I had a flight late this afternoon. I left on the early side as I never know what the traffic is going to be like getting out to O'Hare and don't mind being early. As a reward for my early bird status, I got selected for random extra security screening as I went through TSA screening. That was no big deal -- just swabbing my hands and waiting for the results to come back clean. But, in the three minutes it took for that to happen, when I got back to pick up my stuff, I realized my laptop was gone. In its place was another Dell laptop but one that was obviously not mine. Obvious, you ask? Well, yes -- this laptop had a huge sticker on its top while mine does not. So, obvious to me, less so to the person who took the wrong laptop.
It may not surprise you to learn that the TSA was not particularly helpful. They first told me that this happened more often than you'd think but then had to conference among themselves three times on what they should do. As they reviewed the security tapes to try to figure out who pulled the switcheroo, I was on the phone, waiting to get through to work to determine what the proper procedure was as it was my work laptop. It seemed prudent while waiting to fill out a police report, which as it turns out is part of the proper procedure. The Chicago police officer did not seem particularly interested, enthusiastic or optimistic about the whole thing but said she would take a walk through the terminal to see if she could find the unknowing culprit.
Since I was early, I decided to just sit and wait and see. Incredibly, the CPD actually found the girl! When she returned to security, she apologized immediately ("I'm so sorry, I'm sure this has been stressful for you") and handed over my laptop.
I will not take this as a bad sign for the week ahead -- just out of the ordinary.
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