A Joburger lost her laptop while driving between meetings, a construction worker found it… what happened in between is just magical! Ubuntu in action.
Kelly Firth went through a pretty traumatic experience of losing her laptop in the middle of a workday, only to find an incredible human being who restored her (and our) faith in humanity…
Too often we hear stories of terrible incidents occurring in South Africa.
Without undermining the experiences behind these stories, I think we allow them to overshadow some of the wonderful tales our country and its people have to tell.
“Today, I experienced a very, very beautiful turn of events and I feel it completely necessary to share some of this beauty with all of you.”
“I have heard many a story of distressed individuals placing cell phones, car keys and other necessary items on the roof of their car and then proceeding to drive away. I am sure you have heard these stories too. It has both fascinated and boggled me, how someone could do something so incredibly stupid.”
“Unfortunately, today I was one of those people.”
After completing a meeting at Webber Wentzel, Firth returned home to collect lunch in between meetings. As she was about to depart for her next meeting, she noticed that her laptop was missing.
“Heat rose to my face and I was unsure if I was going to cry or puke (deep breathing does wonders).”
“I began to retrace my steps. However, there wasn’t much to retrace, as I had driven directly from WW, home. This ruled out the possibility that my laptop had been stolen. Rewinding a few more steps, I distinctly recalled carrying my laptop to my car post-meeting and so, it was not possible that I had left it on their premises either.”
“I was completely confused.”
A sickening realization dawned on Firth as she recalled placing her laptop on the roof of her car, so that she could retrieve her car keys from her handbag.
“I could NOT recall taking it off.”
On the verge of blind panic, she returned to WW (over an hour later). Her laptop was nowhere to be found.
After a discussion with some wonderful security guards, she was taken to the control room and watched a very entertaining recording of her car departing from the Webber building with her laptop perched on top.
“As I turned onto Rivonia road, my laptop gracefully slipped onto the chaos that is Rivonia road.”
“I continued to watch…”
Not even two minutes later, a gentleman in red overalls crossed the road. Noticing a strange object lying in the street, he picked it up and then disappeared into the abyss of Sandton City. Gone. Forever.
“Or so I thought…”
A three-hour long story shortened, this wonderful, wonderful man worked on a construction site and went across to Sandton city on his lunch break, when he stumbled across her laptop.
He told the security guard at the Rivonia road walk-in entrance what he had found and left his details. He didn’t want to hand her laptop in, incase somebody kept it for themselves.
“The exceptional security guards at Sandton city escorted me to the building site and I was introduced to Lucky.”
“He made sure that I could prove it was my laptop before handing it over.”
With a ginormous smile, endless thanks and a suffocating hug, Firth received her laptop from Lucky.
Unbelievably, her laptop is in perfect working condition. She was just so blown away by Lucky’s selfess behavior.
“Having a younger brother, I am well accustomed to the term ‘finders keepers, losers weepers”. He had no reason to report what he had found – the universe had basically given him a gift (in the form of a macbook pro).”
“Regardless of financial status, I do not think there are many people who would report a laptop they found in the middle of a busy road.”
Firth genuinely thought she would spend the rest of her life on a subconscious look-out for men in red overalls.
“Lucky- thank you for sharing some of your luck, you are my hero!”
“I am blown away by your kindness and could never say enough thanks. I bloody love my country (always, not only in incredible circumstance) #proudlySouthAfrican”