Switchboard: Keeper of lost items
By Jeff Lockridge
Whenever personal belongings go astray on campus, they will most likely end up in the possession of Dianne Fisher, switchboard operator and keeper of the lost and found at IVCC.
Fisher said she enjoys her job, but she has one request for staff and students: put your names on your belongings.
"So many times, coats and books show up with no names on them, and I have no way of getting these items back unless people show up to claim them," she said.
With a name, however, Fisher tracks the owner down.
"If they are a student, for example, I can get a copy of their class schedule which will have their home phone number on it, and I can leave a message for them on their home answering machine or contact one of their professors," she said.
Anyone who finds an abandoned item should turn it in to Fisher, who is at the desk located in the link.
Anyone who loses anything should also contact Fisher, and be prepared to describe the item. Most of the time, she'll have it in a cupboard under her desk.
Fisher also stores wallets and purses in that same cupboard, but she removes some form of identification, usually a driver's license or student ID. When someone arrives to claim the purse or wallet, Fisher asks for identifying information, such as home address and possibly social security number. After that, if the individual can accurately describe the purse or wallet, Fisher will turn it over to them.
She keeps items in her cupboard for one week, and then they are transferred to the Student Services Office to another holding area.
"Usually, items are never claimed after they go to Student Services," she said.
Lost and found goes through cycles of slow and fast periods.
"I can go for a week and not get anything turned in or claimed, and sometimes I'll get two or three things turned in one day and maybe four or five people will turn up to claim items on that same day," she said.
The items she sees include textbooks, stocking caps, gloves, coats and, one of the more unusual items according to Fisher, cell phones.
On the day she was interviewed, there were student ID cards, a medical terminology book, a flashlight and several pairs of eyeglasses,
"I wonder how in the world those people who have lost those eyeglasses can see anything at all," Fisher said with a laugh.