Denied

You know that lady, the one in front of you at the checkout line with about a gazillion items and a price check? And then, finally everything is scanned and accounted for but then her credit card doesn't work?

Card Denied!?

I was that lady yesterday.

And to add insult to injury, I was shopping at the Goodwill.

They do not take Discover (I'm finding that a lot.) So I pull out my check card instead and hand it over. Card Expired. No problem, I have my cell phone I'll call and activate the new card. Problem, cell phone- dead. Turns out you have to call from your home phone anyway. I then proceeded to pull out another check card from another bank account that we rarely use and are on the verge of closing. PIN number invalid.

"Could you just write a check?", the trying-to-be-patient cashier prodded.

A check. Yes. I could write a check. I fumbled through my purse for the checkbook and a pen and began to fill in the amount. The pen ran out of ink.

I borrowed one. Wrote my check. Picked up my bag, my children, and my pride and we left.

On the way home I stopped at another Goodwill. I'm a glutton for punishment and I was on a mission to find some items I needed for a Halloween craft and our first attempt left us empty handed. (Except for the awesome deals we found on Halloween costumes for the girls and some stinkin' cute gymboree shoes that I'm sure Brittain will grow into in the next year or two.)

This time I was prepared. I made my way to the checkout, confidently pulled out the rarely used, saved my tush checkbook and asked to borrow a pen. I included my phone and driver's license number for good measure.

"I'm sorry. The system won't accept your check."

What?!!!!

"It's probably just an error with our system but it won't process your check at this time..." she said, an apology in her eyes.

By now I was panicking because that is our main account. And I knew with a surety there was plenty in the account to make my Goodwill purchase. My mind ran wild. I knew someone had hacked our account and taken all the funds.

The cashier put everything in a bag to hold for me while I went to get some cash. Luckily the bank, with the account we are about to close was in the same parking lot. I went through the ATM and was able to enter the correct PIN.

Armed with $20 cash I returned to Goodwill. Made my purchase. I still don't have the item we went in for. Candlestick holders if you must know.

I came home, checked the account online. Everything looked right. Yes, it probably was your system, thank you very much. Then I activated my new card (the one that I received probably two months ago).

I should be good to go.

But you may not want to get behind me in line. Just in case.