Crazy Fingers

Balducci’s broke my ATM card.

I went in there after work to buy some chicken breast and pre-washed salad, and attempted to pay with my ATM card. I went through the whole routine with the keypad once, and the guy said “It didn’t take. Try again.” Like an idiot, I did. And again. And again. Eventually, the ATM terminal started saying “declined.”

I don’t know why I finally bothered to look at the password-asterisks on the ATM terminal, but I noticed that although my PIN is 7-digits long, only the first 6 key presses were producing an asterisk in the LED. Then it was like, “DUH,” if only 6 digits are going in to the ATM terminal, I’ve been entering my password incorrectly all this time. I reckoned that all those incorrect password attempts locked out my ATM card.

Why did I keep trying? I don’t know. I was stressed out from my first day of work, and in a hurry to get to Billy’s (to buy cupcakes) then home, because Brian’s mother and brother are coming over to have a cupcake with a candle for Brian’s mother’s birthday, which is today. I also wanted to cook in my new kitchen for the first time.

Anyway, I was quite upset. I had two dollars in my wallet and no way to get cash. The manager of Balducci’s gave me the chicken breast and pre-washed salad for free, and threw in some Balducci’s chocolate bars, too.

I hate Balducci’s because, even though I got my groceries for free, this is a monumental inconvenience and I feel like the guy at the register should have had some clue what was wrong, and not encouraged me to keep trying again. When I said (loudly) “these machines only take a six digit pin” other cashiers knew about that limitation. I just feel like my guy should have known and prevented me from repeatedly attempting to use my ATM card.

I’m also sort of annoyed with my bank. I called Chase to confirm that I really did disable my ATM card and to get it turned back on, and some guy in India said that although I was correct that my card was locked out, and although I had all the verification information, I would still have to walk into a Chase branch to fix my ATM card. (Since I work in Jersey City now, that ain’t happening.) I protested, and he transferred me to someone who said the card would automatically reset at midnight. You’d think they’d be able to do something on the spot, but no.

We’ll see if the card actually works again at midnight.