It’s easy to get distracted when riding in a taxi or ride share vehicle so it’s understandable when people leave their phone or glasses in the back seat of the car. But to forget a propane tank or chihuahua? That takes some effort.
Uber recently released their annual list of the Most Outrageous Lost Items – why they track this I do not know, but it made for humorous reading. Items include the propane and puppy, but also a shopping cart, professional-grade hula hoop, a bird, a cheerleading skirt and lion head, deer antlers, a welding helmet, a full fish tank complete with fish and water, and a tray of eggs. More valuable left-behinds include a Babe Ruth signed baseball, birth certificate, and a full set of 18k gold teeth!
Two lessons from this story: 1) double check not only the back seat but apparently the trunk, when disembarking from a rented ride. My mom always had us “go on tour” before we left a hotel or guest room and it seems like instituting a similar practice would be beneficial for both passengers and drivers. And 2) as an organization, if you collect any kind of data, you likely can create a public relations story out of it – the whackier the better!
Source: Dogs to fog machines: Uber’s oddest lost items by Rasha Ali, USA Today, March 6, 2019, p. 3D
