And now to #10.
Making this list was tougher than I expected. Lots of things to like about living
here. Nevertheless, restrict it I must
so for the last position I choose a modest little behavior which exemplifies
the thoughtfulness and honesty of the people who live here. In Switzerland, when someone finds an object
that was obviously dropped accidently by its owner they generally don’t take it
to a Lost and Found, and they certainly don’t keep it. Instead, usually they simply place it in a
spot where the owner can return to find it.
And the people who subsequently pass by, but aren’t the owners, leave it
there. My son once lost an expensive
pair of sunglasses. As soon as he
realized they were missing he simply retraced his steps and, sure enough,
someone had picked them up and left them in an clearly visible position
alongside the path he was walking. Lost
and Founds exist of course but are most often used for items lost in high
traffic areas or on public transportation.
In fact, SBB, the Swiss Rail System, receives so many lost items that
ten years ago they commissioned a solution which led to the founding of
Fundsachenverkauf (lost property sale), a business that buys (in bulk, sight
unseen) and re-sells the roughly 8,000 unclaimed items left monthly in Swiss
trains, buses, airports or post offices
http://www.fundsachenverkauf.ch/.
Interestingly, the merchandise part of their website has a sex toy
section. Hmmm. Sex toys lost on public transportation. No doubt if they’d been lost on a hiking
trail somewhere they’d simply be picked up, dusted off and placed on the side
for the owner to find.
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