i finally decided to call a newspaper. as for why, i can only tell you this: deep down inside i felt like i hadn't done anything wrong. if people judged me differently, it would be because they're different people with different values. and perhaps i should add something else. of the many lessons i learned from this adventure, one of the greatest was this: never let fear win.

i decided to call the most prestigious newspaper in the country, the wall street journal.

it was july 13. i called information and found that the wall street journal had a san francisco bureau. a woman answered the phone. i asked her if i could speak to a reporter who writes features, and explained i might have a great story for the paper. "what's your story?" she asked. figuring that if i could sell her, she'd put me through to one of the reporters, i launched right into a brisk and upbeat telling of the story. within 15 seconds i could tell that i had her interested.

when i finished she said, "that's a great story! i'd love to write it."

at the same time, i made this website and people from all over the world started started reading along.

throughout the two harrowing months that followed, i kept the those interested informed of developments through regular updates on my web page. at the same time, i was facing the beginning of the school year--the time of year when i am always busiest as a speaker. so in the midst of everything else, i had to be flying around the country, giving speeches and workshops at dozens of colleges. sometimes i woke up in a different city each day.

many of these were posted very late at night, from nondescript hotel rooms in strange cities, after long and exhausting days of lecturing, endless interviews, and innumerable phone calls. endless interviews, and innumerabel phone calls because on wednesday, august 16, i went out to the wall street journal box and i plopped my three quarters in, grabbed for the paper. flipped to the second section, and saw the words "trash into quick cash." it was a short story about my adventure. pay dirt!!

that day, my voice mail was deluged with calls from radio, newspaper, and television. calls included messages from both the late show with david letterman and the tonight show with jay leno! i did an interview with a reporter from the associated press wire that afternoon. the reporter said that she'd write it up, and it would definitely be released to all california papers, and maybe to all national newspapers.

the next day, over 200 newspapers carried headlines similar to this one from the san jose mercury news, "man 1, bank 0."

it created an enourmous media storm in my life. over the next three weeks i did interviews on nbc nightly news with tom brokaw, hard copy, abc world news tonight with peter jennings, the montel williams show, cnbc's the money club, good morning america, and all of the top san francisco news stations.

reporters were also trying to interview my bank, which would only reply -"no comment."

during each interview, i was always asked, "patrick, you have the money locked in a safe deposit box. what are you going to do next?" i would reply, "i'd like the ceo of first interstate bank to take me to lunch, where i'd give him back the check. he'd give me an official letter from the bank, documenting that i'd returned money i had a legal claim to, and that i had not attempted to fraud the bank. then together we'd donate the money to charity (since it was legally mine, but ethically the banks).

during her news broadcast, dianne sawyer commented, "patrick, i wouldn't count on that lunch." and she was right.

instead, i was served with legal papers that were calling me into court to decide who the money legally belonged to.

at this point, knowing that i wasn't out to keep the money, i called up the bank's senior legal counsel and told him i wanted to give the money back. "i'm the world's easy guy to get the money back from - all you have to do is write me an official letter from the bank that addresses this fiasco from a fair point of view. i invited him to meet with me, to draft such a letter and come to a resolve, and we did.

to again attempt to shorten a long story, the bank continued for another month to make very funny errors. funny things continued to happen as a result of ongoing media interviews. even had a first interstate employee begin to offer me "inside information" via anonymous email tips. after a month of negotiations, i got my letter and was ready to return the money.

end part vi

part vii: updates

patrick combs is available as keynote speaker for your next event. let him inspire your audience with the story and discussion of his $95,000 adventure. he is also the author of major in success: make college easier, beat the system & get a very cool job (ten speed press). all contents on this page ? 1995, by patrick combs. all rights reserved. http://www.goodthink.com

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