May 06 2010
Personal Magnetism
Maybe it’s my magnetic personality, but my only debit/credit card has become demagnetized.
I learned this a few days ago in the Safeway, where the clerk tried swiping it through the magical grocery-buying machine repeatedly, at increasing speeds (apparently the machine is almost as impatient as I am), to no avail. She even tried covering it in a thin sheet of plastic, a trick which she claimed almost always works, but didn’t in my case. Lucky me.
She was reduced to entering the number in by hand (the horror!) as the line backed up behind me. I was like the truck from hell on the drive to Colusa, but at least I didn’t do it on purpose.
Fortunately for me, the only branch of my bank within 50 miles of my house is also located in the Safeway. I explained the problem, they tried the card themselves, the doubting Thomases, and eventually agreed with me that it does not in fact work. It will be a mere 4-6 weeks until I have a card that does. In the meantime, it’s inconvenient, since I can’t get cash unless I go to the bank/Safeway, a 40 minute drive each way, and slightly embarrassing, since I have to explain why it won’t work every time I buy something.
At the Feed & Pet, I told the story to the cashier, who was very nice about it. She told me that they have a customer whose card is cracked, and he always warns them not to break it when they run it through the machine. She said she always hopes it will break, because then he’d have to get a new one. Isn’t there an expiry date on those things?