The magical unusable debit card
I drove home to Dallas this afternoon. My brake light was on as I left Little Rock, but it went off fairly soon. Overall, the trip was pretty uneventful.
Well, except for the incident in which a gas station clerk charged me $2,462.46 for $2.46 worth of merchandise, which locked up my debit card so I couldn't use it to buy gas the rest of the way home.
I stopped at the station in the first damn place to use the facilities, then thought, "Well, I should be polite and buy something. I need a soda anyway." So I brought a bag of candy and a soda to the front.
"Whoops! I rang it up for twenty-five hundred dollars! Good thing I didn't send it through!" the clerk said to me and to her coworker and the rest of the customers standing around. I put my head in my hands. "I did the same thing last week. Almost gave this lady here a heart attack!" Well, turns out she actually sent it through, then sent a credit to cancel it out, but I didn't find this out until I called my boyfriend later and had him check my account online. All I knew then was that it was declined after she tried to run it as a debit, then a credit. She then completely ignored me and moved on to the next customer.
I was utterly defeated and turned around to leave. Then, several other customers offered to, and did, pay for my Diet Coke and a bag of candy I'd picked out to give to my boyfriend. Strangers bought me junk food for Christmas.
I made it out of the gas station before I teared up, then sobbed in the car for the next, I don't know, 10 miles down the highway. It was wonderful to cry, though, because it brought to a head most of the anxiety and bad feelings I've been dealing with for the last few days, and I was able to drive the rest of the way in relative peace.
My card did not go through, as my bank had locked my card's transactions due to weird activity, when I had to buy gas about 100 miles later; luckily, I had my credit card, but I really didn't want to use it since it's so close to the limit right now. I called my bank when I got home and got my card reactivated and all taken care of.
So glad that it was sunny and that the ice on the roads melted, that there was no more rain, that there was no snow, that I was not stuck on the interstate overnight like some folks in west Texas and Oklahoma, that my car and I are here unscathed, that I have a comfortable, warm home with people and animals that love me.
I wish my family was having a better second half of the holiday. My grandma's fall last night gave her hip a hairline fracture which will require pins and screws to fix. She's being moved to a larger hospital tonight. I hope she gets through it ok, and I worry how my family's going to deal with the financial fallout of this situation.
Well, except for the incident in which a gas station clerk charged me $2,462.46 for $2.46 worth of merchandise, which locked up my debit card so I couldn't use it to buy gas the rest of the way home.
I stopped at the station in the first damn place to use the facilities, then thought, "Well, I should be polite and buy something. I need a soda anyway." So I brought a bag of candy and a soda to the front.
"Whoops! I rang it up for twenty-five hundred dollars! Good thing I didn't send it through!" the clerk said to me and to her coworker and the rest of the customers standing around. I put my head in my hands. "I did the same thing last week. Almost gave this lady here a heart attack!" Well, turns out she actually sent it through, then sent a credit to cancel it out, but I didn't find this out until I called my boyfriend later and had him check my account online. All I knew then was that it was declined after she tried to run it as a debit, then a credit. She then completely ignored me and moved on to the next customer.
I was utterly defeated and turned around to leave. Then, several other customers offered to, and did, pay for my Diet Coke and a bag of candy I'd picked out to give to my boyfriend. Strangers bought me junk food for Christmas.
I made it out of the gas station before I teared up, then sobbed in the car for the next, I don't know, 10 miles down the highway. It was wonderful to cry, though, because it brought to a head most of the anxiety and bad feelings I've been dealing with for the last few days, and I was able to drive the rest of the way in relative peace.
My card did not go through, as my bank had locked my card's transactions due to weird activity, when I had to buy gas about 100 miles later; luckily, I had my credit card, but I really didn't want to use it since it's so close to the limit right now. I called my bank when I got home and got my card reactivated and all taken care of.
So glad that it was sunny and that the ice on the roads melted, that there was no more rain, that there was no snow, that I was not stuck on the interstate overnight like some folks in west Texas and Oklahoma, that my car and I are here unscathed, that I have a comfortable, warm home with people and animals that love me.
I wish my family was having a better second half of the holiday. My grandma's fall last night gave her hip a hairline fracture which will require pins and screws to fix. She's being moved to a larger hospital tonight. I hope she gets through it ok, and I worry how my family's going to deal with the financial fallout of this situation.