Yesterday, I went home for the day so I could get my hair cut, run some errands and do a few chores around the house. I was able to get a lot done and as a reward, my mom sent me to get take-out for dinner. When I arrived at the Chinese restaurant, I noticed a sign taped to the door reading "We gladly accept cash or check but are unable to process credit or debit cards". Immediately I was frustrated because the only form of money I had on me was my debit card. I decided I should go in anyway to let them know I was there and they shouldn't throw my food out.
The woman at the counter said to me "I help you?" (Which seems like more of a declarative statement than a question.) Nevertheless, I replied "I have a take-out order but I only have a debit card". Before I had the chance to explain to her that I would be returning quickly with cash, she said "We no take Visa. No Mastercard. No American Express. No debit, no credit cards!"
Generally, I'm not one to complain about such trivial things as this. However in this moment where I had a 4'9" Chinese woman yelling at me only for committing the sin of trying to stay alive in the 21st century, I thought to myself, "I'm sorry. Is it not 2009 where plastic is swiftly taking over the world?" I thought back to the days long ago when my mother handed the sales associate at The Bon Marche a credit card only to receive foul looks in return as the clerk reached under the counter and pulled out the archaic machine to make an ink-swipe copy of the card.
In my dilemma, I ventured next door to a dollar store in hopes of buying something and getting enough cash back to pay for dinner. As I waited in the check-out line, I contemplated whether I should buy the pregnancy test or the Lemonheads next to each other behind the conveyor. I settled on the Lemonheads and took my twenty dollars back to the Chinese restaurant where, after my odyssey through the strip mall, I was able to pay for and eat my dinner.
Thank goodness we have evolved from the days of running our plastic through a machine that probably more than once took the acrylic nails off of sales people. Thank goodness we live in a day where I can wave my card in the presence of a detector and my payment is made that easily. It is comforting to know that in this day and age, my Gold card is just as green at the dollar store as anywhere else (with the exception of the Chinese restaurant).
3 comments:
I love you so much! And thanks again for the "flied lice."
Glad you didn't buy the pregnancy test. That could be a whole other blog in and of it's self. Unless, of course, the pregnancy test was for the naked Hollister couple just returning from their honeymoon. Then the Cleartest Easy Strip or whatever it was would've been appropriately appropriate. I told you no good would comde of those two barely-clothed people!
There is a typo in my comment. Come is a word. Comde is not. At least not in my language!
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