I Found a Pair of AirPods and Learned How Weak I Was
I should have just left them on the ground
First, thank you. We hit a little over 100 subscribers since launch which is something I did not expect. From the free to the monthly to the yearly subscribers I’m grateful for each one of you. And the kind notes that were sent? They touched my jaded yet foolish heart. Some of you I haven’t had contact with in over 20 years! Seriously, how cool. Before we proceed, I would like to shout out the Founding Members: Alana, Daniel, Kevin, and Tina. Thank you, de verdad.
I took someone’s AirPods.
It was about a month ago. I went with my lady and a couple of folks to celebrate a birthday (not mine) at a restaurant. As I exited the car I looked down and saw the AirPods in the case on the floor of the parking lot. I picked them up. My first thought was that someone had dropped them while exiting their car parked next to us. I noticed the car was a rental.
I announced to the group that I’d found them and that I was planning to turn them into the restaurant to let them deal with it. Maybe the owner of the AirPods at some point would ask the restaurant if they’d found them or if someone, a good Samaritan like me, had turned them in.
But then someone in our group said that I should keep them. I’d found the AirPods outside, not inside the restaurant, they said. We have no idea what the person who we turned them into would do with them. We shouldn’t assume that they belonged to the person parked next to us. Maybe they were there before they even arrived.
I put the AirPods in my pocket. I would think about what to do.
When we checked into the restaurant I looked over the hostess to see if she seemed trustworthy. Would she keep them? They are AirPods. They’re pretty expensive.
We sat down at our table. I looked around. The restaurant, while not super fancy was on a level bit higher than our usual spots. Basically, I concluded that these folks eating there had money and that losing a pair of AirPods wouldn’t affect them that much.
I did the same thing I did with the hostess with our waiter. Could I trust him with the AirPods? Besides, the car was a rental, and what if the person who’d lost them didn’t realize that they’d lost them until they’d left the city? Maybe the country? I even tried to guess who they might belong to.
The longer the AirPods stayed in my pocket, the easier it was to keep them there.
And so they came back home with me. It’s not like I needed them. I spent months last year researching earbuds and headphones after a pair of mine broke. I already had two pairs. The Bluetooth ones were a Christmas gift.
The AirPods were dirty. I cleaned them. I looked online to see if the owner could find them by using something like FindMyMac. I read a few Reddit posts with people asking what they should do with AirPods they’d found. Most said to just keep them instead of turning them into the police.
Except, I could have turned them into the restaurant. I should have turned them into the restaurant. I wanted to turn them into the restaurant. It was my first thought to do so. It came naturally and instinctually.
I felt bad for taking them. I went to my lady and explained everything I was feeling. She had told me to turn them in. She told me that I was feeling bad because I went against my natural way of being. That the person who told me to keep them said what they said because that’s who they are. They would have taken them and wouldn’t have felt a thing. I told her that she should have pressed me to turn them in and she responded that we are all free to make our own decisions.
I hate that I was swayed. So fucking easily at that. The person didn’t even try hard to persuade me to keep them. All they did was just drop the idea. I got annoyed at them but eventually accepted that they didn’t make me do anything. I had hours to do what I initially wanted to do. Was I so weak?
And I buckled. I caved. I folded. My moral compass. My integrity. And it kind of scared me. How I looked for ways to justify keeping them. How I judged those around me who had nothing to do with my decision. How if I could be so easily swayed with this then what was I capable of doing in the future? Was I being overly dramatic? Was I being not dramatic enough?
In the end, I gave it to a friend who’d been struggling a bit financially. We took him out to lunch and I put it in a bag with a few other things I wanted to give him. He’s always appreciative of any kind gesture shown his way. He’s one of the most genuinely kind souls I know. Like I can’t imagine him doing anything mean to anybody.
I told him he could sell them if he wanted but he’d recently landed a steady gig so he was doing better money-wise so he said he would keep them. He was so happy. He thanked me again hours later. They are the first Apple products he’s ever owned.
I didn’t tell him about my inner struggle journey with the AirPods. I just told him that I’d found them in a parking lot of a restaurant. The struggle was all mine and no need to put any of that on him.
In a way tho, I feel like I used him. How was I any different from the wealthy folks who make their money in unscrupulous ways and give their dirty money to charities for the tax breaks and to cleanse their reputations? Because you see, my consciousness felt lighter. I felt better after. It’s what I wanted.
And I hated that I did.
Great post! I can relate with your feelings of guilt and the ensuing self examination. I once found a really nice watch in a parking lot. My first instinct was to keep it. My daughter was small and the way she looked at me made me give it to the parking attendant in case someone reported it lost. Her gaze made me want to be better just as an example of what was possible. I wish my moral compass did not require such correction. FYI: I’m sure the attendant kept the watch! It’s now on his Karma and not mine…a more troubling question: Did I set him up to make a decision that would negatively impact his karma and am I now karmically responsible for his bad karma?
Thanks for sharing! I too have been in a similar situation; this helped me realize it’s totally normal. The struggle is real!!