Author: neatfreak
Weird.

I agree. Impeccable timing.

 

[jewelz617]

Wow, crazy how everything got resolved so quickly. Strange.

 

[waterlilly]

Date: 12/27/2009 10:59:58 AM
Author: Collee

<b>Date:</b> 12/26/2009 9:32:06 PM
<b>Author:</b> neatfreak
Weird.

I agree. Impeccable timing.

Ummmm, yeah. Quite a turn of events.

 

[Bliss]

Wow, that is amazing! I love stories like this.

I've had eerily strange incidences like this where things just seemed like they were meant to be. Maybe the PS thread led to YayTacori sending out new inquiries... And that was the cosmic nudge needed for the ring to find its owner once again. You never know!

Miracles do happen.

 

[Laila619]

How crazy

 

[Deactivated member 42515]

if you guys don''t believe me its ok... cuz i don''t believe it myself...it all seems too perfect to me...

 

[yssie]

Oh, no, we believe you!

Crazy, though!! How perfectly everything worked out in the end

 

[clgwli]

Oh wow, unbelievable! I mean it is, but it isn''t. I used to live in a small town and that kind of stuff could easily happen that quickly.

I am glad you found the owner given the history of it all!

 

[tanj]

Yaytacori i''m glad it turned out a happy ending.

 

[So Excited]

Hooray SS!!

So happy that this turned out well, what a nice Christmas present for the owner!

 

[beechezz]

I loved reading about the reunion of this ring with its owner after all of this time. Christmas has worked its magic again!!!

 

[Amber St. Clare]

Date: 12/26/2009 9:25:02 PM
Author: miraclesrule
I have mixed feelings about this situation. When I took over the security department of a large hotel, I discovered their lost and found practices needed a complete overhaul in order to unite lost items with their owners. They also had a locked small safe for ''valuables''. I inherited the small safe and the responsibility to create a policy and procedure for disposing of the items if reunification was not probable.

There was one item that I could tell was of great value. A diamond wedding ring. It was unforunate that the ring was found in a public area restroom, as opposed to a guest room. The latter being easier to track occupants. However, this was a very large convention hotel, so convention guests may not be room guests. Nobody ever called for the ring. By the time I had to deal with it, it had been over a year and a half.

I didn''t know what to do. I also knew that I could take the ring and keep it. I also knew that I could ask my manager what to do with the ring and he wouldn''t have an easy answer either. So, I did what my conscience told me to do....I gave it away.

After mulling over the options, I searched my soul for guidance, and since my office was located in the ''housekeepng'' section, I knew that there were a lot of hard working, underpaid women walking by my door at any given moment. I decided that the next person to walk by my door would be pulled in by me...told about the ring, and then given to her...or him (chances were slim it would be a man...and honestly, I think I would have waited for the next person to walk by, if it was a man).

It turned out to be the laundry department manager. To this day, I don''t regret what I did. I am always concerned with my ''karma''. Okay, I did freak out a litlle bit when she later told me she had it appraised and I realized that I could have sent my daughter to a much better college with that money

, but aside from that....I think it''s good to go with your gut.

YayTacori,
I sense that you harbored a little bit of guilt over keeping the ring and your post was a bit of a confessional. Posting this on PS was one brave confessional....

Let your conscience be your guide. Perhaps it was your karma that you found the ring...

I fail to see the logic in your actions...from what I read this ring was NOT yours to "bestow" on anyone. You kept soething that didn''t belong to you AND made someone an accomplice to your misdeed.

 

[Sizzle]

Glad to hear that you found the rightful owner and GOOD GOD some people on here are judgemental! I don''t think there''s always one concrete "right thing to do" in these situations, period. I don''t think anyone has an obligation to "move heaven and earth" to find the person who lost a piece of jewelry. I think you should always post a "valuable item found" sign for a reasonable period of time (The police here said 60 days). and if the owner does not show up, to the Victor goes the spoils, PERIOD.


As for giving the ring away that was a part of the lost and found at the hotel. WOW, that was really above and beyond. If it had been THAT long, I think that was your ring ring to have (prioviding you had contacted the police to report such a valuable item".

I speak as someone who lost my engagement ring and it was never retrieved. I filed a police report with two different police departments and was pretty much told "too bad so sad". One officer told me while he had seen several people come in LOOKING for a lost ring he had NEVER had one turned in in his 25 years on the force... pretty sad.

 

[jewelz617]

Well the ring is back with it's owner. Yay

 

[PinkTower]

It is hard to know what to do when you find something. The important thing is that the ring has been reunited with the owner!


Just this year, I turned in two items. One was a large ziplock bag of coins and small bills I found in a bathroom stall in an airport. There is no time to make a police report when you are catching a flight. I gave it to the nearest gate attendant, and I have no idea what happened to it from there. The other was a gift card I found on the ground in front of a nationwide chain. The gift card was the most interesting. The SA checked and told me that there was $40 left on the card.
I left it in case anyone came in looking for it. A few weeks later, I checked back, and was told that the gift card was still there, but whoever told me that there was $40 on it was wrong, there was a zero balance. Very strange, huh?

