Missing Phone Saga

Unusually our train arrived at Memphis half an hour early. We were relieved to see a couple of taxis waiting by the platform. A driver put our bags into the back of his car, started the engine for air conditioning, then walked off saying he would be back. We waited a few minutes and saw him direct a truck into position to refuel the train. I became suspicious and hopped out and took a photo of the number plate and rates written on the outside of the cab.

Our hotel is one kilometer from the station but the driver charged $18 so Anita gave him $20 allowing a $2 tip. He hadn't turned the meter on but based on the advertised rates our fare should not have exceeded $10 with tip.

It wasn't till we were inside our hotel room that I realised my phone was missing. We called the cab company but the driver said he hadn't found any phone. Anita called my number several times hoping someone might answer it. Finally I remembered that Anita's phone knows the location of my phone! We looked up the location using good old Google maps and it showed it was back at the station.

We called a different cab company and told the driver we wanted to go to the station and return to our hotel. Memphis has a high crime rate and we didn't want to be abandoned at the station at midnight.

Our second driver was very obliging trying to get to the location of my phone as displayed on Google maps, navigating road closures around the station. When we worked our way back to the platform we searched the ground and Anita called my phone hoping we would hear it ring. Voila! The phone was answered by an Amtrak employee. A young woman had handed in my phone after she found it on the ground. I must have dropped it getting back into the first cab. Mr Amtrak gave me back the phone after he finished locking up for the night. Such relief!

After all that running around the metered fare for the return journey was only $15, confirming we had been ripped off by driver number one. Naturally we happily handed over $20 to our very helpful driver number two!