Sunday afternoon, my mom and I stepped out of a NYC yellow taxi after church. Five minutes later, we realized she had left her purse behind. Inside: her iPhone, wallet, IDs, credit cards, a wad of cash…and, of course, lipstick.
Anyone who knows me knows I work exceptionally well under pressure. So once the adrenaline kicked in, I went into full crisis-publicist mode.
First: prayer. In a crisis that’s always where I start.
Then: technology. Because I track my mom’s iPhone—let this be my public service announcement that if you have parents, you should probably be doing the same—I opened Find My and watched her phone travel all over Manhattan.
At that point, I figured there was only one person who could cover that much ground that quickly: a NYC taxi driver.
We filed reports with Curb and NYC311, identified the cab and its management company, tried repeatedly to reach the driver, and hit one automated dead end after another. So I started treating it like I would any crisis: gather information, document everything and keep changing tactics when something isn’t working.
I used ChatGPT to accelerate the research—helping me locate taxi information, addresses, phone numbers and the appropriate NYPD precincts—and Find My to track the phone. I took screenshots throughout the process documenting exactly where it was and when.
Then Monday at 1 p.m., the phone stopped moving.
Queens.
It stayed there all afternoon, overnight and into Tuesday morning.
The location? Big Apple Taxi Management.
Phone calls weren’t getting us anywhere, so this morning I decided it was time to stop calling and show up.
My mom and I headed to Queens, armed with nearly 48 hours of documentation and guidance from the NYPD’s 108th Precinct.
Initially, we were told nothing had been turned in.
I calmly showed them the tracking information and explained that the NYPD knew we were there. And suddenly, a manager emerged from his office carrying… MY MOM’S PURSE!
Everything was inside. Phone. Wallet. IDs. Every dollar of cash. Even Sunday’s church bulletin. The honest taxi driver had wrapped rubber bands around the purse to keep it securely closed. Because I’m always thinking like a publicist first, we snapped this victory photo and I was back at my desk for meetings by 10:30 a.m.
Last Halloween, my mom, Winnie and I dressed up as Velma, Daphne and Scooby-Doo as a joke. Apparently it was training.
Here’s the lesson: Pressure doesn’t always require a perfect plan. It requires staying calm enough to keep finding the next move. Use the tools available to you. Document what you know. Ask for help. Change tactics when something isn’t working. And sometimes, when the calls and emails get you nowhere, you simply have to show up.
It’s how I recovered my mom’s purse from the depths of the NYC taxi system. Purse, wallet, phone and lipstick—recovered in under 48 hours.
LIFT tip: When the phone calls get you nowhere, SHOW UP.
~Amy Summers, Founder & President of Pitch Publicity® & INICIVOX®