16.5 seconds: Nia Molina, 48, Elgin, Ill.

( Abel Uribe/Chicago Tribune / October 27, 2010 )

"I know it's in here … I think," said Molina as she checked her two coat pockets, then various zippered pockets in her shoulder bag.

"Come on, Mom. Come on. Come on," cheered her son, Mateo, 7, jumping up and down as she struggled to locate the phone for what seemed a very long time.

Molina says she just tosses the phone into her purse "at random" which is why it took her the longest of all those I interviewed — 16 (and 1/2) seconds — to locate the phone.

"At least I found it," she laughed.