[Author's Note: This is the story of one of the most incredible days in my life. If you don't know the BART system very well, please open this map on a separate window for reference.]
Head out Sunday morning to SF, in middle of a hackathon. Super intense weekend to begin with, leading the team to victory as the head Product Manager. Long hours, lots of code, all that jazz. Pretty fortunate though to have a good crew, and I’ve made sure that we’re all cranking along. Got to the Millbrae BART station slightly before 9 AM, not as early as I would have hoped, but should be fine. Get on the train, try to relax, but can’t. Have the headphones on, listening to some music. Take out laptop to start looking over notes and brainstorm the final presentation.
A little while later, train stops at Powell – that’s my station! Stand up, feel my headphones snap out of position. Walk out. Wait, that’s not right, my phone must have slipped. Step back in, quick scan. Nothing there. Rush back out just as the doors are closing. It’s probably somewhere in a pocket. Put my laptop in its cover. Put the covered laptop back in my bag. Put everything else down, tap all my pockets. Hmm, no phone. Look up, see the train pull away … Yup, today is going to be a long day.
Part One
Walk over to the event, but stuck outside the building. You have to tweet to get in. Right, no phone, no Twitter access. Luckily, my team cares about me a lot, and randomly sends someone downstairs to check since they saw other people being accidentally locked out (seriously, my team was awesome). After getting in, alert them about this minor crisis. Borrow a friend’s phone to call mine, but to no avail. A helpful person suggests using “Find my Phone” on iCloud. Hmm, good idea … and Success! The phone shows up as a blue tracking dot on the map, but where? It’s all the way in the East Bay, in Oakland. Must be stolen. Couple refreshes later, the phone seems to be tracking upwards. It’s not stolen! Still on the BART line!
Call BART helpdesk, no support whatsoever. Customer Rep felt that I should have been honored just to have someone to talk to on a weekend. So much for being a helpline. Hmm, the phone stopped in Pittsburgh Bay-point, end of the BART line. OK, I guess I can drive over and pick it up tomorrow. Try to help out with the group, somewhere along the way someone gave me some waffles (which were delicious btw) since I hadn’t eaten breakfast yet and it was already half past ten. Try to focus and come back to the phone issue later. Then, I see the blue dot start to move – southbound.
Omg, it’s coming back down! But the timing is delayed, is this right? Or did someone just walk away with it. A couple of page refreshes later … yup, definitely coming back down on the BART line. Now, we just have to figure out how to intercept the phone as it comes back through again! There’s a train headed southbound at X mph, passing through Y city (Lafayette), with a delay of ~20 min. When will it reach your current destination at location Z (Powell)? I feel like I’m taking the SAT all over again.
Team urges me that it’s definitely the next train down, and that the exact minute of arrival is irrelevant. One of the girls even offers to lend me her phone for the time being so that I can always call back to home base. All I have to do now is go to the station, catch the next train to Millbrae, grab my stuff, and come back up. Technology and teamwork save the day, how exciting!
So I rush down, buy my ticket. Quick thought flashes through my head, “If I come in from Powell and exit again on Powell, they’ll charge me for a full roundtrip … wait, who cares, I’m getting my phone back!” OK, down at the station, waiting for the train. Let’s see, I got off towards the front of the train. But that was Northbound, and now it’s Southbound so it’s the front. Ok, are there other lines that run here? Yea, there’s a Daly City line. Hmm, but that definitely can’t be it since even though its Southbound, it didn’t start for Pittsburgh Baypoint, and I know my phone was at Pittsburgh Baypoint. OK, train arriving .. wait, it’s Daly City … discipline, discipline, stick with your logic, don’t board. Train passes. When is the next one, I’ve been here forever … OK, coming in 3 min. Just be patient, this is almost over. Millbrae train comes in, jump on. The hunt begins.
Let’s be smart about this. I know that I was sitting in the 4-chair formation towards the front end of the train car. We can limit our search to just those seats, going down car by car, check each one. Nothing. People along the way ask if they can help me find something. “I can call your phone for you, see if it rings.” Yea, already tried that, but at least they were kind enough to offer help. We’re already out of SF, and into San Bruno. Somewhere along the line, I get to the back end of the entire train. Haven’t found a single thing. Might as well go through the train again until you reach the front. Somewhere around 11:30, reach Millbrae again. The end of the line, no phone still. Despondent, I sit down. Let’s just go back to the hackathon and help the team win. I make a quick call from my friend’s phone, check in on things, give some quick instructions, lead the team from afar.
