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cimoreneI spent like 2 years thoroughly dissatisfied with a bunch of different wallets because I'm picky (I wanted the smaller size that would fit in any pocket, and because I have to carry a few coins but mostly cards, I ultimately got my heart set on the zip-around kind with accordion folds which is rare, and I ultimately stumbled on it in an airport duty free shop) (it was this one)1.
Anyway, the last time I saw my wallet was getting on the bus home from downtown Saturday after seeing Star Wars, when I swiped my bus card. Sunday I went for a walk with Wax and didn't even look for it, so I didn't notice until I was on my way to the post office (to get a package) & police station (to pick up my new residence permit) Tuesday and ended up turning the flat upside-down. I looked in every bag, under every piece of furniture, inside every cabinet, behind the microwave, under and inside every object or shape or container in the closet... I think I've run out of places I might have left it, and ultimately concluded it must have fallen out of my pocket on the bus, rather than my absent-mindedly putting it in the wrong place (which is rare anyway - I have programmed myself fairly successfully to empty my coat pockets into a series of baskets when I come home, because the weather is changeable and I usually can't guarantee I'll wear the same coat from day to day).
So we looked online but it wasn't completely clear where you're supposed to go for that. I went to the city bus customer service office and they just gave me a business card for the regional Lost & Found office. I looked up their website and then found another bus to take me there, only to discover an impromptu "closed on account of sickness sorry" sign on the door. Except they're SCHEDULED to be closed for New Year's starting tomorrow until Jan 6. I started walking back to downtown, discouraged and preferring the exercise of a walk from St Martin's to the market square to standing on an unfamiliar block at a busstop without even a shelter at dusk.
I happened to look up and realize I was outside the police station, so I went in there. I found out last night that Tuesday was the LAST day I could have picked up my permit there until January 4, when all Foreign Nationals business will be conducted from suburb Raisio's police station instead (budget cuts!!). (It's closer to us as the crow flies but I've never been there and going by how the buses run around here it might take longer to get there?) I don't actually URGENTLY need my residence card for anything but since I was there anyway I asked the desk worker if their stuff was still there today - it's only 1 day after! - but he said all the stuff is inaccessible, AND they didn't have my wallet. He took my number in case they get it sometime in the next 3 weeks and told me the Lost & Found place was more likely to get it if it had been lost on the bus.
In the meantime, it's hard to commit fraud with a pin-chip electron card if you don't steal the pin electronically, so the scams that do this use some kinda hacking devices on ATMs or something like that I think. So that isn't a big danger, and I could cancel my card at any moment anyway. The bigger losses are:
In the meantime I had to choose between buying another bus card and buying single tickets every time, which is quite a bit more expensive - in retrospect, I should've bought another card today if the earliest I could get it back is the 7th.
1. before I found that one, I had the so called "half-zip" type that zips over the long side of the rectangle and halfway down one short side, and it's fine for the stuff in front, but if you have too many different cards in it, it's a hassle, and I was struggling to pull out my yarn shop, tea shop and The Body Shop loyalty cards from behind my ids and bank cards often enough that I got dissatisfied
Anyway, the last time I saw my wallet was getting on the bus home from downtown Saturday after seeing Star Wars, when I swiped my bus card. Sunday I went for a walk with Wax and didn't even look for it, so I didn't notice until I was on my way to the post office (to get a package) & police station (to pick up my new residence permit) Tuesday and ended up turning the flat upside-down. I looked in every bag, under every piece of furniture, inside every cabinet, behind the microwave, under and inside every object or shape or container in the closet... I think I've run out of places I might have left it, and ultimately concluded it must have fallen out of my pocket on the bus, rather than my absent-mindedly putting it in the wrong place (which is rare anyway - I have programmed myself fairly successfully to empty my coat pockets into a series of baskets when I come home, because the weather is changeable and I usually can't guarantee I'll wear the same coat from day to day).
So we looked online but it wasn't completely clear where you're supposed to go for that. I went to the city bus customer service office and they just gave me a business card for the regional Lost & Found office. I looked up their website and then found another bus to take me there, only to discover an impromptu "closed on account of sickness sorry" sign on the door. Except they're SCHEDULED to be closed for New Year's starting tomorrow until Jan 6. I started walking back to downtown, discouraged and preferring the exercise of a walk from St Martin's to the market square to standing on an unfamiliar block at a busstop without even a shelter at dusk.
I happened to look up and realize I was outside the police station, so I went in there. I found out last night that Tuesday was the LAST day I could have picked up my permit there until January 4, when all Foreign Nationals business will be conducted from suburb Raisio's police station instead (budget cuts!!). (It's closer to us as the crow flies but I've never been there and going by how the buses run around here it might take longer to get there?) I don't actually URGENTLY need my residence card for anything but since I was there anyway I asked the desk worker if their stuff was still there today - it's only 1 day after! - but he said all the stuff is inaccessible, AND they didn't have my wallet. He took my number in case they get it sometime in the next 3 weeks and told me the Lost & Found place was more likely to get it if it had been lost on the bus.
In the meantime, it's hard to commit fraud with a pin-chip electron card if you don't steal the pin electronically, so the scams that do this use some kinda hacking devices on ATMs or something like that I think. So that isn't a big danger, and I could cancel my card at any moment anyway. The bigger losses are:
- the wallet itself because I'm not even sure I can order one from inside the country
- my Finnish social security card, which I'll have to apply for, and which I need to buy prescriptions or go to the doctor or dentist and I kinda needed to make a couple appointments for that
- my bus card, which probably had like 40 bucks on it
- 3 plastic customer cards that will need replaced
- the certification card that allows me to work with uncooked food, which I need for all the fields of employment I could seek, and to replace it I have to call some random? woman? who administered the test when I took it last year. I have those papers on file but still ugh
In the meantime I had to choose between buying another bus card and buying single tickets every time, which is quite a bit more expensive - in retrospect, I should've bought another card today if the earliest I could get it back is the 7th.
1. before I found that one, I had the so called "half-zip" type that zips over the long side of the rectangle and halfway down one short side, and it's fine for the stuff in front, but if you have too many different cards in it, it's a hassle, and I was struggling to pull out my yarn shop, tea shop and The Body Shop loyalty cards from behind my ids and bank cards often enough that I got dissatisfied
