A Lost Briefcase

This evening, when I was getting ready to leave work, our South American Salesman stopped by to discuss the layoffs that we had today and to find out how he could get the sales specs for some of the boats that we are selling. He arrived yesterday, with a potential customer from Venezuela, to look at one of the boats. As there was no one else still at work that could pull the information, I said I’d gather the information as he and the customer were flying out tonight. A little while later, I took him the specs he needed. The customer returned from looking at the boat and said that his briefcase was missing. As we had a layoff this afternoon, and he left it on a chair in the hallway, I was very concerned that maybe it was stolen. We looked throughout the office, but couldn’t find it. His passport was in the bag. The salesperson had a bag, so it appeared that only one bag was missing.

I went back to my office and said a prayer that we could find the briefcase as at this point, it would really take a miracle to find it. When I went back, people were still looking around. The salesperson went into his bag and pulled out a phone and charger that weren’t his. He then checked the computer only to discover it wasn’t his either. The customer said they weren’t his. Okay, now there were two bags missing, a laptop, blackberries, passports and any other personal information that is kept in a “safe” place. The phone in the bag had the name of a person that was laid off today. I then had a thought to call our IT person. I asked the IT person if the laid off person had turned in their computer before they left, or brought it back later. He said the HR manager had called him to say that the laid off person had turned in her bag and could he lock it up. He had gone to the chair, picked it up, then locked it up in the computer room. I signalled for the customer to follow me and gestured there was a small chance of finding it.

Problem #2, the IT closet was locked and only three people have keys to it. One person I didn’t have a phone number for, the IT person was at home 50 minutes away and the third person was on the east coast. I said another quick prayer, put my key the lock and the door opened right away. A month ago, when we had a prior layoff, my office key had been replaced and I had been given a second key. This second key worked, but my master key doesn’t. I saw a couple bags in the closet and held a smaller one up for the customer to see. A huge smile spread across his face and he nodded. There are times when it doesn’t matter if you speak the same language, you can still communicate. He then turned back and pointed to his arm…it was full of goosebumps, we both laughed. What a relief! The salesman’s briefcase was in their too. I shared that finding the cases was an answer to prayer. How nice to know that God cares about small things in our lives. The customer liked the boat, I don’t know if he’ll actually end up buying it, but I’m glad his experience at Cabo ended up positive.