A Cell Phone Story

Ever lose a cell phone? People leave them everywhere, including in rental vehicles. This cell phone story has a happy ending.

Last weekend my nephew and I took a road trip to Eastern Washington with some friends. For the trip we rented a mini-van from the Enterprise Rent-A-Car office in Bremerton.

On Sunday evening we got back to my friends’ home in Mukilteo, where we all spent the night. Four people (all guys) unloaded the van. We didn’t clean the interior (that’s Enterprise’s job), but we checked it carefully to make sure that none of my friends’ clothes, maps, fishing gear, games, food, electronic equipment, and so on, were left in the van. The next morning my nephew and I repeated the process in Bremerton for our stuff before returning the van to Enterprise.

The Enterprise staff cleaned and serviced the van, and it was back on the road right away, rented to a man whose own car was being repaired.

By then one of the Mukilteo travelers, a teenager, discovered that his cell phone was missing. He dialed his own number, and the phone, powered on and with battery life remaining, rang in the van.

How did we leave a cell phone in a rental vehicle? All I can say is that for their size late-model mini-vans like our Chrysler Town & Country rental have more nooks, crannies, cubbyholes, and compartments than the Victorian homes in Port Townsend. The black phone, hiding somewhere in the van, was missed on three separate searches, including one by the pros at Enterprise.

Like a baby’s cry, a ringing phone never fails in its number one mission—it gets heard if anyone is around. The van’s new driver answered the phone. In an incredible stroke of good fortune he was headed for Everett, the next city north of Mukilteo, for work. After a brief conversation, he graciously agreed to hand off the phone at the Mukilteo library.

How’s that for a happy ending?

When I heard the story I joked with my nephew that a cell phone wasn’t included when we rented the van. We had to provide our own phones. Of course, we had the bargain weekend rate while the new renter paid the higher weekday tab. So maybe Enterprise should provide a phone. There’s enough connectivity in the new vehicles to support one.