Strange Items in County Fair Lost and Found
Posted on July 26, 2007
Filed Under Lost and Found News |
A walker. A film from a brain scan. A pair of dentures. It’s amazing what turns up in the San Diego County Fair Lost and Found!
Workers in Guest Services, which operates the lost and found, are downright perplexed about some items that show up. Take the walker, for example: How did the owner manage without it? And why would someone bring a brain scan film to the county fair? And surely the person who lost the dentures doesn’t enjoy gumming food!
But of course many items are typical of those found in any lost and found department: car keys, eyeglasses, wallets and purses. As a matter of fact, there are so many lost car keys and eyeglasses that workers in the lost and found department have assigned separate bins just for them. They have 66 sets of keys alone! Car keys, house keys, even a remote key for a BMW.
Some of the wallets and purses that show up in the lost and found have a large amount of money inside. Those items, as well as more valuable items such as wedding rings and iPods, are locked in a cabinet.
Lost and Found workers try their hardest to reunite owners with their lost items. They meticulously record each and every item in one of 10 log books, including the date the object was found plus a detailed description. But so much of what winds up in the lost and found is never claimed. After a specified period of time, unclaimed items are donated to charities.
Gail Tompkins, who’s been working in the Guest Services lost and found department for seven years, told the Union-Tribune that perhaps people “I think sometimes people don’t know where they lost it, or they just don’t think they’ll ever get it back.”
The San Diego County Fair Lost and Found department also has several boxes overflowing with lost sweatshirts, backpacks and shoes without mates. Gail told the Union-Tribune, “There’s a lot of babies running around in circles because they’ve only got one shoe!”
Gail has become a pro sleuth during her stint in the lost and found. Once a fanny pack was turned in, and it contained about 40 pieces of paper inside, inscribed with various names and phone numbers. Gail looked at each piece of paper until she found a name she could definitely trust: “Mom.” Needless to say, the fanny pack was successfully reunited with its owner.
But as for the dentures and brain scan film, well that’s still a mystery!
www.signonsandiego.com
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