Hundreds of items pass through TCC’s lost and found each semester. Many of them are never picked up.
At every TCC campus, Business Services has a lost and found. The office holds everything from phones and car keys to water bottles and IDs. Yet many of these items remain unclaimed. What gets picked up and what gets left behind often depends on how important the item is.
“It depends on the importance of the item, a car key or phone for sure they are going to look to get it picked up,” said Omar Gomez, the interim manager at TR Business Services.
Most items are held for one semester but not all items.
“Things like a lunchbox with food in it, unfortunately we could not hold for more than a day since the food will begin to go bad,” Gomez said.
Inside the office, each item received is logged, labeled and stored. The staff record the date the item was turned in. This way they can help the students reconnect with their lost items.
“The annoying part is that they’re not in a rush to come. They take their sweet time,” said Miguel Luzolo, a student employee who works in the Business Services on TR Campus. “The phones we get them, and they get picked up the same day because they have a sense of urgency for their phones.”
Sometimes, staff go beyond simply logging items to try to return them. In one instance, Luzolo used Siri to contact the owner of the lost phone.
“I said, ‘Siri, call Mom,’” Luzolo said. “She thought I was a scammer.”
The misunderstanding was eventually resolved, and the phone was returned. However, if the phone was not picked up it would have followed the path every other unclaimed item goes through. It is sent to a warehouse once the semester is over.
“We don’t throw the items away,” said Benie Tamba, a student employee on NE Campus.
