Once upon a time, also known as last night, I went to dinner with a friend named Joan (name changed to protect anonymity). Neither of us ever have cash on us so we each put a debit card on the bill and split it down the middle. I got the odd penny out...like always!
We each grabbed a debit card, our respective leftovers and parted ways in the parking lot. I stopped at Walgreen's on the way home to pick up necessities - face wash, body wash and toilet paper. Again, I have no cash so out comes the plastic.
This morning when I got to work, Joan called, texted and emailed me. "She must be on fire!" I thought. Luckily, once we connected I realized she wasn't on fire. Instead, she informed me that we had grabbed the wrong debit card at the restaurant and that I had hers.
My first reaction was "OH CRAP! I think I totally just used her card to purchase my toiletries." I immediately logged into my Target Credit Card account, praying that I would see the transaction there. Nope, no Walgreen's transaction to be found. Great! Ugh...
Joan advised me that my purchase total was larger than the available balance on the card. I figured that the dinner charge hadn't posted yet and that I somehow sneaked the Walgreen's charge in. Perhaps I still have time to get money in her account before Gregg's Restaurant figures it out!
I left work in a panic, swiftly walking to the closest Sovereign Bank. I went to the teller to take money out of my own personal checking account. Then, I walked over to the ATM machine around the corner with Joan's debit card in hand. While looking for her PIN number in my recent texts, I saw that I had received other texts from Joan. She was calling Sovereign Bank to put a hold on her card so that she doesn't get charged overdraft fees.
I rolled my eyes because this is becoming ridiculous. I walked back over to the same teller and tried to convince her that I'm not a crazy person. I don't think she bought it.
With Joan's ATM card disabled, the teller allowed me to deposit money into Joan's account - the amount of the Walgreen's charge and a little padding to cover any potential overdraft fees.
Problem solved...or so I thought.
I got back to work, red in the face, and I read an email from Joan. During her conversation with the representative at Sovereign Bank, she was told that a new debit card would be sent to her and was advised to destroy her current debit card.
That's right, folks. Joan reached into her wallet and without an other thought in her head cut up the Sovereign Bank debit card. Unfortunately, that Sovereign Bank debit card had my name proudly displayed on the front.
As I read said email, I started to laugh...and then become annoyed...but then laughed again. I just couldn't get over how jumbled up this innocent mistake had gotten. The last thing I want to do is track down all of my automatic withdrawals to change my debit card information.
I stopped at a different branch location on my way home from work tonight to take cash out for the week and request a duplicate debit card (same number, expiration date, etc) be mailed to me. I should get that in seven-to-ten business days. We're almost back to normal.
I just got home and dug out the Walgreen's receipt out of the plastic shopping bag and, of course, the last four digits of the card I used to make my purchase are not the same ones on Joan's disabled card. Only God knows why the Walgreen's purchase is nowhere to be found within my Target Credit Card account summary of recent transactions. Well, God and the producer of the Candid Camera television show that has been following me around today. I feel like Joan and I have been punked.
This whole thing was for nothing and now Joan owes me $50. The lengths I will go to to get you all an entertaining blog! I tell ya...
