December 19, 2005
Found on a Subway
In this bit of non-transit-strike MTA news, Gothamist must say we are LOVING the new sign to remind people to check their Lost Property Unit for their lost items. And, if we take the sign and its charming clip art to heart, the MTA thinks you will be losing your:
- Cobra (yes, an actual snake)
- Prosthetic leg
- Computer mouse
- Dentures
- Big-ass boom box
- Crutch - 'cause you wouldn't notice that it'd be hard to get out with only one crutch
- Bling
Have you ever lost anything on the subway or bus? What happened? And we heard this amazing story: A woman was on her way to JFK for a flight, but left her purse (!!) on the subway. Once she got out, she realized it was missing, so she called the MTA and they located the purse. She was able to pick it up at another station, and the transit workere was so nice, he drove her to the airport! Aw.
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I once lost my camera (a nice 35mm one) on the Long Island Rail Road. They found it and I got it back at the lost property office at Penn Station. Funny thing was there was a picture on the roll of film of some LIRR back office.
If you ever catch the Seven Secrets of Grand Central on TV (it may pop up on WNYE again) they show the Metro-North lost property office and some of the wierd stuff that they found, like an inflatable raft.
Yeah, that sign puts me in a trance everytime I see it. I actually posted about it a few days ago. http://bamagirlbigcity.blogspot.com/2005/12/missing-on-subway.html
i once left two individually wrapped CDs, which i had been planning to mail at the cortlandt street post office station, on a subway car seat. i assumed they would get thrown away, so i mailed new copies of the CDs to my family. surprise -- some kind new yorker spent his/her own money and mailed them for me.
my dad actually left my grandfather's dentures on the subway when he was going to visit them in the hospital. the mta returned them to him.
years ago I saw a large plastic cactus on the tracks. Gotta wonder how that got down there.
Every time I look at that sign, all I can notice is that everything is set to scale, except the dentures. Who wears dentures that are bigger than a boom box?
Brett, so that's where the plactic cactus went. Now if only I could find the prosthetic leg I lost...
What is that thing in the picture on the left side below the crutches? It sure looks a lot like sperm.
i think the sperm is supposed to be a roll of yarn for knitting.
Don't forget the car on the right side - right next to what appears to be a UFO.
Also, conveniently times AskMeFi.
See what kind of work people produce when all the creatives leave the area because they can't afford rent..food..garrrr!!!! ok..
I once found a cop's hat and badge lying on the platform. Funny thing is, when I took it down to the booth clerk, he had the same reaction as the one in dude's experience, and asked, "What am I supposed to do with it?"
And who says MTA workers don't deserve an 8% raise?
i once found a vegetable grocery bag (the thin kind) full of old polaroids from a family in the 50's .... i went to return them to the photobooth- that woman CERTAINLY didn't want them. she said she could only take things that fit through her little window opening and she didn't want them 1 by 1. i was supposed to go to the lost and found office somewhere in times square but forgot. this was 5 years ago and i was young and irresponsible. i think i know where they still are in my house.. i've never wanted to throw them away... should i do some sort of commemorative art installation with them? post on craigslist? oh the vintage guilt that is coming over me...
haha, i saw this sign on the n train one day and on my return home that evening someone actually reported that he 'lost' his snake. how coincidental. i guess he should have checked w the lost property unit. our train was held at 59 street,followed by police arriving on scene and then the train with the drunk snake owner, cops, and mta personnel went all the way to coney island leaving us straphangers shaking fists or rubbing eyes in disbelief.
My mother left a small bag on the SuperShuttle a couple months ago. It had a really old crappy digital camera, her hotel reservations, and a piece of cross-stitch in it.
The driver of the SuperShuttle called the hotel to let her know he'd found it and that he'd be bringing it by on his next trip around...but he never showed up and we never could get ahold of anyone.
I can't figure out why he apparently decided to keep it--he had to look in the bag to find the hotel reservations in the first place and must have seen the camera then. Why call and then not show up?
I once lost my cell phone on a MetroNorth train. The next day I got a call at home from the lost property office at Grand Central. A conductor had found the phone and turned it in. Thankfully, I had an entry called "HOME" in my cell's phonebook, so the office called it and was able to get in touch with me. I picked it up that afternoon.
the MTA occasionally sells their lost & founds...I can't find it now, but a friend pointed out that you could buy a box of "lost" women's undergarments.
I lost my wallet on the LIRR years ago. It was found and the kind folks at the LIRR Lost & Found tracked me down. I think I only had $6 in it.
To the poster who thinks they see sperm on the MTA poster-- it's yarn.
For real, my aunt once lost her coat on Amtrak and got it back. But I'd rather talk about the MOST compelling MTA poster: bewildering gay '90s baby chickens. This thing has been on the 6 for more than a year, and it still makes no sense.
http://www.mta.nyc.ny.us/mta/news/newsroom/images/high-res/aft_car_lg.jpg
I once lost a hat in the London Underground and in search for it was thrown into a history of the Tube's Lost and Found. Culturally significant they have rows and rows of "brollys" (umbrellas) and spectacles. During World War II they actually had more lost army helmets for civilians during the blitzkreig than they could store.
And only once was a large cotton candy cart left in the underground. Suffice to say they sold it.