 

[brellymom]

I think you did the right thing - both times. Finding something on the sidewalk is not the same as finding it inside a building. It could have fallen out of a pocket anywhere. You did some stuff to locate the owner then, I don''t think I would have even thought to go to the police with it. Maybe I am dense myself, but I would probably have done what you did - tried, put it away, agonized over it every so often. I am so happy for you that you found the owner - what an awesome story. And I LOVE the way you come across as totally ecstatic at returning it - that to me shows your heart. What a wonderful HOliday gift to the owner and to you too!

 

[AprilBaby]

Sorry, whole story sounds fishy to me.

 

[Steel]

I know you are not selling, but I am not buying it.

If it walks like a duck & quacks like a duck.

 

[decodelighted]

It seems like the kind of Xmas story the local paper would want to write about! Why not give them a call! Would love to see a link to the article posted here -- complete with pix!

 

[miraclesrule]

Ditto Deco...it would make a great story.

 

[Deactivated member 42515]

Date: 12/28/2009 3:55:06 PM
Author: decodelighted
It seems like the kind of Xmas story the local paper would want to write about! Why not give them a call! Would love to see a link to the article posted here -- complete with pix!

that sounds like a great idea!

 

[y2kitty]

In college I lost my wallet. I went to college in Winston-Salem, NC. Like five months later I got a call from a man who found my wallet on the beach in Savannah, Georgia (my ID card was in it, he called the school''s main number, and they connected him to me). How did my wallet turn up 500 miles away? Strange things happen in this world, so I am willing to take this story at face value without doubting it. Very happy the ring found its owner.

 

[hihowareyou]

Date: 12/28/2009 7:50:16 AM
Author: Amber St. Clare
I fail to see the logic in your actions...from what I read this ring was NOT yours to ''bestow'' on anyone. You kept soething that didn''t belong to you AND made someone an accomplice to your misdeed.

I depends where you live/work I guess but when I used to work in retail if lost property wasn''t claimed within 6 months it became the property of the finder. We used to have to log all lost property and returned quite a lot of stuff to very grateful owners but it wasn''t possible to store all lost property indefinitely (musical instruments, school bags, umbrellas, etc). I kind of think an exception could be made for small expensive items like rings but I guess applying a blanket rule has its merits too.

I remember one day picking up an envelope stuffed with money at work (when I was 16) and handing it in. I''m certain to this day that the floor manager filled out the paperwork in her name and when no one claimed it took it as her own. I asked she about it a few weeks later and was told no one had claimed it yet and it was in my name but never heard about it again. Surely you don''t wait a few weeks before going back to a supermarket looking for the $1000+ you had stuffed in an envelope and lost? If I lost that amount of money I would immediately retrace my steps asking everyone along the way. I suspect it was probably money tied to drugs or something given where I worked so the person probably didn''t claim it for fear or having to deal with the police.

 

[Amber St. Clare]

I apologize--aparently I mis-read your original post.

 

[Bella_mezzo]

So cool! I''m glad it worked out!!!

 

[platinumrock]

Date: 12/28/2009 9:25:50 PM
Author: miraclesrule
Ditto Deco...it would make a great story.

+1

That''s an awesome story! It gave me chills just reading it.

 

[Roxie Bling]

As someone who has had their ring lost or stolen, I really empathize with this story.

I realized in November that my e-ring was no longer in my jewelry box. I needed to get it resized so I left it there in a ring box along with my wedding band. When I went to get to take it on a girls vacation (so men would know I was taken), the ring box was gone. I have had housecleaners, exterminators, babysitters, contractors in my house throughout the past year and I don't think I can just ask everyone if they know anything about it. Plus, like anyone would say "yes". Honestly, I was wanting a new setting (it was yellow gold), and I wanted to upgrade the center diamond but resuse the small diamonds in a new setting...but the diamonds were my grandmother's, and it really hurts that they will no longer be in my family.

So, I try to find comfort in thinking that someone needed more than me. That they maybe hocked it to help put food on their table or clothe their children. If however, they kept it just to wear, I would be very sad.

I am convinced that it is not lost, but if it had been. If someone had found it and had done everything possible (posters, ads, etc.) to reunite it with me, I think a great idea would be to donate the money to a charity that fights against Blood Diamonds. At least then there would be some poetic justice to things coming full circle.

And Yay, I know you are a bit wary that it might not be her ring. But from what you said, she did lose "a ring" and this brings closure to her search as well as yours. Good work.

ps: I agree that this would be an excellent story for your local newspaper. Ring reunited with owner after 2 years... it would give hope to so many. Hope it happens and that you post the link. I would love to read it.