Lost Work Luggage: My own fault

Today I am dealing with a problem at work. I left the company tool bag (expensive!) in the trunk of my rental car in Boston. I have tried several times to call the Hertz office there and always get voicemail. *Sigh* it is going to be one of those days. Yay.

When I was originally leaving Boston I planned to leave the tool kit at the job site. We scheduled a UPS pickup of it and my other boxes of spare parts. Based on my own (not so great) memory everything was fine. I became worried when my spare parts showed up and the expensive tool bag did not. The multi-hour headache began.

I called my client and they said it was not there. I called back to get another person to be sure. It certainly was not where I thought I left it. More attempts to call Hertz got me more voicemail boxes. I usually sing praises for Hertz as a rental company but this is fading fast.

I finally dig up some 800 numbers for Hertz. Still no luck. I eventually find a number for their business division. With some begging and pleading I get some *real* phone numbers for the Logan Hertz office. After several hours I have a human on the phone! Progress!

I get transferred to someone else's voicemail. Things look very dim again but I leave a voicemail and decide I will call back tomorrow if they don't respond. 20 minutes later my phone rings. It's Hertz! I actually got a human at the office! She says she will have a look and will let me know if they have the tool kit or not.

Another 20 minutes goes by and she calls back as promise. THEY FOUND IT! I breathe a massive sigh of relief and give them the company Fedex Account to ship it back here. I am very lucky as the last time I left something in a car (my personal GPS) it was never to be seen again.

Lesson Learned. I will now do an "idiot check" of all areas of the car before leaving. I blindly assumed I had left the tool bag at my clients office. Even if I miss my flight and have to do a $50 change fee it is worth not having the stress like this again. I will also make a point to ship the bag myself instead of a UPS pickup.

*whew* now it is time for a much needed beer.