Freaked out about Identity Theft

I realise that most of you, my lovely blog followers don't know about my one glaring character flaw. But in order for this story to make sense then I'll have to tell you about it.

I'm horribly absent minded.

I frequently forget where I've left my keys, to lock my bedroom door and even to turn off my car headlights. I even (to my Granny's frustration) frequently forgot to feed her cat before I went to bed. Don't worry the cat's still alive since Granny never forgot to feed it.

My absent mindedness means that I often lose things since I'm always in my own world so I can't think where I put certain items. It meant that today I lost my wallet. Or at least I thought I lost it, although that's a bit of a spoiler.

I was at the Printery and I started hunting through my bag for my wallet to pay for my printing. To my horror it was gone. I couldn't remember where I'd last seen it or where it could be. So I left my bag with friends at the Printery and began a mad dash around campus. First I went to the Wool Building. I almost was tempted to barge into a ten person lecture. Then I found a staff member to ask. He dutifully took me around to various offices and asked people if they'd seen my wallet. No such luck. I thanked the man and continued on with my quest.

I ran up to AgHort C and checked what I thought was my lecture theater. But since I always just absent mindedly follow everyone else then I wasn't entirely sure if it was the right lecture theatre. The group of chaps chatting in the corridor must have thought I was very strange what with my worried dashing into and out of lecture theaters.

I continued searching with no luck. I even filled out a lost property form at Security which made me list the contents of my wallet. Due to the previous phone disaster which proved that people aren't as kind as I thought they were I believed that I probably wouldn't get my wallet back. I then began to wonder about the person who had my wallet. What if they were a crack addict? What if that crack addict ended up dead in a Palmerston North ditch? Then because they had my wallet then they were incorrectly identified as me. Then the next day in the newspaper the headline read 'Crack Addict Lily Grey Dead'. I began wondering about everyone mourning my death and the awkwardness that would follow when I came out and said 'hey guys I'm still alive.'

I began thinking about what if the wallet finderer and keeperer was a regular kind of person wanting a thrill. Then they might use my season pass to go skiing and drive around on my full license or use it to buy alcohol if they were underage and then they'd use my $40 Pak N Save voucher to finance their illegal alcohol buying.

Obviously I was freaking out a little. I didn't want someone to steal my identity.

I arrived back at where I'd left my bag and a friend kindly suggested that I look in my bag one last time. I exclaimed 'it's not here, I don't have any money to get home. How am I going to do anything without my wallet!'

'Lily.' She said quietly. 'Is that your wallet?'

To my delight it was sandwiched between a book and my diary. After that I was overcome with embarrassment. A stranger who stood just a little ways away from me was quietly smiling to herself. I'd freaked out to the extreme and wasted countless people's time.

I'd blown the entire situation out of proportion and because of that little mistake of mine I learnt that people are willing to help as long as you're willing to ask. One person may have decided to keep my wallet but at the same time five other people helped me to try and find it.