OT: Comedy of Errors

nightangelstars

So, this is off-topic but I would appreciate the chance to vent this Greek Tragedy that happened to me last night. I swear this is a true story.

So I got a notice in my email from my bank that my account was overdrawn. Now, I had ordered my textbooks just a day or so earlier, on Amazon and Half.com (cheaper than buying them from the CMU bookstore, and I am a poor college student, after all). So I hopped online and went to my account info and read the info, which told me to call if I had questions.

I called the bank and was connected with a sympathetic woman on the other end, who informed me that I couldn't, in fact, transfer the remaining pending transactions to my credit card (6, each of which was going to get me slapped with a $37.50 overdraw fee) but I could take out a cash advance and deposit that in an ATM, and if I did it before 10 pm (it was about 7) then I would be safe from those pending transactions. She mentioned that there was an ATM in Stanton, (which was the nearest ATM, believe it or not) and we talked about my options for a little while longer before I hung up to discuss things with my 'support system' - my mom and boyfriend.

Well after not being able to contact either of them, I gave up and decided I was going to have to fix my enormous mistake (or royal eff-up, if you prefer) by myself, so I looked up the directions to the Stanton ATM on the bank website and bundled up (it being about 1.5 degrees here when I left) and headed out, first to a local ATM to get the cash advance and then 45 min cross-country to Stanton.

After arriving in Stanton, I found the ATM with no trouble, but there were no envelopes in the envelope box! So I improvised and dug up an old envelope in my messy backseat, (first time it's been useful to have a messy car), popped my card in the ATM machine, but couldn't find an option to deposit! So I called back, waited on hold and got another friendly woman, who apologized and told me that the Stantom ATM actually wouldn't take deposits because it wasn't attached to a branch bank. *sigh* So, she said, you could head over to Greenville (Greenville?!!) which is only 11 miles away. Well I freaked for a minute, but said OK go ahead and give me the directions.

After another 20-25 minutes of picking around backroads to Greenville, I finally arrived. (Yes! Almost done!). I found the bank, circled around and couldn't find an ATM. Walked up to the door - locked. (It's well after 9 at this point in the evening). So I called back (again) to ask if she (yet another friendly young woman) could help me find the ATM. She told me it was a drive-through ATM, so I circled around again and finally found it around the other side of the block.

I pulled up to the ATM (Victory! And just in the nick of time, it's 9:40) popped in my card, and paused to fill out the envelope (account number, amount included, address, etc.) The machine pops my card back out after a minute but I pay no mind, I figure it'll be fine for a second.

And what happens next? THE MACHINE SWALLOWS MY CARD AND WON'T GIVE IT BACK!!! Yes, that's right. The machine ATE my card. Yeah, I freaked out for a minute. Then I called back (for the fourth time that night) and waited on hold, and was finally connected to a young man.

I did my best to explain the whole ordeal calmly, and he was astonished. He said 'Oh man, um, hang on a second, ok?' When he returned, he told me how sorry he was that I had to go through all that, and said that he would return the following day (today) and refund any overdraft fees I incurred over the night, since it wasn't my fault I couldn't deposit the money, and he would even rush me a new debit card and waive the rush fee. I thanked him in a rather shaky voice, and after getting off the phone, finally got a hold of my mom and boyfriend. (Thank god for nice phone operators! By the way, my bank is Huntington - I think they deserve a plug for being so nice to me.) And then I drove (a little over an hour) back home.

It was almost midnight when I finally got back.

So, not having eaten anything all day except a pot of ramen noodles, I splurged and had some chocolate milk. Yea that's right, chocolate milk! And then I went to bed.

I think I may make a movie out of this.

nightangelstars

So, this is off-topic but I would appreciate the chance to vent this Greek Tragedy that happened to me last night. I swear this is a true story.

So I got a notice in my email from my bank that my account was overdrawn. Now, I had ordered my textbooks just a day or so earlier, on Amazon and Half.com (cheaper than buying them from the CMU bookstore, and I am a poor college student, after all). So I hopped online and went to my account info and read the info, which told me to call if I had questions.

