Tell us your dumb moment.
I’ll start by telling mine……………
Right after ATM cards 1st came out, I went to the post office to mail some letters and get a money order. I paid for the money order with my ATM card and the clerk asked if I wanted cash back? I said, “Cash back?”, looking excitedly. She said yes, you can get $20, $40, $80, or $100 cash back. I was like WTF!!! This lady is going to give me cash just for buying a money order. I was like get $100 and run before she realizes what she has done. I grab the money and run home to tell my parents.
I tell my mom and dad that I had gone to the post office to get a money order and the clerk asked if I wanted some cash back and I told her yes and that she had given me $100. They were like it has to be some catch. I was like that is what I thought but there wasn’t she just gave me the money. I told them I was going to purchase a lot of money orders and get about $1,000 cash back total for each purchase. So, off I go to the post office the next week and low-and-behold the same thing happens. I pay her for my money order, she asks if I wanted cash back and then I get the money and dash out the door. I was feeling so good, I went on a little shopping spree and even treated myself to lunch at various places the next week.
I wondered why no one else had caught on to this phenom and weren’t “getting rich like me.” I started adding up bills I would have paid off by years end and even started looking at making some new purchases as now I could afford the lifestyle I was born to live. Then……………………..it happened. The mail came.
I opened the mail and it was my bank statement. My eyes were the size of a crystal ball, which I could have used at the time and saw that my future would be full of mayhem. But back to the story……………My eyes were about to pop out of my head because my balance was low, very low, substantially low, lower than a Republican during election time in Florida. I noticed that there had been several debits to my card and that they all had been from the same location………the post office!!! I was mad as hell as someone from the post office had been taking money from my account and it was only on the days I went in to purchase a money order.
I get on the phone to call the clerk and let her have a piece of my mind (little mind as it turns out). Moving right along…………the conversation goes something like this:
Clerk: Hello, (City) Post Office
Me: I received my bank statement and there are several debits from my account from your post office. There is money missing from my account!!!
Clerk: What is your name?
Me: (I give my name)
Clerk: Are you the lady that was in here on Saturday that wore the such-and-such outfit and I complimented you on your perfume?
Me: Yes! (it must have been a slow day) You remember me?
Clerk: I remember you because you always come in and buy money orders and you always pay with your ATM card and get cash back. Not many of our customers get cash back, especially on Saturday.
Me: Well it appears someone has been taking money out of my account!!!! This is illegal and I’m going to have this reported to my bank and the authorities.
Clerk: Let me get my records and see what has happened. I don’t think anyone here has taken any money. Our deposits always balance at the bank and we are never over or under. But hold on and let me get my records.
Me: ***Holding***
Clerk: Hello, are you still holding?
Me: Yes!
Clerk: You purchased a money order for $20. Then you received $100 cash back. On (said date) You purchased another money order for (said amount); then received $100 cash back. On (said date) you purchased…………..
Me: But it appears the amount you
“GAVE” me cash back came out of my account?!?!?!
Clerk: How much did they debit your card for?
Me: $120!!!
Clerk: That is what we show on our…………………….
Me: Click. ***blank stare***
It was at that time that it dawned on me that this new
“CASH BACK” feature they were now using wasn’t
“free” money, but money they were taking out of
“MY” account. And I’m usually such a smart, intellectual person. Don’t know what happened.
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wow........
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