Before I tell my utterly embarrassing story, I must ask: Have you gone over to comment on my Buckets for the Cure post, yet? If not, you should – the BlogHer Ads network is donating $1 to Susan G. Komen for EVERY comment made on my post, as well as on the other Buckets for the Cure posts, which you can find here .
Seriously, your comments have never been worth so much, so go !
And now for my little life lesson.
Blythe is now attending that little preschool I found for her, for a few hours one morning a week. I try to stay pretty close by, just in case. One of these days I’ll feel comfortable enough to actually go out of shouting distance from the school, but I’m just proud of myself for actually leaving the premises now instead of reading a book in my car right outside. Yes, yes I did do that at first. I’m only just a little bit neurotic.
This morning, my errands included going to the gym and grocery shopping. I decided to try out a store I’d never been to, because it’s literally within walking distance of Blythe’s school and I figured, hey, why not? The closer, the better, in my opinion.
In the dairy aisle I randomly ran into someone I knew in high school – someone I was actually happy to see, even if I was wearing sweaty gym clothes. We spent some time catching up, exchanging contact info, and setting up a time this summer when we’re going to get our families together.
After our chat I had to hustle up to the cashier so that I wouldn’t be late picking Blythe up from preschool. She scans the stuff and I’m proud of myself for being 30+ dollars under budget (probably due to the fact that the store had no organics and I’ll have to go elsewhere to spend my “extra” $30).
I slide my credit card through and it asks for my PIN. I tell the lady I’m paying with credit, not ATM, and should I slide it back through? Um, no. They don’t take credit cards. They take ATM cards, cash, and local checks.
This is where I digress a little and tell you that I pay for everything with a credit card. We work that thing for every reward point we can, and the credit card company keeps track of the categories of our purchases, so that we know exactly how much we’re spending on everything without any work at all on our part. We pay it off at the end of every month, so there’s no interest, and we buy the majority of our Christmas gifts with the reward points we earn. It’s our system, and it works for us!
So, anyway. I don’t have an ATM card – on the rare occasions that I need cash, I go in to the bank. I also don’t carry a check book, because, hello? Haven’t you seen that commercial where the world stops spinning when someone pulls out a checkbook? Checkbooks are so two decades ago. Mine is in our filing cabinet for when I have to pay a bill that I can’t pay through our bank’s automatic billpay service.
Back to this morning. I’m staring at the cashier, speechless. I mean, what major retailer doesn’t take credit cards? This one, apparently.
I look at the time. I have exactly 5 minutes to get to Blythe’s school. There’s no time to go to the bank.
I dig around in my purse. I actually have some cash for once, but I’m $27.30 short. The cashier tells me to start handing back the things I don’t need.
Immediately the movie Terms of Endearment comes to mind – that time she’s trying to pay for groceries but is a few dollars short and her kids think their candy is more important than her midol and she looks like she’s about to slap them into next week.
I have no idea how to go about putting back nearly $30 worth of groceries, the clock is ticking, and the customers in line behind me are getting annoyed. I seriously consider running out of there empty handed.
Then I hear a voice behind me – it’s my old friend, and she’s offering to pay for my extra $27.30 worth of groceries. I thank her profusely, apologize a hundred times, and bag my groceries with a beet-red face.
I don’t care how close it is to Blythe’s preschool, I won’t be shopping there ever, ever, ever again.
Let’s recap, shall we? I haven’t seen my old friend in years. The one time I do see her, I’ve got my hair in a messy pony tail, no make up on, and my clothes are visibly sweaty. I probably even stink, although fortunately the flies haven’t yet found me. And now I need her to pay for my groceries because I don’t have enough money.
I’m taking bets on whether that family get-together ever happens.
6 replies on “A Little Lesson in Humiliation”
That. is. Ridiculous! Who doesn’t take credit cards but takes ATM cards? Sorry you had to go through that. They should have a huge sign at the front door and checkouts telling people that.
Wow, there are stores that don’t take credit cards? I’m shocked!
I have a very low limit credit card, but I use my Visa Check Card for everything. I always use it as credit (instead of ATM) because my bank has a reward points program only when used as credit. I love me some reward points.
It will TOTALLY happen really soon because, yannow, she’ll want her money back. lol
First: No credit cards in this day and age? That’s just stupid. Like when I shop at Costco and can only use a credit card if it’s AMEX (or that’s how it used to be). Irritated the shit out of me.
Second: That was awfully nice of your friend to do that. Not everyone would. You should pen her a thank you card and pop it in the mail (cause who doesn’t love to get mail, especially when it’s not bills)
Third: It happens to everyone. I’ve been there, done that. Except mine was forgetting my wallet completely and not realizing until I got to register, because I’m cute, not bright. So don’t feel bad. You’re in good company 😉
i know the feeling when you just want to disappear! Mail your friend the check and a note all is forgotten.
That is so sweet of her, though. I can’t imagine that she’d have offered if she was an asshole, hon. 🙂 This just sounds like the best “new beginning to an old friendship” ever!!! I’m sorry you had an embarrassing moment, though. I hate when that happens!