CLANG! CLUNK! Card Retained! Contact Your Bank!

Word of the day:  abulia\ay-BOO-lee-uh\ noun: abnormal lack of ability to act or to make decisions.

OK, That drama with forgetting my ATM Card's pin was a pure pain in the ass. Last night I went to the ATM to get money for gas and dinner. Well the card didn't work and the machine says "invalid pin". I try it twice at the machine beside the Fox and Hounds. Stephen, whom I was meeting for dinner walked by and I told him I must have forgotten my pin. So we went up 17th to the Safeway and I tried it there. Still wrong pin.

I didnt want to continue to try to withdraw cash in worry that my card would get blocked and then I couldn't use its "credit" feature at dinner. All during dinner, I was on pins and needles worrying that my card might not work because of my 3 failed attempts at withdrawing money at an ATM. Thank You _____ it worked to pay for dinner.

After dinner, I went to Microcenter to buy a new hard drive for my notebook computer. The card worked for that as well using "Credit". So I felt "lucky" and confident I knew my pin and those two earlier machines were maybe down or something. So I proceed to Wachovia and try it there. Same story. Since Safeway is in the same shopping center, I went in there to try it too.

I put my card in the SunTrust ATM at the Safeway in PanAm Shopping Center and the first attempt the ATM says, 'invalid pin, try again". I did, and that MOTHERFUCKING ATM ate my card, and made a sound as though it was the slamming door of a jail cell and gave me this message "Card Retained, Contact Your Bank". This was so traumatic. Horrifying. It made me feel as though I was robbing that FUCKING ATM.

Needlesstosay, I now needed money for gasoline in my car. I had NONE in my wallet. I got to digging around to see what I could figure out. Low and behold, I came across a forgotten US Postal Money order hidden away in my wallet which this guy had used as payment for an item I sold on eBay. LUCKY ME! I turned right around and headed to the Merrifield Post Office which is open 24 hours with counter service until around midnight. I was able to cash that $30 US Money Order to buy gas. I was so freaking stressed and panicked. This was a horrendous experience and wish it on NO ONE!