How festive my cashier looked this morning! Around her neck, a strand of flashing Christmas lights — not those delicate little lights that are ubiquitous now, but the big bulbs we used to see back in the 60s. Across her crown, a headband. Four more of these almost-lemon-sized lights were adhered and pointing upward. It was like a tiara for a deranged elf.
She was cheerful, I hardly need say.
Halfway through check out, I discovered that I’d left my snapping RIFD – protective wallet at home.
Not again!
(Not AGAIN? Did I say that out loud?)
I had taken out the wallet to access yet another portal (perhaps the Bone and Joint Institute?), and the healthcare cards were necessary references.
The last time I did this, Ken drove over, delivered the wallet, and the transaction concluded as normal, except at the Customer Service desk with a provisional receipt.
When I called him this time, he reminded me that the Subaru’s battery was dead.
And, he lamented, it’s 10°.
Oh, right.
It’s about a twenty-five minute walk, a bit of an excursion. Lots of times we do it with Finn. They keep walking while I shop and then we carry groceries home on our backs. But, even for native New Englanders, chilly temps like these require that you psych yourself up a bit.
So I drove home, got the wallet and returned. Got my groceries. End of story. Almost.
Notes:
This never would’ve happened with my old phone because I carried it around in a wallet that housed credit cards in the flap. If I had my phone, I had a credit card.
This also wouldn’t have happened had I taken the logical step of inserting one of the many credit cards that I almost never use into a slot in my pocketbook. Which is something I thought about doing THE FIRST TIME THIS HAPPENED.
I could also keep a pile of 20’s in the car, I suppose.
So while my cashier looked festively wonky, I looked like a ditz.
My ego can take it, by the way. My allegiance to efficiency, however, has been challenged.
And this is why I have a phone case with card slots! (& I almost never carry a purse)
I did same for many many years. But once someone referred to it as “my lose everything at once wallet,” I had second thoughts.
I use cash, people laugh.
It’s probably the safest. I was rereading about remote credit card swiping (as in: why did I think I needed this radio wave blocking wallet?) and came away with the conclusion that I ought to be using cash more.
Which invites a cautionary tale … we were treated to lunch by friends who had switched to cash. The money was given to the server who came back saying they had not given him enough … at which point a rather heated yes I did/no you didn’t ensure. Long story short, they gave him more cash. I suspect in the future they counted out cash in front of servers before handing it over … but oy
Oy. I guess a scammer can always find a way.
I’m there with you – I’m heading out today to do last minute food things and gawd… I hope I can keep my wits about me. I will not leave my phone in the shopping cart (someone did turn it in later); I will not drop my card into the pile of crap on the back seat floor only to find it one week later, after I had it cancelled and replaced. Stuff like that. It’s not “ditz” its simply life. I spend a lot of time forgiving myself, but it’s still hard to laugh about it. Merry Happy 🙂
I think we’re from the same tribe: the Atlantic Coast Ditzes.