Friday, May 22, 2009

People of Stamford... Trustworthy?

Something sort of funny happened when I was walking at Cove Beach last Friday afternoon. A friend and I were strolling with our babies. We stopped to feed them, then got up from the bench and put the babies back in their strollers.
Me: "OK, I have my car keys, my cell phone- I always have to check myself."
We kept walking for a few minutes, then I went to get my sunscreen out of my backpack... which I realized I'd left sitting on the bench.

I didn't panic too much- my wallet was the only valuable thing in my diaper backpack, and you can always cancel cards, but I'd rather not lose my $70 skiphop backpack with my $35 nursing cover in it, not to mention all the baby's supplies.
I jogged back toward the bench, trying to spot the backpack, only seeing empty benches, and wondering if someone had either just taken it, or taken it to one of the buildings at Cove Beach. Finally, I spotted it really far away. People were just walking right by the bench, taking no notice of the backpack. As I approached the bench, a man went toward it... and sat down and tied his shoe. No one gave that backpack a second glance, which sort of surprised me. I guess the "any unidentified bag will be taken away and destroyed" rule only applies to airports.
Me to the shoe-tier: "I remembered the baby, forgot the backpack."
Man shrugs: "Lesser of two evils, I guess."

I was happy to learn that Stamford- at least the Cove Beach walking portion- are a trustworthy (and slightly sarcastic) bunch. I guess anyone who's walking at the beach at 3:30 on Friday, rather than working, is going to feel pretty happy and not steal things.

3 comments:

JT said...

I once had my wallet drop out of my pocket on a bench on Bedford St on a Sunday morning. A guy found it and called about returning it. Thing is my phone was dead. The guy was supposed to leave on a trip but hung around until I finally contacted him and met him to get it back.

Stefania said...

Last week at Ridgeway, there was a backpack on the floor by the door of Carter's. As I was leaving the store with my baby, I bumped into it. I told the people at Carter's but no one seem to think much of it. So, I pushed my stroller around until I found a police officer and told him about the bag. He took it seriously and walked right over to see it. We seem to forget to easy... It's not that I'm paranoid now that I'm a Mom (which I am) but we need to be alert.

Strictly Stamford said...

I have found Stamford to be mostly trustworthy, had wallets returned with my money still in them, etc.
I think the hysteria about some one leaving a backpack, was it a bomb?, mentality is more typical of Stamford.