The efforts of Calgary Transit workers led to a reunion between a 13-year-old Calgarian and some of his family’s prized possessions.
Mieszko Albert, a Grade 8 student, brought a collection of mementos to school on Thursday for a presentation. “The reason that I had all these antiques and collectibles and all this stuff at school was because I had to do a presentation for marketing and management for my business class.”
After taking the bus home, Albert exited the bus and noticed that the items he was carrying felt too light. When I got off I looked down and I realized I don’t have it with me. That’s when I just went into a panic mode. I got butterflies in my stomach.”
The missing mementos belong to Albert's father and many are irreplaceable.
“I had some old antique coins in there and some of the biggest coins, at a convention, some of those are $60 for a single dime. I had two pure silver spoons from my great-grandma so those are very special to me and my family.”
The 13-year-old informed his mom of the missing bag and she immediately called Calgary Transit customer service. Word of the forgotten bag was shared with Barb Dmytryshyn, a Calgary Transit bus controller, who reduced the list of buses that may have potentially transported Albert to three.
“I knew the school bus runs were just finishing,” said Dmytryshyn. “I had a good chance on catching the bus and having the operator find the item on the bus still.”
Amin Manji, a bus driver with more than 20 years of experience, was notified of the lost items and led to a successful search of the seats on his bus. “It was sitting right there,” recalled Manji. “I looked inside and it looked kind of interesting. I’ve never seen that before.”
“I collect coins myself so it looked like an interesting situation with this guy.”
Calgary Transit let the family know that the bag had been found and would be returned to the teen the following day. “Instant relief of stress,” said Albert. “Everything was safe and everything was good.”
According to Calgary Transit officials, items are left behind on buses and CTrains on a regular basis but reunions are quite common. “Their chances are really good and our operators are really good looking for lost items on the bus,” explained Dmytryshyn.
Albert says he’s learned a valuable lesson from the incident. “Always double-check and make sure you have everything with you.”
With files from CTV’s Chris Epp
