Another Round of Public-Enemying For Val

Right on the heels of proclaiming my exemplary honesty and forthrightness, from the heights of my elevated equine, Val found herself in a predicament at the Backroads Save A Lot.

I wheeled up to the checkout, to be not-greeted by a surly Young Checker. She had dark hair, perhaps in her early 20s, wearing the standard red polo shirt uniform. Before I could start putting my groceries on the conveyor, a manager walked past, and handed her a list of something. 

I'm never in a hurry. I didn't mind the wait. You'd think she might have said, "Excuse me a minute, I need to look at this." But she didn't. She rang up my items and put them in the cart. Then told me the total: $62.78.

I put my debit card in the mounted card-reader. It asked if I wanted cash back. Yes. I wanted $20, to give Hick for paying his own money to buy The Pony lunch twice last week, and deliver it to him on his route. We have our standard weekly cash allowance, and an amount for incidental expenses, but I don't have an extra $20 on hand to dole out. Well. I DO, but it's locked in one of the three basement safes, and not for random spending. 

 

I'm pretty meticulous about which moneys are used for what. So Hick's replacement $20 would come out of our general checking account, but I sure wasn't driving to the bank to take it out of the ATM. So getting cash-back is the easiest way. Save A Lot allows a maximum of $25 cash back, and you must hit the button for $10, $20, or $25.

Anyhoo... I punched in $20, then entered my PIN, and when the thingy beeped and said to remove my card, I did. 

Young Checker said, "Would you like to run that again?"

NOT-HEAVEN, NO! Why do people word things that way? Just tell me I need to do it! Don't ask if I want to. Because I'm just enough of a smart-rumpus in my old age to tell you the truth!

 

Anyhoo... I said, "Why, is there a problem?"

 

"It didn't go through."

 

Huh. I didn' hear anything saying it didn't go through. No weird sound. But I guess maybe it showed something on her register that I was not PRIVY to. I put my card in again. Same scenario. $20 cash back. PIN. Remove card when prompted.

"It says Amount Exceeded."

 

"What does that even mean?"

 

"It says Amount Exceeded." 

"That can't be right. I have plenty of money in that account. Does that mean for the cash back? Since I entered it twice, and it's over the $25 limit? Or does it mean I don't have funds in my account? Because I have way over $82.78."

"I don't know. It just says Amount Exceeded."

"Well, I guess I'll have to pay cash, then. It's not what I WANT to do. But since you can't tell me what's going on..."

I'm sure the guy waiting behind me was rolling his eyes, assuming I was trying to scam my way into free groceries by using a card for a closed account.

I'm pretty sure my bank account has more money in it than that. When I balanced the checkbook with the automated bank line last month, it had five figures. I'm so confident that I have more than $82.78, I would wager my entire casino bankroll of 30 years, plus my stashed $8,600 jackpot! Not that I'm a betting woman, of course...

Anyhoo... good thing I carry a wad of cash in my shirt pocket, because I don't take my purse inside. So no checkbook, no credit card. My cash wad isn't nearly as fat as Hick's, but I always have enough to cover what I'm planning to buy. Ever since I forgot my debit card one time when shopping at Walmart years ago, and had to send The Pony trotting to the parking lot for my purse.

Anyhoo... I was NOT happy with this situation. I think I should have gotten an explanation of WHAT was causing my amount to be exceeded. Or a chance to run it through without putting in the cash back.

Now I'm worried that maybe Young Cashier was scamming me! SAYING it didn't go through, then pocketing my cash payment. Plus the $20 cash back that was on the card! I'm calling the automated bank line over the next few days, to see if that charge went through. I still have my receipt. My card worked fine at Country Mart the next day. For an amount over $82.78. And according to the bank line, our balance is still what it should be.

Funny (PECULIAR, not ha-ha) that this is very close to the amount that Hick came out ahead on his drywall transaction. Even Steven is EVEN-ing the wrong person! We are not a family package deal.