OMG! I Lost My…

It’s the end of the day, and you’re packing up to go home. Mentally, you go through your checklist—Math book? Check. History notebook? Check. Your favorite sweater? …Uh-oh, it’s nowhere to be found. What are you going to do now?

The answer, despite what you may think, is not to send an e-mail to the entire school body detailing your predicament. Although mass e-mails have been a very popular means of communicating and dealing with situations such as lost items, they are in no way the best (or first) method you should take to achieve your goal.

If you lose something, the best thing to do—before sending a frantic e-mail to the school body—is to look for it yourself. Where was the last place you saw your sweater? Typically, that’s where you should start your search, believe it or not. Retrace your steps, making sure you didn’t accidentally forget your item in one of your classes. If that doesn’t work, the lost and found is the next place you should look. Odds are, if your sweater is going to be found, it will either be there or where you remember leaving it.

If the sweater remains elusive, then you can consider e-mailing the students. Keep in mind that it’s a good idea to run ideas by the authorities. According to Mr. Cozort, it is suggested that you get permission to e-mail the entire student body, but it is not required as of yet. “For now, we’re monitoring the e-mails, but not policing…we’re trusting that you’re responsible students and haven’t placed strict limitations.” This doesn’t mean that our access to the e-mail system can’t be revoked; it’s a good idea not to push it too far, so as not to lose this privilege.

But more than that, excessive mass e-mails can be irritating. Let’s face it—nobody likes opening their inbox to find fifty e-mails alerting the general public about a lost ring or a dire need for Black and White tickets. Not only do they clog up one’s inbox, but these messages are often ignored or only glanced over briefly. If someone hasn’t turned in your sweater to the lost and found, odds are that nobody’s seen it.

So remember, the next time you lose your sweater a frantic e-mail to the entire Presentation community is not the answer. Keep a cool head and remember that there are plenty of logical steps to take before sending out an e-mail for help. Being able to access the student body through the e-mail system is a privilege, one that should be conserved for when it is truly needed. The whole student body can help curb the problem by returning lost items they see to the lost and found for easy location. This way, we might just be able to eliminate the need for so many mass e-mails after all.