The Progeny
Takin' Care of Business
On my way back from Ardith's on Saturday, me and the ol' Waterloo Wal*Mart self-checkout machine had a little dust up.
I was using my new debit card--new, as in replaced on the month the old one expired--which I'd already used in several stores as a credit card. Just little things, around 3 dollars at the used bookstore and $1.29 for a diet Coke at McDonald's.
No sweat.
But at Wal*Mart, I decided to utilize the debit part, because I get a thrill outta punching numbers, dontcha know.
Naturally the machine wouldn't except it. Just as naturally, two teen girls were right behind me thinking I was the usual lame older person who doesn't understand modern technology (which might be true, but they had no conclusive proof to that effect)
Said young ladies were trying to be helpful, with offers of, "Why don't you try it again?" and similar phrases of technologic savvy. I suggested they might want to go to another checkout line, since things were not working out terribly well, as now the machine wouldn't even accept my card as credit.
It was eerily similar to George Costanza and his bathroom-flagged book.
Not only was I a poor dotty woman who couldn't get through the self-checkout, but my card was unacceptable and soon, very, very soon, the roof would magically roll back and black helicopters would swoop down at 42 degree angles.
You'd be surprised how much can flash through your mind if you only allow yourself sufficient scope for the imagination.
THANKFULLY, the nice lady manning the nearby desk expressly for the purpose of assisting gray-haired potential thugs such as myself, helped.
Upon arriving at mi casa, el hubbo informed moi that yet more debit card excitement abounded.
You remember that I was sent a replacement card to coincide with the expiration date? WELL, directly after that card was sent, the bank informed everyone that "the cards had been compromised" and so they sent out new cards!
And lo they did arrive. And so within the space of one week, I have received two new cards and activated BOTH over the phone. The last experience entailing TWO SEPARATE CALLS, including punching buttons and yes, even choosing between English or EspaÑol (at this point I was not able to type the code for the lower case diacritical tilde "n", so yes, my computer hates me).
As if these excursions into the heady world of plastic finance were not enough, today...yes TODAY, I received another missive from the good folks at AARP.
True, they did not include the nifty membership card that has graced their letters of yore, but this morning's white-envelope-of-gray-power included a VERY attractive offer for a "Free CALCULATOR/CLOCK/CALENDAR...yours just for requesting a Quote."
One has to ask obvious questions at this point: are we talking quotes from Shakespeare? Milton? That charismatic fellow from MSNBC...what's his name....Cramer?
'Tis intriguing.
Methinks I must needs bon mots of advice from the esteemed public, or barring that, from people who might read this blog.
What should Ma do? Go for the quote and the clock? or no?
SPEAK! O fair knaves and simpering damsels.
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I was using my new debit card--new, as in replaced on the month the old one expired--which I'd already used in several stores as a credit card. Just little things, around 3 dollars at the used bookstore and $1.29 for a diet Coke at McDonald's.
No sweat.
But at Wal*Mart, I decided to utilize the debit part, because I get a thrill outta punching numbers, dontcha know.
Naturally the machine wouldn't except it. Just as naturally, two teen girls were right behind me thinking I was the usual lame older person who doesn't understand modern technology (which might be true, but they had no conclusive proof to that effect)
Said young ladies were trying to be helpful, with offers of, "Why don't you try it again?" and similar phrases of technologic savvy. I suggested they might want to go to another checkout line, since things were not working out terribly well, as now the machine wouldn't even accept my card as credit.
It was eerily similar to George Costanza and his bathroom-flagged book.
Not only was I a poor dotty woman who couldn't get through the self-checkout, but my card was unacceptable and soon, very, very soon, the roof would magically roll back and black helicopters would swoop down at 42 degree angles.
You'd be surprised how much can flash through your mind if you only allow yourself sufficient scope for the imagination.
THANKFULLY, the nice lady manning the nearby desk expressly for the purpose of assisting gray-haired potential thugs such as myself, helped.
Upon arriving at mi casa, el hubbo informed moi that yet more debit card excitement abounded.
You remember that I was sent a replacement card to coincide with the expiration date? WELL, directly after that card was sent, the bank informed everyone that "the cards had been compromised" and so they sent out new cards!
And lo they did arrive. And so within the space of one week, I have received two new cards and activated BOTH over the phone. The last experience entailing TWO SEPARATE CALLS, including punching buttons and yes, even choosing between English or EspaÑol (at this point I was not able to type the code for the lower case diacritical tilde "n", so yes, my computer hates me).
As if these excursions into the heady world of plastic finance were not enough, today...yes TODAY, I received another missive from the good folks at AARP.
True, they did not include the nifty membership card that has graced their letters of yore, but this morning's white-envelope-of-gray-power included a VERY attractive offer for a "Free CALCULATOR/CLOCK/CALENDAR...yours just for requesting a Quote."
One has to ask obvious questions at this point: are we talking quotes from Shakespeare? Milton? That charismatic fellow from MSNBC...what's his name....Cramer?
'Tis intriguing.
Methinks I must needs bon mots of advice from the esteemed public, or barring that, from people who might read this blog.
What should Ma do? Go for the quote and the clock? or no?
SPEAK! O fair knaves and simpering damsels.
Tweet
posted by Ma Hoyt | 9:01 AM
3 Comments:
So--do you have a working card, or not??
We've had similar "compromising" situations--what a pain to have to redo all those automatic payments, get nasty calls from customer service, etc.
I am assured it works, though I will not know for certain until I go shopping on Thursday.
Can I call you if they put me in jail?
Go for the clock! as long as it doesn't cost you (including future annoying follow-up calls and emails).
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