I called the bank and was connected with a sympathetic woman on the other end, who informed me that I couldn't, in fact, transfer the remaining pending transactions to my credit card (6, each of which was going to get me slapped with a $37.50 overdraw fee) but I could take out a cash advance and deposit that in an ATM, and if I did it before 10 pm (it was about 7) then I would be safe from those pending transactions. She mentioned that there was an ATM in Stanton, (which was the nearest ATM, believe it or not) and we talked about my options for a little while longer before I hung up to discuss things with my 'support system' - my mom and boyfriend.

Well after not being able to contact either of them, I gave up and decided I was going to have to fix my enormous mistake (or royal eff-up, if you prefer) by myself, so I looked up the directions to the Stanton ATM on the bank website and bundled up (it being about 1.5 degrees here when I left) and headed out, first to a local ATM to get the cash advance and then 45 min cross-country to Stanton.

After arriving in Stanton, I found the ATM with no trouble, but there were no envelopes in the envelope box! So I improvised and dug up an old envelope in my messy backseat, (first time it's been useful to have a messy car), popped my card in the ATM machine, but couldn't find an option to deposit! So I called back, waited on hold and got another friendly woman, who apologized and told me that the Stantom ATM actually wouldn't take deposits because it wasn't attached to a branch bank. *sigh* So, she said, you could head over to Greenville (Greenville?!!) which is only 11 miles away. Well I freaked for a minute, but said OK go ahead and give me the directions.

After another 20-25 minutes of picking around backroads to Greenville, I finally arrived. (Yes! Almost done!). I found the bank, circled around and couldn't find an ATM. Walked up to the door - locked. (It's well after 9 at this point in the evening). So I called back (again) to ask if she (yet another friendly young woman) could help me find the ATM. She told me it was a drive-through ATM, so I circled around again and finally found it around the other side of the block.

I pulled up to the ATM (Victory! And just in the nick of time, it's 9:40) popped in my card, and paused to fill out the envelope (account number, amount included, address, etc.) The machine pops my card back out after a minute but I pay no mind, I figure it'll be fine for a second.

And what happens next? THE MACHINE SWALLOWS MY CARD AND WON'T GIVE IT BACK!!! Yes, that's right. The machine ATE my card. Yeah, I freaked out for a minute. Then I called back (for the fourth time that night) and waited on hold, and was finally connected to a young man.

I did my best to explain the whole ordeal calmly, and he was astonished. He said 'Oh man, um, hang on a second, ok?' When he returned, he told me how sorry he was that I had to go through all that, and said that he would return the following day (today) and refund any overdraft fees I incurred over the night, since it wasn't my fault I couldn't deposit the money, and he would even rush me a new debit card and waive the rush fee. I thanked him in a rather shaky voice, and after getting off the phone, finally got a hold of my mom and boyfriend. (Thank god for nice phone operators! By the way, my bank is Huntington - I think they deserve a plug for being so nice to me.) And then I drove (a little over an hour) back home.

It was almost midnight when I finally got back.

So, not having eaten anything all day except a pot of ramen noodles, I splurged and had some chocolate milk. Yea that's right, chocolate milk! And then I went to bed.

I think I may make a movie out of this.

TRLTAMPA

you call it a comedy but i think i'd be a cryin mess by the end of that

Phoenix_Rising

You poor thing.
I'd be a total mess too.
I'm glad you got the nice guy at the end.
I just hope he holds up his end of the bargain.

genabug

Thats crazy, I'd had a sreaming fit right there in the parking lot!

sherris

LOL!!! i'm with the others....i would have thrown a serious fit!! crying and everything after all that....way to control your frustration!!!!! gotta give u props for that!!!!! Jez!!!!!
u deserved the chocolate milk don't even think twice about it!!!

TexasAngelBeth

If the worst thing you did was Chocolate Milk consider yourself lucky...I would have had WAY more then the milk!
So I say way to go for being so good