Jonathan's Universe

I admit, I’m usually one of the first to badmouth SEPTA when something goes wrong; tendency to strike, frequent rudeness, lateness. But I want to share a story that changed the way I look at things when it comes to SEPTA.

Yeah, they do strike a lot, a lot of their employees are kind of rude. But not all of them. In fact, I think it’s safe to say that one (possibly two) saved my financial life. It is something that I am very thankful of and this person has my eternal gratitude.

So here’s what happened: On Tuesday, December 15, 2009, I was on my way home from work. I was taking the bus to 69th street terminal to transfer to the trolley.   When I got on, the bus was crowded, as usually happens with Philadelphia busses. There was really only one seat available. As soon as I headed toward it, I found out way. Some woman decided to put her baby and her stroller between the inward-facing priority seats and the first section of the front-facing regular seats. This pretty much took up that first section. But it was the only place to sit, so I sat down on the outside of the seat, and had to sit at a kind of crooked angle to avoid the baby.

Over the course of the trip, the child kept pulling at things, like my keys and my Zune ear bud cord. So I tucked my keys in my back pocket, and had some difficulty because my wallet was in a weird position, but I just dealt with it.

Finally, the bus arrived and it was time to go to the trolley. I walk through the terminal, and as I sometimes do, I check my back pocket for my wallet. It wasn’t there. What. Just. Happened!? I started checking all my pockets, including my jacket for the wallet. It’s no where. I’m halfway between the bus end and the trolley end of the terminal, so I quickly turn around and sprint towards where I had just got off the bus.

The bus had already left.

I had no idea what I was going to do. My wallet had everything in it. My weekly Transpass  (bus/trolley pass), my only ID, my debit card,  my social security card (Yeah, I know, shouldn’t be in there) and the only cash I had access to without needing an ATM. It also had two target gift cards I had gotten from Black Friday.

So now, I had no way home, no cash, no way to access cash, no ID and I was utterly frustrated. I immediately talked to the first SEPTA employee I saw. I’m not sure what her position was. I think it’s runner or queuer. I told her the situation, and she gave me an emergency use pass to get the trolley home as well as the number for the lost and found for the district my bus comes out of. The good news here was that this specific bus was done for the night, meaning it wouldn’t be exposed to any more of the public.

Needless to say, I was calling that number all night long. They eventually told me that the driver would have turned it in if he had found it at the end of shift, and he was already done for the night. So I was told to call the next day, because the cleaners might find it.

So I do. Still Nothing. I’ve already called and canceled my debit card, but everything else is lost. I keep calling every couple hours to lost and found just in case. No joy.

So it’s now Thursday. I’m still without access to money (no ATM card, no ID to prove my identity and withdrawing from the bank) and no food in my apartment. I’m on my way home from work again, and as I’m getting off the bus, some lady taps my shoulder and says, “excuse me, what’s your name?” I answer and then she follows up with “Did you lose something recently?” I explain  that I lost my wallet and she smiles and nods her head and said “I thought that was you!" I walk off the bus with her and she walks me to the queuer/runner, and I later learn they are cousins. I’m unsure if the lady who tapped my shoulder was a SEPTA employee going home or not, but bless her for finding my wallet!

The queuer (I haven’t asked permission to identify her by name) told me that they had my wallet and she turned it in to customer service. So I thank them both and quickly run up to customer service (which was closing in 3 minutes.) The lady up there has no idea what I’m talking about, and seems to be acting in the unfortunately expected SEPTA employee attitude, saying she has no idea what the heck I’m talking about and “no one has turned in ANY WALLET UP HERE!” (tone emphasized by capital lettering)  So now I’m frustrated. I go back down to the bus area to go to the queuer. She’s gone. The queuer up there now (the one I met when I initially lost my wallet) told me that she left for the day, and she didn’t know anything about the wallet recovery situation, and that I should try back the next day.

So, on my way into work, I see her and  she walks me up to the Customer Service area, who has a different, nicer lady manning it. She hands me my wallet and I sign a little tag thing saying that I received the wallet. I look into my wallet. Everything’s there. Everything’s proper and there’s no sign of tampering. It felt like Christmas day. These few ladies that I met through this entire process quite possibly just saved my financial life (especially with the social security card). I’m so extremely thankful.

While I think SEPTA has a lot of room for improvement. Stories like mine and this young lady’s prove that SEPTA does have employees that are truly caring and definitely deserve a tremendous amount of respect for going above and beyond their call of duty. I truly hope that SEPTA plans to make a habit out of helping people like they did me. If they do, they will be one of the best public transit agencies in America.

Merry Christmas!

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