May 19, 2009. Chevy Chase, Md. Keys.

I have my car keys. Yesterday, when going to the car, I asked the young man who sits at the front desk of the office building if a key had been found in the garage. He said that no key had been turned in, but he asked how I lost the key so I told him my story. He seemed interested and asked for my phone number, so I gave him my card. It was clear to me that my lost keys would stay lost. I went to my car and looked all around the car to see if I had dropped my keys but found nothing. At work this morning, I received a call from Mr. Atkinson, to say he found my keys. He found my keys on level four, over in the corner. What he had done last evening was to walk all four floors of the parking lot, just to see if the keys were in the garage, and he finally found it in the corner on the lowest floor. I had told him that my car was in the same place for the two weeks and that no one had driven my car. He decided that my keys were in the garage somewhere. He furthermore decided that I had dropped my keys on the floor, which then were swept away by the power washing of the floor. Next came the machine brushing the key down to the fourth floor, where it was left in the corner, only to be found by that young man looking for my keys.

Of course, I was delighted to get my keys, as without it I had only one key left, but what I liked better was the fact that this young man, wearing a uniform performing a menial job, took it upon himself to walk throughout the whole garage, specifically searching for my keys. Now he sees me walking every day, coming and going to my job, but he was not an employee of mine. His only reward was to find my key for me. At first I was going to give him a gift certificate to Booimongers, the restaurant next door, but decided that money would be better, so after he gave me my keys, I quickly went back to my office for cash. You should have seen his smile. It was the smile of a job well done.