Someone found my iPhone...do I reward them?

[deborah_r]

I left my iPhone on the ground at my son's school this afternoon. He has summer camp at this school, I was waiting with DS2 for the bus to return. When DS1 arrived he handed me some stuff and they ran off to the ice cream man (whose constant presence at the school needs it's own Bitching Post) and I was afraid DS2 would go in the street so I ran off and left my phone on the ground.

One of the camp "teachers" (I don't know her - she is from a different school site, they have multiple school sites from the district using our school's campus for the summer) just called me. She took it from some kids who were playing with it, had her husband go through my phone to get info to track me down, and called me tonight to say she will leave it with our school's site coordinator on Monday! (ETA: the people who are doing the summer camp are the same who do the aftercare during the year. So I think it is part of the school district, but maybe sort of separate?)

She said it wasn't easy to figure out who the phone belonged to...my battery was really low, so I don't know if it's that, or if the kids stripped everything off my phone before she got to it, or if it's because I suspended service on my phone about 2.5-3 hours after I lost it. But anyway I think it's impressive that she made such an effort to find me.

So I'm thinking I should reward her, but not sure how much, or if she can even accept it, being (maybe) a school district employee. Thoughts?

[LD92599]

At least $20 and a written note...maybe a letter to her supervisor as well?

[cntrymoon2]

I'd do a $25 or $50 gift card to a local restaurant.

[boilermakermom]

Agree with PP-I would do q gift card to local restaurant and/or Starbucks/panera with a nice note.

[infomama]

I found someones wallet once. It was sticking out of a melting snowpile (like in huge parking lots). There was over $100 cash in there a well as gift cards but no ID. I tracked them down using the frequent shopper number on a receipt and waited for them to come and pick it up from the grocery store. I never expected a reward and I did not accept when they tried to give me money. It was the right thing to do so thats why I did it.

[sunnyside]

That's awesome you got your phone back! I agree with a restaurant GC.

I live in a vacation town and one day dropped my phone next to my car at the grocery store one mile from my house and a well meaning tourist picked it up and drove it 30 miles away to his second home which just happened to be far up some snowy mountain roads. It was great that it wasn't lost, but man alive was it kind of a hassle to go that far to get my piece of junk phone LOL. Sorry for the tangent, but it reminded me of that!

[new_mommy25]

I would give a $20 bill.

[soon2b4]

The $ reward would be good, however, a note to the district or summer program pointing out the good deed would be really nice.

[momm]

I would do a gift card, but not to something specific - a Visa or Amex gift card she can use anywhere. Along with a nice card.
A note to her supervisor is a great idea.

[egoldber]

I would offer a $20. I would think a camp counselor would prefer cash to almost anything else LOL!

[liz]

I think the $ (15-20$) or gc would be great as well as a note to the director of the camp. Not everyone would have gone to so much trouble.