This is very unoriginal; I already wrote about the first day of my commuting journey, which was riddled with problems and encounters. Well, let me tell you, if you are a commuter, something always goes wrong, and you are lucky if it is just that you must wait 5 minutes for the bus (which happens almost every day). But I have to say nothing was as bad as that first day, and I thought it could only go up from there, because now I can get around without GPS and can actually recognize my surroundings and use that as an estimation of when I would arrive instead of just relying on my phone. I thought nothing could be as bad as the first day—boy was I wrong.
First let me set the scene for you. It’s a Thursday morning and I am on my journey to school. Tuesdays and Thursdays are my best days, because I don’t have class until 10:30 AM, so I could sleep in until 8:15 AM because I leave my house at 8:45 AM hoping to catch an earlier train, but I always end up waiting for the one that leaves at 9:06 AM on the dot. See, if I miss the 9:06 AM train, instead of waiting 7 minutes, the time doubles until the next rush hour. 15 minutes doesn’t seem like a big difference, but those extra minutes is the difference from getting to class on time or late. I have entirely given up on going early because something always goes wrong.
I have no idea how it happened, but I woke up late and was sick. But, it was looking up because I actually reached the earlier bus on time, and was thinking I could be productive in that 15 minute window and do my ethics writing response to the video I was going to watch on the bus. Except here’s the thing, I’m on time checking my apps for the bus and nothings coming up, so of course I go and ask a random lady standing at the bus stop, “did bus 32 come?”, and she was like it already passed. I think to myself of course if did, the one time I’m on time the bus came early? Anyways, I’m like at least I’ll be productive during this break and will work on my ethics homework and watch the video.
So, I put in my AirPods to watch the video and wait at the stop for the next bus, and tell me how this is the first and only time that my AirPod fell out of my ear. This random lady and I watched as my singular AirPod falls onto the ground and slowly rolls on top of the drains, and like in the movies, it teeters on the edge and then drastically falls into the drain. I was in shock and my only response was saying “I’m going to cry,” and the lady told me she would too. The lady then offered me her wired headphones, chocolates from her bag, and asked me if I needed a cigarette, because it was “that kind of day.” I thanked her and politely declined the cigarette and headphones, but accepted the chocolate because I didn’t have anything to eat for the morning, and chocolate makes everything better.
I decided to share my misery by posting on my Snapchat when I was on the bus about how my day couldn’t get any worse because I was going to be late for my calc class that I had to take a quiz in and I lost my AirPod. Just as I posted to my story the bus driver announced a detour. Because of the story I posted, not only did friends that I lost contact with reach out (and now we have plans), but my sister also sent me a TikTok of a lady finding a way to retrieve her fallen AirPod from a subway using a magnet and a measuring tape.
That’s when I had a brilliant idea: I would use the industrial grade mini magnet I have at my house—that I got from who knows where—and I’ll use a string to go magnet fishing. So that Thursday night I went through my dad’s tools where he has a collection of leveling lines and took one with a working reel and almost 100 feet worth of line. I tied my line to the magnet, tested my magnet on the remaining AirPod, which was successful, and put it in my bag for the next day to use.
I’m so grateful that I decided to test out my magnet before going on the bus because my magnet was literally a centimeter too big to fit in the drain. Thankfully, I only have one class on Fridays, so after my class ended, I went to Kanbar to see if the school store had any Jefferson magnets that would be strong enough to connect to the magnet, but small enough to fit in the drain. It was an experience having to explain why I needed the magnet to the cashier after asking if they had any more magnets it shop. They showed me six magnets and only one of them was able to fit the bill of what I needed, something magnetic enough to attract the AirPod but small enough to fit in the drain. It was literally the last magnet I tested that was able to do both.
So, after successfully acquiring my magnet, I went to the bus stop and waited for the bus that would take me back to the drain. When I reached the drain, I got out the magnet and string, but here comes the next problem: this magnet didn’t have a hook to tie in because it’s completely round. I needed something to stick the string onto the magnet, so I asked the stand next to me if they had any tape. They didn’t, but directed me to a CVS blocks away. But I was not going to walk in Philly without my pepper spray by myself, nor spend money for a singular piece of tape, so I just went into the Hilton hotel and asked if they had any tape I could borrow, again having to explain my situation. Thankfully they took pity on me and gave me a tape dispenser to borrow and wished me luck.
With that, all my resolve had returned, and I was determined to get back my fallen AirPod. So, there I sat, crisscrossed at the bus stop hunched over, taping a magnet to a hot pink string on a reel, book bag on the floor next to me. This is where the next problem arises: I’m blind even with my glasses so I couldn’t see where the AirPod was. To counter this I just turned on the video with flash on my camera to be able to zoom in on the photo, as well as adding extra light. With this I was set and got to work.
If you’ve ever been fishing, you understand how difficult it is waiting, and it’s even worse when you know fishes are in the water swimming around your bait but not taking. That was almost the same feeling—I had the magnet, my hook, moving and swaying just above the AirPod or right next to it, just never hitting. I guess I brought a lot of attention to me though because within the first 5 minutes of my attempt, a random old man came up and started questioning me. So, I of course stopped and explained my situation for the hundredth time that day and he told me he wished he had his truck because he was a plumber and used his giant magnetic stick to deal with situations like this. I was like “oh shucks,” and got back to work making small talk mostly about how I’m a broke college kid who can’t afford to replace anything, and we both somehow ended up kneeling over the drain taking turns trying to get this AirPod. We were maybe there for 10 minutes when he finally got a hold of the Air Pod and slowly reeled it in while I was using the phone to direct the line to make sure it went straight. It of course fell down but this time on a step where it was easy to retrieve with the magnet. It was another two minutes before the AirPod was within reach, and then I just grabbed it from the drain using my fingers, not risking another fall.
I have no idea how or why, but it seemed luck was on my side. The AirPod was not damaged in the slightest and no water made contact, it was just really dusty. When I got up, I thanked the man profusely and realized we attracted a little crowd that was cheering us on. I went back to the hotel and was applauded by staff when giving back the tape and then returned outside and once again thanked the man and called my mother and sister to share the good news.
This encounter was both the worst part and highlight of my week. I cannot thank that man enough for going out of his way to help me, the hotel for trusting me with their tape dispenser, or even that lady who offered the candy (which FYI, don’t take candy from strangers that’s dangerous, do as I say not as I do). I will probably have more stories about the horrible commute and experiences I face during them, but I’m so grateful that I know there’s people who go out of their way to help others. I often joke about losing faith in humanity and how it’s a cruel world, but moments like this helps me restore that faith knowing there’s people in the world that help and offer kindness. So, the take home message is AirPods are magnetic, don’t take candy from strangers, and people are willing to help even when it isn’t required or even asked.