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Tuesday, May 8, 2012

A Different Reality

Amanda is graduating this week with a bachelor's degree in nursing and is receiving her RN pin. She's worked hard to accomplish this and I felt I wanted to give her a small gift in recognition of her achievement. So, after receiving an online invitation to her graduation and pinning, I went online to view her Amazon wish list. I decided to get her a book she wanted for her Kindle reader. I ordered it online, paid for it online with a debit card, and Amazon sent her an email letting her know that the gift had been purchased. Amanda downloaded the book onto her Kindle and sent me an online thank you. No paper, no stamps, no driving, nothing happened except a bunch of electrons moved around. It's weird.

I received a $100 gift card from CVS Pharmacy along with a letter saying they were sorry I fell at their store. I get my prescriptions filled there because that's where my insurance says I should, but I don't shop there, and really don't intend to. So, I decided to fritter away my "free" money. I walked the aisles of the store picking up hair doodads, body wash, computer paper, and a couple of new canes, hoping to stay close to $100. I felt like a winner when the tab came to $99.93. I told the checker to keep the change.

I went to deposit a check in the ATM at my bank. Something went awry with the machine which normally lets you insert a check with no envelope, magically reads the check, credits the account, and spits out a receipt. That didn't happen this time. The machine put a message on the screen saying they were unable to process or return the check. A "receipt" was then spit out that directed me to call a certain number and let them know what happened. I made the call and was told that they would issue me a temporary credit for the amount of the check, look into the matter and then send me a letter advising me of the outcome. Very strange.

2 comments:

  1. I so appreciated the graduation gift! I wanted to comment more about the new age of technology. I think that we are moving to an era where most transactions occur online. There are now "apps" for the iPhone/iPad that are becoming more popular that allow credit cards to be swiped through an accessory that is attached to the iPad; as far as I know it is very cheap for the retailer to use compared to having a swipe account with a credit card company, and restaurants can use them as a way to avoid the archaic process of taking the credit card away from the table.

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