Okay, no. THIS post should have been entited "Have a heart."

My daughter Hannah walked out of class at the local community college without realizing her phone had slipped out of her purse and onto the floor. She noticed immediately and within five minutes retraced her steps. When she got back to the classroom, the phone was gone.

About a week later, I received a text message on my phone. I never get text messages, so I did not realize it was there right away. But that is beside the point. I got this text message that said, "I have your daughter's phone. How do I get it back to you."

I called, texted the woman back, and called again -- about 10 times over the next month and a half. This woman was determined to hold my daughter's phone for ransom!

Finally, I decided to blitz her. I called her. An hour later, my husband called her. I called her again at dinnertime, then text messaged her at 11 pm. 

She called.

In broken English, she told us when we didn't call her back she gave the phone to her friend Humberto who went back to his country. "What country is that?" I asked. "Colombia. And he can't be reached." "Could you please at least TRY to find him? I'll send him money for postage to send us back the phone." "No."

At this point, I'm seeing dollar signs because, as we all know, if you're in the middle of the contract period, you get no discount whatsoever when replacing a phone. Replacing Hannah's phone was going to cost me $330 -- and this woman just gave it away!

She said repeatedly, "Is not my fault. I sorry. But is not my fault." Okay, first of all, why apologize for something if it's not your fault? And second, if it wasn't your fault, whose fault was it?

So, I ask you, is this theft? Or a misunderstanding? Or a cultural mistake?

And in any case, why must we pay for her mistake? Now if it was stolen, snatched, or whatever, we would just file a police report, then go buy a new phone. The thief would try to use the phone or sell it, find out it's not activate-able because it's listed as stolen, then toss it in the trash. Bad for me, but oh well. In this case, I don't quite know what to do. Meanwhile, my daughter wanders a college campus alone with NO PHONE!

The Security Officer at the college told me (and I quote) "Your daughter should have kept her personal belongings with her at all times." 

Ya think? 

Hmmm. Well, thank you for that little bit of advice. Now go find this woman and get me back my phone!!!

Yours -- with high levels of aggravation and maybe a little radiation,

Megan Elizabeth