Unexpected Membership Benefits Wednesday, 23 March 2011 21:44 Written by Meredith Cox

I’ve been a member of the Shanghai Dolls for a while now, so as soon as the Dolls introduced the membership card, I got one.  Discounts on waxing and restaurants?  Yes, please.  And since then, the card has served me well, though not as well as it served me on St. Patty’s day.

In celebration of St. Patrick’s day, I went to O’Malley’s in the French Concession.  It was just me and a few friends, along with every other expat in Shanghai.  I have never seen O’Malley’s as crowded as it was that night—people were wedged into every corner of the pub, both inside and out.  We could barely move, let alone make it to and from the bar.  But it was a fun night—lots of singing and dancing and drinking green beer—basically, what every St. Paddy’s day is about.   It was still quite cold in Shanghai so I was wearing my winter coat, but after a few minutes of being in the bar I had to take it off, despite the fact that there was no coat check and I didn’t want to hold it.  There was great music on, and I wanted to dance!  And I can’t dance while holding my massive coat; it messes with my moves.  So I tossed my coat under a table near where we were standing, on a pile of other coats and bags.  Pretty soon my handbag joined the pile.  I couldn’t let anything get in the way of me, my green beer, and dancing to the Pogues and U2.

Needless to say, by the time I left O’Malley’s very late that night, my handbag was gone.  Nowhere to be found.  I’d left it unattended under a table in a crowded pub for hours, so really, what did I expect?  Luckily, my phone was in my pocket, but everything else—money, photos, cards, driver’s ID, makeup, keys—all gone.  I was gutted.  I’d never had anything stolen from me in Shanghai before, even though I knew it happened, of course.  I’ve heard a dozen stories about lost handbags and stolen phones and wallets.  I couldn’t believe I’d been so careless and stupid.

I did think that maybe someone had picked it up by mistake.  It happens, right?  And I like to be optimistic about some things.  Maybe someone took it by mistake and was going to return it to me, or take it back to the bar.  But I rang the bar the next day, and no one had turned in a missing handbag, so I accepted that it had been stolen.  Then came the hassle of going to the bank to get a new card, calling my American bank to close my account, getting keys made, figuring out how to get a new ID in China, etc.

On Saturday afternoon I was sitting at home, feeling bad for myself (also unable to go out because I didn’t have any money—my bank wouldn’t let me withdraw any money until I got my new card—a seven day wait!) when I got a text out of the blue from our fellow Doll Elena.  She said that she’d received an e-mail from a woman who had found my handbag, found the Dolls card in my wallet and e-mailed the website to find me.  I was absolutely gob smacked!  Elena passed on the woman’s contact information; I called her and went to pick up my handbag a couple of days later.  And unbelievably, all of my possessions were safe and sound.  There wasn’t even any money missing!  The woman who found my handbag had also had her wallet stolen that night, but at some point in the evening, my handbag had been stuffed into her larger bag (possibly when someone was going through the pile).  Bound to happen when there’s just a big pile of coats and bags under the table.  This woman didn’t discover she had my handbag until then next day and she tried pretty hard to find me.  I had a business card in the wallet, but when she called my company, they gave her an outdated number to reach me on which was no good.  She couldn’t find me on Facebook (I’ve got a pretty common name).  But she saw the Dolls card, found the website, and contacted me that way.  It ended up being the best form of ID in my wallet! 

I joined the Dolls because I wanted to make some female friends in Shanghai.  I got the membership card because I wanted to get discounts on things I was already buying and places I was already going.  Never in my dreams did I think that it would actually help to return my lost handbag in a city where loads of wallets are lost and stolen every day.  Now I consider it just one more great benefit to being a member of the Shanghai Dolls!

Comments 

 

#5 RE: Unexpected Membership Benefits — buzza 2011-04-19 09:38

Thanks for sharing your awesome story :) So glad you got your stuff back!!!

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#4 RE: Unexpected Membership Benefits — elena 2011-03-29 22:38

Sure, Heather! Just fill out application http://www.shanghaidolls.org/dolls/membercard/member-card-application

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#3 RE: Unexpected Membership Benefits — Heather 2011-03-29 21:08

so do I get an honorary membership? It was great to help someone out...wish the person who has my purse etc felt the same! There are a few good people left..although nice girls come last, isn't that the saying lol!

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#2 Ditto Astrid's comment — aLeGnaRoMa 2011-03-28 15:11

and thanks for sharing your experience. Glad that your Shanghai Dolls membership card "saved" you.

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#1 WOW! What a fairy tale! — Astrid 2011-03-24 21:38

Lucky you! This is great to see nice people around actually and make you believe in a better world sometimes!

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