No good deed goes unpunished

I found a bag today with, among other things, an Ipad in it- an Ipad with less than 20% battery left. And a BCPL book in it. No name, no emergency contact set up. CCBC's library was closed.

I could see multiple missed calls from a contact called "Mom."

Siri was utterly useless when it came to the question of "Who's Ipad is this?" or "Call Mom."

I took it to BCPL's Arbutus Branch, figuring the same person who checked out the book was the person who owned the Ipad. And BCPL would have the contact info of the owner (and could at least contact her if they couldn't give me her info.) Well, surprise, BCPL closes at 5 on Friday, and it was 6PM.

So, I took it home, charged it up, and plugged it into an old laptop to see if I could pull a single phone number and actually contact someone who knew the owner. Because I've done it with Android before (Apple is overly expensive trash IMO between formerly proprietary chargers, and software locker replacement parts AKA anti-right to repair.) That didn't work. Credit where credit is due, Apple has better security.

Alright, so I'll go to BCPL as soon as they open at 9AM on Saturday and proceed with the original plan. At least this will get her (as I would later learn) Ipad back before Monday, right?

2AM a fucking cop knocks on my door. Why this couldn't wait until daylight considering they had a literal GPS tracker on it is beyond me. (And Hell, if I had stolen that thing, the first place it would've gone is into a DIY Faraday Cage- read "steel trashcan"- to block GPS, 4G, and wifi signals.) My house is a mess from some work I'm currently doing (fixing the hack job wiring of the previous owner) and I'm wearing nothing but boxers.

Needless to say, I'm cooperative and hand it over as well as the bag and the library book. I try to make a polite suggestion to the owner, only for the cop to do the typical separate the "suspect" from the "victim." (When in reality it was "guy who found Ipad and was trying to return it" and "owner.") I then get a lecture about "procedure" as if this was the military from the cop. So, I was supposed to turn it in (assuming there was even any staff members still in the registrar office to take it- the entire campus was damn near deserted of staff by this point,) letting the battery die in the process, and then wash my hands of it as if I don't give a damn about anyone else but myself, leaving her to maybe retrieve her device (after the battery died and Find my Ipad stopped uploading its location) three days later on Monday- assuming she even had classes Monday or was otherwise willing to make the trip there.

That suggestion is to set up an emergency contact on her Ipad and any other device she owns. Seriously, ICE contacts can be accessed even with the device locked and are intended to allow first responders to reach someone related to the owner- and they work just as well for good Samaritans.

On the upside, she seems to realize I'm not a thief (at least I hope that's the case rather than me just not being "worth the effort" to her.)

Morals of the story:

1. No good deed goes unpunished

2. Can we stop treating everyone else like criminals?

3. SET UP A DAMN ICE CONTACT ON YOUR PHONES AND TABLETS