Lost and found

[luzula]

Very annoyingly, I forgot my copy of D K Broster’s Couching at the Door on a train one and a half weeks ago. And there were two stories I still hadn't read, arrgh! But theseatheseatheopensea to the rescue: their exhaustive list of Broster’s works online shows that one can in fact read it on archive.org, even if it didn't turn up when I searched on the title there.

When I went online to register the book as a lost item, the registration form had me choose from a list of categories. Book, electronics, baby, jewelry, clothing, ...

One of these is not like the others. *boggles*

Comments

[ride_4ever]

BABY ?!

[luzula]

Yeah, I did a double-take too...

[philomytha]

AMAZING. I am now trying to get into the mindset that says, oops I lost my baby on the train, let's register it with the lost property office so they can forwards it to me in the post if it turns up...

[luzula]

I still can't quite believe that's on that list! But it really is. What on earth.

[sovay]

When I went online to register the book as a lost item, the registration form had me choose from a list of categories. Book, electronics, baby, jewelry, clothing, ...

Paging Jack Worthing!

[luzula]

*thanks Wikipedia for helping me get the reference*

[landofnowhere]

I want to know if "three-volume novel" was also an option! (ETA: I guess it's an subcategory of "book")

[sanguinity]

I have seen a baby get left behind on the train (a case of the mother having to make multiple trips to ferry all her items onto the platform, leaving the baby until the final trip, and having the doors shut on her while she was still out on the platform), and it was rather more of a "every passenger still in the car hitting the emergency stop button" situation rather than a "filling out a lost-property form on the website" kind of thing.

I wonder how often it gets used? And whether it's a just-in-case, let's-not-frustrate-someone-at
their-wit's-end kind of thing, or whether that's really the official channel for getting back a lost or abandoned child?

[luzula]

it was rather more of a "every passenger still in the car hitting the emergency stop button" situation rather than a "filling out a lost-property form on the website" kind of thing

A much more realistic response! And yeah, I'm still curious as to how that category got there.

[sanguinity]

I have no idea how easy it is to reach a person at your train authority, but if it's difficult, I can see some desperate person finding the lost property page and trying it for lack of an obvious better course. The thing is, even if it's only happened once, if I was in charge of that page I'd want that kind of report to be handled very differently from all the others -- i.e., not "we forward it to Marsha, where it will sit in her email until Monday morning." And if you're gonna handle it differently from the others, you need it to have its own drop-down category... So I can see it. Less in a "this is what you're supposed to do" sort of way, and more in a "the public does all kinds of random shit, and if someone ever does this again we want it to go less badly than last time" kind of way.

*shrug* I used to be a safety engineer, and people would do all kinds of weird shit in emergencies, no matter how hard we trained them on what to do. So we had all kinds of odd "If this is an emergency" routines in weird-ass places, entirely because we could never guarantee that some panicking person wouldn't try this hilariously inappropriate thing.

[luzula]

*shrug* I used to be a safety engineer, and people would do all kinds of weird shit in emergencies, no matter how hard we trained them on what to do. So we had all kinds of odd "If this is an emergency" routines in weird-ass places, entirely because we could never guarantee that some panicking person wouldn't try this hilariously inappropriate thing.
Huh, that makes sense! It sounds like an interesting job.

(Someone did have the idea that this was not for literal babies, but for baby accessories like carriages etc. If so it was poorly communicated...)

[sanguinity]

It was an interesting job! Very good for someone who is willing and able to maintain a working knowledge of all the diverse manufacturing processes in our industry (laser, heat treat, foundry, electroplating, punch press, mechanical assembly, welding, etc.) and the various kinds of risks (chemical, fire, electric, mechanical, ergonomic, etc.) in each. Plus a good understanding of human nature, engineering failures, complex systems, and so on.

Unfortunately, it was shit for my anxiety, and I eventually had to get out for my mental health. :-/

[jesse_the_k]

I'm sorry your mental health suffered. But no doubt your experience in that industry made you even more capable of writing hyper-aware characters like Sherlock.

[sanguinity]

Aw, thank you! Having done a little bit of a great many things has paid off in that one way, to be sure. <3

category?

[eileenlufkin]

Maybe it's the name of a category for things like diaper bags?

Re: category?

[luzula]

Maybe you're right! Or prams/baby carriages, etc. That does seem much more realistic. But then why not call the category "Baby accessories" or something?

[mergatrude]

I left my baby on a train
I was moving on
Baby was heading home again

Experience can leave a stain
I washed my hands
And left my baby on a train

[luzula]

Hee! : D

[chestnut_pod]

Man, if I had lost my baby on a train, I don't think filling out a web ticket would be my first step!

[luzula]

No! Someone had the idea above that maybe the category is for baby carriages, etc, but then why not call the category "Baby accessories" or something?