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The original was posted on /r/tifu by /u/SRSgoblin on 2025-01-27 01:25:47+00:00.

This is a true TIFU because it literally just happened. I’m still dealing with it as I’m typing this out.

I know everyone has been through the ringer the last 5 years, but me more than most. I’m not trying to trauma brag, just trying to be objective. Failed suicide attempt in 2020 that wrecked my car and left me with broken bones. Homelessness as a result of not being able to work for awhile after that ordeal. I was gainfully employed for about 18 months during 2022-2023 doing pest control work, but it didn’t pay very good and I ended up quitting after a client’s German Shepard attacked me because it gave me severe PTSD flashbacks from the suicide attempt. Been unemployed since.

I finally landed an opportunity through a state government sponsored program to help people find employment. They got me linked up with and paid for a school to help me earn a Commercial Driving License, to be a trucker. That all wrapped up about a week ago, everything in order. Earned the Class A license, have a job offer already.

Orientation for the new job begins tomorrow, and as you’d expect for a trucking job, I need a whole bunch of papers on me to hand over. I need my certificates from the CDL school, my social security card, the medical documents needed to drive a Class A legally, and my temporary license. The state I’m from doesn’t print your new card there at the DMV anymore as of like 30 years ago, instead printing a simple piece of paper while your official license with photo, etc, all gets sent by mail on like 2 business weeks, hence why that item isn’t just a card I keep in my wallet yet.

Mind you, orientation is several states away. I had a long day of travel to even get there. First flight left at 7 AM and I arrived around 4 PM. Not exactly something I can easily undo by popping on home real quick.

Orientation will be a week followed immediately by going on the road with a mentor driver, so I’m packed for like 2 weeks of stuff + blanket, pillow, etc, stuff I’ll need for sleeping and living in the truck. Because of how stuffed my suitcase was, I thought “hey I should keep my documents in a separate folder I keep directly on me in case they airline loses my suitcase.”

This is a terrible mistake if you have ADHD.

I was mindful of my folder all day. Made sure it was on me. Was constantly checking for it. But all it takes is forgetting one time, which is exactly what happened. I got to the hotel the company is having me stay at and realized I didn’t have it. My folder with what boils down to my entire life inside it is gone.

Called the shuttle company to see if I left it on the shuttle. Left a ticket with the airline to see if I left it on the plane. Cried a lot. Hyperventilated a lot. I cannot afford to fuck up this job opportunity because I’m broke-broke. I’m “might be homeless again” broke. I cannot stress how much pressure is on me to succeed.

Then I get a text message saying “this is the information booth at [airport code.] Someone has handed me a folder that has a bunch of documents with your name on it so I called the number listed on it and am texting that number to let you know I have it.” Sure enough I missed the call, so I give this gentleman a call back. He recognized all the documents inside and how important they were because he had been a trucker for 20 years himself before retiring from that to work at the airport to stay close to home. He has it secured, but the problem is the airport is an hour away, and now I’m not on the company’s dime. If I want to go pick it up (because I need it for tomorrow so shipping isn’t an option that works immediately for me) I was going to have to Uber there and back, which would probably be a couple hundred bucks that I do not have.

So I call my recruiter, and let her know what’s up and what she wants me to do about it. I gave her the numbers I had from everyone I had talked to. She says hang on. She calls back in about 10 minutes saying she’s contacted the shuttle company and they’re willing to bring it down with their next shuttle. The guy at the info desk is aware of this and will alert me when he’s handed the folder over to the driver. I still have about 2 hours from the time I post this to when the shuttle will get here.

When I got the news they were going to help me, I ugly cried. I genuinely thought I had fucked myself out of this job opportunity by being a forgetful bitch and somehow losing enough documentation someone could have stolen my entire identity several times over. The fact people were willing to be so kind and help me is making me choke up just writing about it. Sometimes people are pretty cool.

I’ll edit in an update once I’ve got my stuff back in hand.

Tl:dr I accidentally left a folder containing several important personal documents in it at a shuttle stop at an airport at the worst possible moment I could be forgetful, and people are being awesome humans by helping get them back to me.

Update: folder is now back in my arms. I am so fortunate such a monumental fuck up was solved relatively quickly. Thank you to the kind people who helped me out today, you genuinely saved my life.