Compromised...

I'm feeling like this is the word, my word...of the year. Not compromise - in the act of agreeing on something mutually determined, but compromised.

While it's obvious, I'm back from my most fabulous vacation with my mom - I'll blog about that later - I have more pressing shorter less thought provoking posts to whip out in a moment's notice about compromise. So maybe I'm compromising in my mind how quickly my thoughts will flow about more current issues in my mind than a vacation recap that may or may not include pictures. Having said that...

My flight arrived at the South Bend, Indiana airport, early on Friday. I used my credit card and paid for parking. I was in the midst of racing home to get my son who was waiting for my arrival at my house (another blog story) but had to get food for the house as well. My son sadly, err triumphantly agreed that I shop without him and I went to the grocery store en route home, of course in West Michigan. I purchased my groceries and ran my card at the self-checkout and then proceeded to bag my groceries. I packed the cart and walked off. The employee hollered at me to come back and pay. What?

I had swiped my card, but hadn't completed the transaction so it had defaulted back to asking to swipe the card again. I went back, swiped the card, hit the credit button and then grabbed my receipt.

Fast forward to the following day...my son and I went to see Bounty Hunter at the movies and I opted to pay cash (getting the idea of this post yet?). I hadn't hit the bank yet from my return back home and only had about $25 left after the movie. We went back out later for dinner at Olive Garden. There were some issues with the meal - flying chicken to be precise - which then had the Manager at our table twice apologizing and getting me a new piece (blah, blah, blah) and offering free dessert - which we both denied as we were beyond stuffed. The bill came and I sent it off with my credit card. The waiter came back and said, "Mam, I ran your card several times, it was DENIED."

WHAT? I had used it twice the day before without any issue. I pay my card off every month. I was nowhere near the credit limit. What in the world was going on?

I called the credit card company, while the waiter came back three times to attempt to take the bill. If I had cash to pay it, I clearly would have, I didn't. If I carried one of my other half dozen cards, I would have used one. I don't. Thoughts of doing dishes or leaving behind my son while I drove to find an ATM (on a tank of gas quickly approaching E) raced through my mind as I talked on the phone with the foreigner, NATASHA.

After a dozen questions to verify my identity including the name of my first hamster and the name of my future never to be born child, she was able to "talk" to me. If that's what it's called when someone condescendingly talks to you about things for your own "good" and "safety". She said, "I'm sorry 'mam your account has been deactivated. The Fraud team has been investigating and we believe that your account, along with other consumers, has been COMPROMISED. We will be sending a new card immediately. You should receive it in the next 7-10 business days."

SERIOUSLY?

She admitted that there didn't appear to be any unauthorized charges to my account, yet. She admitted that no one had bothered to contact me to inform me of concerns that a fraud team was investigating AND that they had deactivated my account. She admitted, that in fact the card would be mailed out today.

And what in the world was I suppose to do in the meantime?

Well she was sorry, but you know, it was for my own good. She finally agreed, after another five minutes, to reactivate my account only to pay my dinner bill (I wasn't going to push the tip too!) and then would immediately deactivate my account again.

I immediately then found the closest ATM machine to the restaurant so that I had money to fill my tank.

Is there anytime that being COMPROMISED is a good thing?

According to my credit card company, for my own safety even though I actually wasn't compromised, I could have been, precautionary measures of course mean drastic measures.

Sigh...Of the first three credit cards I grabbed this morning from a drawer, only one is not expired (all three still have the validation stickers on them). I'm sure IF I need to use it in the next 7-10 business days, it will be denied since it hasn't been authorized or used in over a year!