You know when something weird happens to you and it takes a minute or two of Huh? What just  happened? before you begin to process it? Most of the times, I shake it off. Humans are nothing if not exceptions to the rule.

But when something happens twice, the old gray cells start to cogitate and weird things start formulating. (Proving I’m a writer because I can make a story out of anything.)

I will now present the two situations for you to judge.

Odd thing #1: I received a text alert on my phone that someone had posted a payment of $200 on my cell phone bill. At first I thought it was phishing so it took me a day to check my account. Sure enough. $200 had been applied to my bill and when my invoice came it reflected a smaller payment due. So, I called my cell phone service provider. The guy on the phone was stumped: why was I complaining about a payment on my bill? Because it isn’t my money. Because someone paid their bill but the money wasn’t applied correctly. What if they lost service during that time? Weren’t they living to paycheck to paycheck like most of us? Didn’t $200 mean a lot to them? The  company was able to trace the payment, find who did it and refund their money, It would take several days. The rep on the phone thanked me about 6 times and told me I was a good person multiple times.

To me, it was the right thing to do, and I didn’t think to much about it until last Friday.

Odd thing #2: I am a smart, intelligent person, and usually am ahead of the curve when it comes to problem solving, but I have epic Homer Simpson moments. About a month or so ago, the hubinator and I came home and noticed something in the street. Literally, we both stared at it a moment in disbelief. It was a saw, a huge metal/concrete cutting thing (hubbinator looked up what it did because it was huge). At first we set it on the half wall in front of our house hoping the construction worker would see it and reclaim it. Then we spread the word in the neighborhood, asking if anyone had/did the type of work that would use that tool. No one came forward.

So we stowed it in the garage and waited for inspiration to strike.

Until we bought a crockpot (the hubinator broke the old one) and had to register it.

Lightbulb moment.

That saw was worth 2 grand, someone had to register it. So I found a sticker of the sales company and called them. At first, the guy couldn’t believe what I was saying. I found something and was trying to find the owners to return it? He transferred me to someone else and we tried for about an hour, but I wasn’t reading the right serial number and she couldn’t trace it, but if it was okay with me they could have someone pick it up and hopefully find the owner that way. I got the same thank you and you’re a good person. It’s not my property. This is someone else’s livelihood. Why wouldn’t I try to return it? Oddly enough the guy who picked it up didn’t think I’d just ‘found’ it in the street. I live on a corner house, there’s a dip turning onto the street. Given that 2 people have plowed into my fence in the last 5 years on a straight road, I believe weird stuff happens all the time.

Anyway, the saw has been taken to back to the store it was bought from and, hopefully, returned it to its owner.

My question isn’t if I did the right thing. I know I did. The question is: why do people think this is shocking behavior?

Until next time.