Another stranger (female, roughly college age) asks what I was doing, searching for something? I tell her my story, looking for my phone, etc. She says you can track it through the “Find my Phone” app. Yea, I know, did that on my computer, but thanks for your support. She explains, “You can track using any iOS device with the app installed.” Wait, so the tracking is based on my login credentials (cloud based), not my computer credentials (locally based)? “Yup, just sign in here.” Oh my goodness, the tracking works from anywhere!
Login, update the tracking … my phone shows up again! But it’s not at Millbrae, it’s showing up in Daly City with a 1 min delay. OK, so what do we know? (1) the phone is still not stolen (2) the phone is still moving on the BART line (3) the phone is … Nope, that’s it, there’s no third piece of information. Would love to know where the phone is headed. Either it’s on the train ahead of mine, already left Millbrae, headed north. Or it’s on the train behind mine, headed south, about to come into Millbrae. But which one?
Keep refreshing the phone, now the signal says it’s a 2 min delay. 3 min delay. 5 min. Shoot, the train must be going under a tunnel. The train I’m currently on is about to leave the station. Quick, should I stay here or start back north?
Train starts to move, well, just follow along. Stops at SFO Airport. Finally, a signal from the tracker! It says that the phone is at, crap, let’s zoom out, can’t see anything at this view. OK, that’s better. The phone showed up less than a minute ago at SFO Airport. Wait, that can’t be right, that’s where I’m at, and I know it’s not on this train. Look up for second as I hand the phone back to the girl.
Is that a train on the other side of the station? Well maybe the signal … omg, let’s get over there now! Rush out the door, run over to the other side of the platform. Intercom: *Doors are now closing* No, no, no. Knock on the door panels, open up! Train starts to move slowly away … then faster .. and faster and eventually pulls away. W-T-F.
Part Two
After some time to think through what just happened, try to come up with a plan. The one thing I’d really love to do it track my phone through the phone my friend gave me, but it’s an Android, and can’t download the “Find my Phone” app. But let’s formulate a hypothesis. I’m pretty sure the train that just left SFO station, going towards Millbrae is where my phone is at (let’s call that Train A). If I chase the next train to Millbrae though (Train B), then Train A might have already left the station and started heading back north again. If I stay in SFO and catch the next train headed north (Train C), that might work, but there’s no guarantee that Train C equals Train A. The equation in my head is, “if (trainA == trainC) {findPhone(); return success; } else { stillLost();}”
Too many variables still at play, I need to find more information. Decide to talk to attendant at the BART service booth, try to get more info on Train A. Service attendant has no idea what ID number Train A is, nor when the next train is arriving. She suggests checking the printed schedule. OK, this is seriously the last time I ask BART personnel for help.
Determined to find my phone, I work up the courage to find a stranger with an iPhone, and borrow it to track mine. The first person I come up to is a middle-aged business man, just got off the phone with his coworker, I ask politely. He obliges. He holds onto this phone the entire time I’m using it, so he doesn’t trust me that much, but whatever, it works. I see the tracking dot on the app, and as expected, my phone is in Millbrae. A bit later, his train arrives, and he’s on his way. For me, I’m thinking, let’s just wait till Train A starts to head back north, and we’re in business.
I make a call back to my team at the hackathon, help out with some design decisions and then continue to wait. My stomach grumbles as I realize it’s well past noon, but the best thing to do now it just keep waiting. Right? In any case, I find another nice person (this time a woman in her 40′s, traveling with her husband and teenage kids), who let’s me borrow their phone. My phone is still in Millbrae, what’s going on? Why isn’t it moving?
After some convincing from that family, I am cajoled into heading back to Millbrae. If the phone is there, that’s where I need to go. So I take the next train back to Millbrae and start to ask around to see if I can get on the train to look for my phone. I ask the service guy there, and he says that if a train is in The Yard (aka, out of commission), then even he can’t get on. There’s no way I would be able to search it. I try looking for other BART employees for help, but there just aren’t that many people working there on the weekends.
Going nowhere, I figure I should just head back to the group. It’s been almost an hour since I last tracked the phone, and it might have moved since I got down to Millbrae. I work up my courage again to as another person to borrow their phone (this time, a young couple probably in their mid-twenties). I check again, and yea, the phone is still at Millbrae. But the guy with the phone makes an astute observation: GPS on the Maps app puts on the west side of El Camino Real, GPS on the Find my Phone app shows the dot on the east side of El Camino Real – right where the out of service trains are located. I know exactly where my phone is now, all I have to do is get access to those trains.
