Owning a car in New York City almost certainly means parking on city streets, which involves the usual routine of locking it up and leaving it for the night, hoping it's in the same shape come the morning.
Last week, Chulani Sterling did exactly that on her Bronx street, or at least she thought she did. When she came back to use her car the next day, she found a note left by a stranger.
"I open the car door and my passenger seat was pushed back, my glove box was open and then I see the note on my dashboard," she told NBC New York.
The note read: "Thank you for letting me sleep in your car for the night. Lock your doors next time."
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Sterling couldn't believe it.
"I'm just like, is this serious? That's all I could think of," she said. "Like is this really, seriously happening? Did someone really leave a note on my dashboard and sleep in my car?"
She said whoever the stranger was, they didn't steal anything, just left the contents of her glove compartment spread about. Sterling still has no idea how it happened.
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"I could've swore my car was locked because I pressed the button three times until it goes beep," she said. "I could've swore it was locked but obviously I didn't because they were in there."
Sterling said it was pouring rain that night, and a part of her is glad she was unintentionally able to give this stranger a dry place to stay.
"It is sad to know that and I know it's not the only person doing that, looking for somewhere to sleep during this time," she said. Sterling said she wishes there were more places for desperate people to have a dry and safe place to sleep.
