As you may have noticed (or maybe not), there has been a bit of a change to the fundraising thermometer in the sidebar. Instead of a goal of $300.00 it now reads $150.00. Why? Here's what happened.
My iPod didn't fall out of my pocket at Blue Man Group. As everybody left the theater we were crowded together and I was pick pocketed. That's right, somebody reached into my pocket and took the iPod out.
Today I got an e-mail with the subject "I HAVE YOUR LOST IPHONE."
E-mails with subjects like this pique my interest. I read it. The person who sent the e-mail to me purchased my iPod from somebody for $150.00, not knowing that it was stolen. When he looked at the iPod he noticed an engraving on the back that said "Michael Snively MIT 2011." (This, folks, is the reason you should always have your Apple products laser engraved). He realized, at this point, that the iPod was probably lost or stolen, so he googled the laser engraving and found my e-mail address (you try googling Michael Snively MIT 2011 and see what you find). He wants to give the iPod back in hopes that some day, when he loses something, it will be returned to him.
With your help I've saved up almost $83.00 for a replacement iPod, but that money is going somewhere else now. I'm not spending it on myself, I'm using it to help offset the $150 that this gentleman lost when he purchased my iPod. Please continue to help, it's selfless acts like eating $150.00 just to do the right thing that restore my faith in the world.
13 comments:
Congratz! (I don't know if that word is fitting)
Maybe I should get my Nano engraved with something... I can ETCH IT!
Good to know someone care enough to contact the original owner.
this movement, show that there are now some good people in our world!!!
What a nice guy!!!
BUT
HE shouldve known better when he bought it in the first place
It's nice of that guy to return it, and I'm glad to hear you got it back. Wouldn't want you to lose the device I became a member of the MIT family with ;)
Haha Charlemagne that's cool :)
And Yuzhi: I plan on going to get mine etched... If I can find someone to do it lol.
And yeah the guy was really nice to contact you
My iPod is engraved too (though thankfully, not with my year, as my year changed...). Definitely a good idea.
Nooosa: I am sure we can find some etching chemical for aluminum at MIT or maybe use some expensive laser cutter?... CNC? . I actually never etched aluminum before. I only etched copper PCB and glass.
@Yuzhi: Lol. There's a place I heard etches here. I'll try them and if they say no, I'll ask Tiffany's. If it's still a no, then I'll wait till campus. That is, granted I have time to go to the mall and check ;P
Hi guys,
I hate to be the bearer of bad news here, what with the faith restored in humanity and all, but it seems to me like there's a good chance this _is_ the guy who stole your iPod in the first place.
I dunno ... the more i think about it, the more complicated it gets, but like I've considered a few points. This seems like a really short span of time for the iPod to have been resold. And if I were the buyer, I would definitely inspect the iPod closely and wouldn't have missed the engraving, especially when it's being sold relatively cheap. I would probably have inquired about who "Michael Snively" is and why his iPod is being given up, and based on the seller's answers, I may have bought the iPod purposefully to find out the truth if I thought the seller was lying.
And I definitely would've mentioned really specifically in an e-mail doing all this kind of stuff to the rightful owner. So like I said, complicated.
I really think at the least you should be contacting the police and asking how to handle the situation if you're going to have a physical hand-off or anything. I know we'd all love to believe people would genuinely be doing stuff like this out of the goodness of their hearts, but that doesn't always happen (intuitively, it just seems slim to me - maybe i'm overpessimistic), and no one would want to see you gipped out of any money to a potential scammer.
I know you could look like a total ass if, say, a police officer escorted you, and the guy turned out to be a completely honest person. But consider if he isn't. You have a good chance of teaching the guy a lesson and bringing the world one step closer to the complete do-goodery we all want.
Best,
Lhydium
I'm with Lhydium on needing to be cautious. Also, as mentioned, the guy could be stealing $150 from you to give you back YOUR iPod. As much as we love to believe people are as good as we are, we cannot. Make sure you don't fall for something, Mike (you never know what could happen).
Good luck!!
Duly noted. Please realize that I didn't post the entire contents of the e-mail and have previously considered everything you all are bringing up. There is some information that you don't know (I don't put everything on the internet you know. . .)
Something else to consider: If you had stolen an iPod, would you sell it for a guaranteed $150 or would you give it back to the person you stole it from, assuming that they would reward you? That seems kind of risky.
We'll see how it turns out.
If I were to steal an iPod, I would probably have stolen it for my own use and wouldn't run into that dilemma. If I had stolen it to try to make a profit, however, how well I think I could keep potential buyers from noticing the engraving would probably affect whether I sold it or tried to scam the original owner.
And I did realize you didn't disclose everything in the e-mail. Here's hoping something in it made it obvious what the person's true intention was!
The person I trust most in the world, recieved your ipod, thinking it was an iphone, as payment for a loan he had made to a friend.
I think, Michael, that you need to take another look at your ipod.. the engraving does not have your full name on it at all, it merely says "snively mit2011". He googled the engraving, thinking it had something to do with the model of what he thought was an iphone.. and he found you, a student whom he thought had probably recieved it as a graduation present and who would miss it due to its sentimental value.
He then contacted you, of his own volition, and offered to return what you, yourself, had lost, at a loss to himself, but never once asking you for any sort of reward.
From your profile on this site, I imagine you to be an educated person, and am disappointed that you have put his character up for scrutiny, by people who have no right to do so.
We live in a cynical world, and it's easy to believe that people don't always have the best of intentions when it comes to things like this. However, having said that, I believe that when someone does help you, even if it is in just returning an ipod you had lost, this very special person deserves, at the very least, a thank you, a courtesy you haven't extended to him.
By allowing people to dissect his character on this blog, when he has done nothing but help you, diminishes the gift of kindness he has bestowed upon you, and I, personally, find it in very bad taste, since you have yet to say thank you for this gesture.
Use the $83 you have raised and do some good for someone else.
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