Emboldened by this newfound knowledge, I head over to the service attendant, I escalate the issue until I reach the station manager, a husky six-foot something black guy in his 30′s. He informs me there’s little he can do, but as I keep pushing, he ultimately gives in and decides to send over a service guard. I’m told that I can’t go on the train, so I should just wait patiently. About 10 minutes goes by, it’s nearly 2 PM, shoot this day went by quickly. Finally, a portly service guard shows up. He yells at me from across the train tracks, trying to confirm that I’m looking for my phone – Yes, that’s me. “OK, stay there, I’m going down to The Yard.”
Wait, let me give you some info! He waves me off and starts to walk over. This is ridiculous! I know approximately where my phone is located, and the type of seat, which can totally help in your search. You don’t even know what kind of phone I have! Of course, I’m too timid to make these remarks out loud, and he’s too far away by the time I realize I should just say it anyway. As I see him enter the trains far off in the distance, I start dialing with the phone I do have, in the hopes that the service guard will hear my phone ring as he’s walking through the train.
Standing at the platform, I just keep dialing and waiting, dialing and waiting. About 20 min later, I get a message from the station manager, telling me to come up the stairs. I head over, and he’s already gone into his office, walled off from public access. What the hell did he just call me up here for?! In any case, the service guard isn’t back yet, so I just keep waiting. After a full half hour, the station manager informs me that my phone has not been found. I try to plead my case, but he won’t have any of it and walks back into his office. A couple minutes later, the service guard passes me by on the stairs and explains that he checked “everywhere.” Sorry sir, your phone is no where to be found. Try again later. As I start to explain that I have GPS tracking to pinpoint my phone, the service guard has already begun to walk away. I’m not sure chasing him down would do me any good at this point, so I just let him go.
I call out to the station manager again, I talk with him for a bit, but all he can tell me is that the particular train I’m interested in (Train A), is out of commission for the day. Trains in The Yard have no identification numbers, and and will be assigned new ones when they start again The train is scheduled to run again at 4:55 AM in the morning in two days, maybe. It could also take the morning route tomorrow, he’s not totally sure. Uhh, ok, that doesn’t really help. As he heads back to his office, I realize there’s not much more I can do here. Disappointed, I catch the next ride back to Powell.
Head back to the group. Plan is to come back early Tuesday morning. Well, let’s check one more phone. Pretend to look around again (because at this point I know that the phone is not on the train), another kind soul is willing to help again. She doesn’t even have the app, but let’s me download it, login, confirms that the phone is indeed still in Millbrae. OK, now I’m totally certain where it is, I just don’t have access to it. She gets off, thank her for her time.
Take a seat, a middle-aged black lady also tries to keep me encouraged. You can’t give up so easily, you’ve got to fight for what’s yours. This is your phone, and having them withholding from you is like stealing it. Make a big deal, threaten to call the police. You have to just do whatever it takes to succeed. / That just doesn’t sound like something I would say or do / Well, you’ve got to break out of your comfort zone. Do whatever it takes. / I thank her for the support and eventually get off at my stop.
After joining back with the group a little before 3 PM, we start to work away at the presentation which we need to give in about an hour. My associate has lead the group nicely in my absence, but now it’s time to finish strong. I put all the thoughts of my phone aside for the moment and focus on the team. Jump in to make sure design is wrapping up nicely, help out with developers to solve last minute questions. Able to answer some technical questions the engineer was stuck on *w00t!* OK, back to the business side. Work on the demo, and speech, memorize my lines.
Everything is humming along and at around 4, presentations start. After most of the other groups go, Team FYGP gets our turn. Give demo, it is awesome, crowd and judges are laughing, good times. After the whole ordeal, the judges go into their conference room to discuss. The rest of us are left to mingle, and enjoy some cupcakes and snacks. We go back to our “war room” and collect our belongings. There are some pretty strong contenders, who knows what will happen.
Finally, judges come out and announce the winners – it’s not us. Then they proceed to announce more winners, and more winners. Everyone is a winner … including us. Well, that was anti-climatic. Wait, there’s an actual category that only has one winner (aka. the only valid contest within the hackathon). Judge: “And the winners for the best API Integration go to … You guys!” Wait, who? *Points over at my team.* Uhh, that’s us? That’s us!! Wow, I think we just won the hackathon. Celebration, prizes, pictures. Yay! Happy ending to a long day 
Well, not quite. I mean I still don’t have my phone …
Part Three
At this point, I’m more or less ready to call it a day. Super tired, it’s almost 7 o’clock, and I’m pretty sure I haven’t eaten anything since breakfast except for that celebration cupcake.
