There’s a time limit if you leave a personal item behind at a business and don’t come back to claim it.

And I think we’d all agree that a whole year is a pretty generous timeframe!

A worker talked about a customer who waited a bit too long to get their phone back.

Check out the story below.

Customer forgot their phone a year ago and now is asking for it.

“I’d like some guidance on the best way to handle this situation, as my manager isn’t knowledgeable in this area and hasn’t been able to help.

I also want to know if I did anything wrong.

Here’s what happened: About a year ago, a client left their phone at our business. I decided to charge the phone after some time in case they tried using “Find My” or calling it.

After three weeks, a message notification appeared with a phone number, so I texted it to let the contact know the phone had been left at our business. It turned out to be the client’s fiancée, who said they’d pick it up the next day.

They waited and waited…

They never came, and despite following up multiple times to arrange a pickup, they still didn’t retrieve it.

Seven months passed without any response or further contact from them.

Since I’m responsible for managing items in the cashier’s booth and, according to California law, it was considered abandoned property after a reasonable attempt to contact the owner, I ultimately decided to donate the phone, along with other forgotten items.

Uh oh…

Now, two months after that, they returned asking for the phone.

We explained it was no longer here and that we’d tried multiple times to arrange for them to pick it up. A month later, they returned again, this time asking to speak with me directly.

I haven’t met with them yet, but I’m genuinely confused—it’s been a year, and they had multiple chances to retrieve it.

How would you suggest handling this moving forward?

Their timing and behavior have been surprising, and I’m not sure what the next best steps are.”

Check out what folks had to say about this on Reddit.

This person was shocked.

Another reader shared their thoughts.

This individual offered some advice.

Another person spoke up.

And this Reddit user weighed in.

Jeez, talk about taking your sweet time…

If you liked that post, check out this post about a woman who tracked down a contractor who tried to vanish without a trace.