Maybe I know where your money is!

This time I have to start in Slovenian ...


Če si 28. februarja na Petrol črpalki na Viču v Ljubljani (Tržaška cesta 130) pozabil 20 EUR na bankomatu, ti lahko pomagam, da jih dobiš nazaj! Piši mi na klemen@mice3.it ...


I will continue with the inspiring story because it had occurred in less than half an hour and its lesson really made my day.

The Story ...

In the morning, after a long Saturday night in a bar with my friends, I and my friend Tadej ordered a taxi, where we soon started a conversation about the bad situation in Slovenia. "Has this become the Slovenian national sport?", I thought.

The topic soon developed into materialism and how it seems like it is more important to have a shiny new car in front of the house than living a happy life. Later the driver asked me: "What do you do for a living?". I explained that I am a programmer and how I and my colleagues started our first company after college and what we are doing now at ULU. I told him that the startup scene is fun but not always easy. "In our field it happens way too often that we build products which are actually not solving any problem at all. Cooking dinner or driving a taxi is producing a value and I would rather do something like this than waste my time with "solutions" that nobody actually cares about", I emphasised. He replied that he didn't go to college and that he got a job in the army immediately after high school but the job didn't last long. I felt that he didn't want to go into details, so I said "It must have been a wild ride" and continued: "I think that education is not very important nowadays. Sometimes we people trust the system and hope that an education or following a routine will get us a better life, but in my opinion no one and nothing will give us anything. Everything that counts is gained by hard work, steel persistence and wild decisions". Taxi driver now replied "You guys have to build something! Who else will, if not you?". I know that he was somehow proud of what I was saying and it truly feels extremely incredible when someone believes in you. I think that "believing in someone" is one of the greatest forces I can imagine.

Finally we arrived to our destination where we were supposed to pay for the drive … However .. we didn't have enough money to pay. I sped to the nearby ATM at the gas station and saw that someone had forgotten to take the money out of the slot .. Ooohhh .. What now? The taxi driver was waiting and I needed to hurry up .. I pulled the money out, made my withdrawal and went inside the gas station - wanting to give the found money to someone working there. Unfortunately they didn't know what to do, so I left them my phone number in case the owner comes back and asks about the money. Finally, I returned to the driver and apologised to him for waiting by explaining what had just happened. He gave me that "unfair life" expression and said "Just take the money ...", and then I replied: "This is not my money and I will not possess something that is not mine. It is either you possessing things or things possessing you.". He didn't say anything but he nodded with respect to my decision. I paid and added extra tip and then he said "There are few like you. You have to do something!", and he drove away.

When I arrived home I emailed the bank which owns the ATM and they instructed me to go to their office to sign a "found money" report. I went to the bank a few days later where I was served by a very nice lady. I asked her whether the owner will get the money back and she replied: "Only if he reports the claim". "And what if owner doesn't report the claim?", I asked but we both knew we don't want to dig deeper. We were soon finished and then she walked me out of the office, opening the door for me and saying: "One day you’ll get something in return for what you did". With this sentence she made the story perfect.

Nowadays I rarely feel such strong positive energies around. I have learned that we could easily improve this by believing in someone or saying thanks more often. A lot of small improvements result in enormous change! Let's be a part of it!