Then I remembered the words of the lady from the train ride back up. “You can’t give up so easily, you’ve got to break out of your comfort zone and fight for what’s yours.” I thought to myself, a rockstar Product Manager would never give up, never give in. Are future release cycles going to be easy? No, of course not. Then you must be relentless in the face of adversity. You must break down walls, you must persevere.
And so, I was determined to give it one more shot. I went back to my computer and checked “Find my Phone” once again. Yup, still in Millbrae. Unless the tracking is off, which at this point, who knows? Well, if it’s still at the same place, I’ve just got to talk to the station manager once again! Make it clear that I know exactly where my phone is, and stand my ground. Make a big ruckus if I have to.
As I pack my things, I look around and see everyone from the hackathon giving their farewells, participants slowly trickling out. I say goodbye to my team members as well, and head out to the BART station. Along the way, one of them continues to walk in the same direction. Turns out, he’s taking the train as well. Awesome, now I can have some to chat with on the way back.
But it turns out to be much more fortuitous. Out of only a handful of team members, there happens to be one who:
- Lives in South Bay,so headed in same direction
- Taking the BART, not driving
- Stopping at exactly the Millbrae station
- Has an iOS device, which can access “Find my Phone”
- Has enough battery life, to actually enable tracking
- Able to stick around, with no urgent matters at home
- Willing to stick around, since he’s super awesome
The combination of factors required for this situation to work out just right is mind-boggling. On the way over, we come up with a game plan. My friend is going to pretend he drove up all the way from San Jose just to help me out. He’s not going back home until I get my phone! For my part, I’m going to get louder and angrier, threatening to call BART police. Using the app on his phone, I’m going to irrefutably show that my property is right at this station!
Upon arrival, I talk to the service attendant as my friend puts our bags in his car for temporary safekeeping. After a couple minutes of chatting, the service attendant decides to call up the station manager. Here it comes, time for the histrionics. A couple minutes later, seeing the station manager walking over to the booth, I start to panic. Where is my teammate?! I need his moral support, I need his acting skills, and most of all, I need his phone! Otherwise, I’m just some crazy guy again!
In an amazing turn of events, without a word, the station manager nonchalantly acquiesces. Recognizing me from earlier in the day, he clearly just doesn’t want to deal with me anymore, and puts in motion the process for getting a train from The Yard over to the boarding platform. “Conductor is scheduled to get here in about ten minutes, so train should be pulled up around eight.” I check my watch – 7:46 PM, roughly a quarter till. A couple minutes later, my friend finally comes back up, I tell him the good news and now we wait. Eventually 8 o’clock rolls around, and we see the station manager come back up.
“You. Come with me. Your friend stays here.” Nervously, I start to follow along . But ingeniously, my teammate has the presence of mind to hand me his phone *and* it’s passcode before we part. Walking through a myriad of stairways and pathways, we get to the boarding platform on the west end, normally closed off to riders. I try to get the station manager invested in my journey, build up some anticipation. However, the look on his face says he truly could not care less. I decide I should just shut up at this point.
Couple minutes later, looking down towards The Yard, there’s a light coming down the track. The phone has locked up, but I enter the passcode, open the app, and refresh the page. The blue dot is moving! After what felt like an hour, the train finally arrives and comes to a complete stop. This is the moment of truth. Trying to recall all the details of where I was sitting. Station manager opens the doors.
I make a beeline for the (a) third car down (b) front side of the train car (c) find the 4-chair formation (d) seat right next to the window. I reach in, pull back the seat cover, not seeing … wait, THERE IT IS!!! Hidden in the crevice between the seat bottom and the seat backing is my iPhone. In no more than ten seconds, the search is over. Standing upright, I raise one arm to the sky, phone in hand.
Victory – it is mine.
_____________________________________
Head back, hug my friend. Call and email my team members to tell them the good news. Overall, I’m super grateful for all the kind people willing to help me out that day. As I drive home, my stomach reminds me once again how hungry I am now that its 9PM. There’s a Denny’s along the way home, so I head in to grab a burger. I’m going to enjoy a nice, juicy six-dollar burger. Menu says that a Swiss-Mushroom burger is 8.99 plus tax, you’ve got to be … ok, whatever. We’re gonna splurge and upgrade to seasoned fries as well. This day has been absolutely incredible, so there’s no reason it shouldn’t end it in the same spectacular fashion. And so it did.
