Best (and Worst) Places to Leave Your Credit Card (CONTINUOUSLY UPDATED)

October 6th, 2018

Best:

1. The Independent, San Francisco

Easily accessible because the box office has regular hours every weekday. The woman there immediately reassures you that it happens all the time, and the large wad of abandoned cards is readily at hand just to her right. Quick & easy with a smile.

2. Bixi Station at Rue de Bullion & St. Joseph Blvd, Montreal

After leaving Dieu du Ciel you convince your friends that biking is the best way to get to the poutinerie by buying all three of your one-way Bixi tickets. You take off and lead the group, and it's quickly plain that Bixi is the best way to get around the city.

When you get towards the front of the line at the poutinerie and finalize your orders, you open your wallet and your card is not there. It's your turn to order, and luckily you have enough cash and everyone orders to go and plans to eat at Jardins Gamelin.

It takes a few minutes to figure out where your card is. Could it be at Dieu du Ciel? The pharmacy you stopped at after? No! It must be still at the origin Bixi station! You assign your friends to pick up your food and meet you at the park, and rent another Bixi with your other credit card. The way back is uphill; this was never the plan! Which street did you pick up at? What's with all these one-way streets?

You arrive at the original Bixi station, and your card is right there in the card slot. Thank you to the honest passers-by of Montreal, the high adoption of annual passes, and the good luck of starting at a less-used station.

Worst:

1. Keg & Lantern Brewery, Brooklyn

Arriving at Brooklyn Brewery, you realize you only have a mediocre dinner and the lack of a credit card to show for your time at Keg & Lantern.

Leaving Brooklyn Brewery, you call Keg & Lantern and ask if they've found it. They haven't. You retrace your steps back and it's not on the ground anywhere.

The folks at Keg & Lantern they are pretty happy to help in the search. A flashlight is busted out and the under-bar area is visually scoured to no avail. You say you think you handed it back to them in the check-presenter after paying in and they briefly look inside a couple of them. Maybe the clean-up crew will find it at the end of the night, sorry.

You call back in the morning, no news. You mention the check-presenter theory again but they haven't found anything.

Your flight leaves the next day, so it's worth going in person just in case. You haul out to Greenpoint from upper Manhattan for this reason only. When you get to the bar, you suggest that it might be in a check-presenter. They look in some check-presenters. The card is in one of the check-presenters.