Lose Your Wallet & Phone, Lose Your Life
Tags: Yolofreelance, Freelancing Life, Freelancing, Freelancers, Life

It happened last Friday evening (OK, I’m lying — it was well past midnight so that makes it morning, technically).

I’ve just now stopped screaming long enough to try to come up with some sort of a plan of attack going forward.

I’ll be frank with you — this is not the first time this has happened to me. I’m kinda running out of reasons other than thinking that I might be cursed, like big time. In the space of last three years. I’ve lost my wallet and phone a combined 10 times. Seven times I had my things returned to me — the rest were probably stolen in the first place. The lady at the police station has been looking at me funnily for quite some time now — I think she believes I’m selling my ID to illegal immigrants or something.

Of course, this puts me in a heap of problems right now. Since I’ve visited all the bars I went to during that ill-fated outing and found nothing, I can’t do anything else than start that long process of getting all my $hit back together. That means a visit to my local police station, getting my photo taken, going to the bank, going to the health services to get my insurance card made, visiting my phone service provider and getting my number back, and so on. To top things, I think I’m going to have to report everything as stolen — it was all in my jacket pockets, and it’s my jacket that went missing from the coat room (at least, I think it did?).

This is not my first rodeo, though.

Since I’ve had this happen a couple of times, I’m halfway expecting it to happen again on a daily basis. Here are some tips to deal with it if it ever happens to you:

– Always password protect your phone — seriously, it’s a life-saver not having to worry about your identity being stolen and stuff. I don’t have any sensitive info (or photos) there but still — all my credit card-connected apps are there and people can do serious financial damage if they set their mind on that.

– Connect your phone to your Gmail account — this way, you can back up pretty much everything, including your photos, contacts, and even all the apps you’ve had installed. It saves you a lot of time typing things into the Google Play Store.

– Have a spare phone! — I know, not everyone can afford to buy two phones. But, if you swap your old model for a new one, there’s nothing stopping you from just putting that old one in a drawer keeping it for emergencies. That’s what I did.

– Call your bank immediately — the sooner you call if your wallet is missing, the better. I canceled my AmEx on a Saturday morning, and I’m getting my new card tomorrow afternoon. All my other cards are pin-protected, so I’m not worrying about them — I’ll get the replacements during the week.

– Have the documentation you need for the authorities — there’s a ton of things you need to fill out for a new ID, new health insurance card, and stuff like that. Last time I went through this, I took spares that I keep in a folder at home. Tonight, I’m going to fill everything out and just drop it at my local police station and get the ball rolling.

My best piece of advice for you would be, of course, to drink moderately, and to keep an eye on your belongings when you’re out. I’m a jackass for not doing that in the first place — don’t be like me!