Monday while on my commute home on the bus I sat debating whether or not I should get off the bus and do some grocery shopping. As the stop approached for the market I thought that if I did do my shopping on a Monday evening I might avoid the usual crowds. One of my hobbies is avoiding crowds.So I decided I would and got off the bus. Once inside the market I was happy to find that the it was mostly empty. Great! I got my cart and proceeded to shop. I'm really a quick shopper so it only took about ten minutes and I was done.
I made my way to the check-out. There were just a couple of people ahead of me so my little shopping trip was going well, I thought.
After few minutes of waiting it was my turn to check-out. As the checker was scanning my stuff I had a really disturbing thought. I remembered that I hadn't transferred any money onto my debit card since Friday. I furiously tried to remember how much I transferred and how much I'd spent since then. But I was having a hard time remembering.
Just then the checker was done and it was the moment of truth, time to slide my debit card. So I slid my card and entered my PIN. Then the long wait. Oh darn! The transaction was denied! Did I enter my PIN incorrectly? I tried again.
Again the transaction was NOT APPROVED.
Arrrgh!
At this point the lady behind me in line was giving me one of those sideways looks that said "Girl you know you don't have any money on that card so why are you wasting everyone's time".
I tried to remember if I had any cash on me, then I was relieved to remember my emergency money. Do you carry emergency money? My mom drilled it into my head that a woman should ALWAYS have emergency money in her wallet. She'd say "You never know what's going to happen" and "You might get stranded and need to take a cab".
After I remembered my 'emergency' money, I gave the woman standing behind me in line a sideways glance that said "See miss smarty-pants, I HAVE money, so there".
Only I shouldn't have been thinking about her I should have been thinking about that ipod docking station I'd bought the previous Saturday afternoon because it was on sale. What a bargain I thought as I pulled out my EMERGENCY MONEY to pay for it.
Drats!
Okay, that's it no more options. There was no point in me continuing to stand there trying to look un-embarrassed. So meekly I explained to the 'gettin'-a-attitude' checker that I didn't have any cash on me. "Sorry about that" I told her as I walked away and left all my stuff behind.
I was so glad to get out of that store.
And what's the moral of this little tale? Never spend your emergency money on ipod accessories! (and don't forget to check your debit card balance)
