Gina the Thief

Oh hello. It's me.

And I recently did the walk of shame at Target.

You see, I was making an oh-so-important purchase of badly needed things like toothpaste, socks, hair gel and the like. Oh, and elastic bands for my hair. I manage to start out with twenty and within a month I'm down to two. I've resigned myself to this reality.

Anyhoo, so I swipe my card and the Target checkout lady panics. "Uh, it's not going through." Shit. So I swipe it again. "Uhhh, this is coming up as a referral, the transaction won't complete." Double shit and WTF? My credit score is enviable, and I KNOW I am current on the payment.

So the Target lady is looking at me in dismay, and I can FEEL even though I can't really SEE the lady behind me giving me a look of pity mixed with disdain like I am someone who doesn't pay my bills but blithely goes to Target and charges up a storm ANYWAY and exactly how long did I think I could get away with it. Damn, she was judgemental.

At first I told the checkout lady that I would go to the car and get another card, because lately I have been very anti-purse and will only carry what fits in my pockets. Which is basically my phone, my keys, and a credit card. But then I'm like, forget that, I'm going to call freaking B of A and find out why the hell my card isn't going through.

Then I become THAT lady on the bench next to the registers, with an expression of pissiness and embarassment on my face as I look at my cart full o' things I need in limbo next to the register.

Well, it turns out that my card was flagged for fraud because I stopped at a gas station I've never stopped at before (well duh, I just moved) and then went to Target. Which according to law enforcement Hubba-hubba is a typical pattern of GTA suspects.

So the whole thing was fixed while I wrestled information out of a chick with a very twangy Texas acccent. She was very unwilling to tell me what had tripped the fruad thing, and when I got home I found an email sent to me from B of A alerting me that my card was being suspended.

FAT LOT OF GOOD that did me, as I was already out.

So, the moral of my story is don't go to the gas station and fill up and then go to a big box store or they will think you are a thief. The end.

Comments

Awesome Mom said…
That would be so frustrating! I have a similar situation except I had warning that my card was going to be terminated (I can't remember why but it was not because of me) and I just let it slide and did not activate the new one. I was in desperate need of gas and guess what? the card was not working! Luckily my mom was visiting and payed for the gas.
8:57 AM
Autumn's Mom said…
Love the blue daisies! I've had that happen before AND it was at Target. hmmmmm

My bank had the courtesy to call me before they suspended it though. Which is why I don't have BOA (BIG OLD ASSHOLES)

lOVE YA!
8:57 AM
Anvilcloud said…
Hey ... if it gets you blogging ... :)
4:58 PM
Kelley @ magneto bold too said…
heh at Anvilcloud. Methinks it was the blogging Gods fault.
5:32 PM
Atasha said…
Oh man. Yes it's happened to the best of us. Happened when I was at Ralphs but it's when I was with Wells Fargo. I hate that bank. Wasn't due to unfamiliar gas station visit but if I remember correctly I had purchased 4 tires online earlier that day. It would have been nice if someone called to verify the purchase so that I wouldn't be embarassed at the store later.
7:11 PM
eb said…
Yes, gas station purchases are a big red flag. Last year we went out of state, used a card at one station only for it to be declined at the next. Ever since, we call the credit card company and tell them where we will be using the card.

Hi Gina!
12:53 PM
Patois42 said…
Okay, part of me says, "Oh, good that they're on the look-out." The other part of me says, "Why do they have my cell phone number if they can't be bothered to call and check in with me?"
4:27 PM
Jess T said…
The same thing happened to me one day at lunch with coworkers. My purchase was $11. I was mortified. Turned out some schmuck had charged several hundred dollars to my account at places I don't frequent and they froze the card.

I really wish it would show up "Fraud" or something so that they could just ask for ID. It is so sucky!
9:13 PM
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