Routine and Traffic Save the Day

MacGyver had sent me a text message during the day asking if I was interested in checking out a particular store that evening if I arrive home early.

Fortunately, work was not too bad and I was able to step out earlier than my usual (late) departure time.   I think I was at the bus stop by 5:40 pm.  (Official office hours for me would be 8:45 am to 5 pm.)

It is a Thursday and the shops closing hours are later than usual.   It is also the first day of summer vacation for most of the schools so there were a lot of people around and even more cars on the road.  

I got on the bus and managed to find one last vacant seat.  There were people ahead of me who had opted not to take that spot because it was more like three-fourths of a seat rather than a whole one.  Anyway, I thought to myself, "This is great.  So lucky!  I'm out of the office early and I get to sit down on the way home."

I lifted my handbag to pull out my cellphone as this is my routine when going home.  I would give MacGyver a call so that he knows that I am about an hour away.  That way, he could adjust his dinner preparations accordingly, or know whether they would eat ahead.  I unzipped my bag and felt for my cellphone so that I could surprise him with my early ETA.

Apparently, the surprise was on me.  My cellphone was not in my bag!  Seems I had left it at the office.

We were approaching the end of our phone bill cycle and MacGyver had told me last night that I still had some credits for local and international calls.  If I wanted to make any "free" calls, I needed to have my phone with me.

The phone credits I could afford to lose, but I remembered that I had stuck my credit card into the cellphone case that morning.  I had done so before I stepped out to pick something up from the office mail room because there was a sale in the lobby.  Nope, I couldn't afford to lose a credit card, not in this "tap and go" age where the credit card PIN is no longer needed for transactions less than a certain amount.

I have to get my cellphone back pronto!

Fortunately for me, the traffic light was still red and even if it turned green, the traffic was so bad the bus would not have been able to move anyway.   

I got up, got off the bus, speed-walked back to the office and let out a big sigh of relief when I found my phone safely on top of my desk. 

It is a good thing I followed protocol or else I would not have discovered that my phone was missing until it was too late.  And this is one of those rare occasions that I thank my lucky stars for traffic.