This morning I was noticing that I was rather low on coffee, so after a pop-in to the tailor for a fitting and a visit to the travel agent across the road to book my flight to Hanoi, I decided to check out the new Starbucks on De Tham that opened about five days ago. I was pleasantly surprised that the parking attendant at the new Starbucks had previously worked at the giant Starbucks on the CMT8 roundabout. We both recognized each other and exchanged warm smiles.
When I walked in, I was greeted by friendly baristas behind the counter. I said hello and walked over to the area where they sold bags of coffee to restock my home supply. One of the baristas walked over and told me about the brew they had that day (the Italian Roast) and gave me a small sample. She was the sweetest. We got to chatting about where I worked and how long I had been in Vietnam. When I went to pay for the coffee, I also decided to get a grande iced coffee for the time being. They told me that I could have this free of charge since they just opened and enjoyed my conversation. They even suggested that they add some caramel sauce on top. It was so adorable. I headed upstairs to have my coffee and people-watch on the terrace that looked over De Tham before heading to work.
On my way to work I decided to stop at the Saigon Petro on the corner of Nguyen Van Cuu and An Duong Vuong to get petrol for my bike. I asked the attendant to fill it up with 100,000 VND and he did so. I opened my backpack to get out my wallet to pay and realized it wasn't there. I frantically searched my backpack and the boot of my bike and I immediately knew that it had fallen out of my bag at Starbucks. I apologized profusely to the gas attendant telling him I had no money and I promised to come back in ten minutes. I actually felt dizzy at the thought of losing everything in my wallet. In it I had 2,000,000, my American credit card, my Vietnamese credit card, the ownership card to my motorbike (which cannot be replaced), and my health insurance cards. I left the petrol station without paying and sped to Starbucks (making incredible timing there).
When I pulled up, the parking attendant that I knew could see that I was in a hurry and he held up his wallet questioningly. I nodded and ran inside. I was greeted by the deeply kind baristas who said, "Don't worry we have your wallet and we were going to call your company to tell them!" They knew what company I worked for and the exact building because we had chatted about it earlier. They handed me my wallet with everything inside of it. I was extremely grateful and thanked them a million times over. They told me it was destiny for me to get it back because I was so nice to them. I cannot even put into words how thankful I am for this and how sweet they were for returning it.
Once I left Starbucks in relief, I sped back to the gas station where I was previously unable to pay for the full tank of gas they had given me. When I pulled up, the attendant's jaw dropped. He couldn't believe I had actually come back to pay. All of the other gas attendants started clapping and smiling. The attendant that helped me took my picture. He then shouted "my boss, picture, picture." Next thing I know, the manager of the gas station comes up, puts his arm around me and has another attendant take a picture of us. He didn't speak much English but he said, "You good, you good." I thanked them for understanding and believing in me and they were extremely grateful that I had come back.
What could have been a really frustrating and stressful situation turned out to absolutely make my day. People always complain about the amount of stealing and bag-snatching here...and yes it is a huge problem. Yet, no matter where you are in the world there will always be amazing people that are genuine and have the best interest of others in mind. Today I was extremely lucky to encounter a series of wonderful and understanding people who have truly warmed my heart.
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