I did a little last minute prize shopping at the dollar store last evening, and although my students enjoyed the rewards of their poetic labors, I suffered a bit from unexpected negative consequences.
"Are you expecting a call from the credit union?" the secretary asked when I answered the phone this afternoon.
"No," I answered, "but I'd like to talk to whoever is calling."
A click and a ring later I was speaking to a representative of the credit fraud agency who had detected a number of suspicious charges on my debit card. All of them were from today when I was verifiably in school, dancing to Celebration by Kool and the Gang, awarding prizes, and playing poetry Kahoots. Even so, a knot twisted in my stomach, and the all the fun of the day drained slowly away as he recited a litany of local grocery stores, gas stations, and banks where my card had been (mostly) declined.
At last he got to the charges I had actually made last evening: Total Wine (don't judge!) and the dollar store. "I made those purchases," I told him, and immediately I remembered that guy who just couldn't pick a line at the dollar store.
I watched him on his phone as he drifted around the checkout area, wondering if he was waiting for someone or what. When it was my turn, I looked at him and said, "Weren't you ahead of me?"
He held up his open soda. "I only have this," he said.
My handbasket was overflowing, and so I gestured for him to go ahead. He made unnecessarily awkward conversation as he dug through his pockets for exact change. "Have a nice evening," he said, stepping aside, but not actually leaving the store.
At this point, I noticed that I felt uncomfortable about him, but I figured it was my own dollar store bias, and I concerned myself with my own transaction.
Was that guy an RFID skimmer?
Who knows? Someone got my debit card info today, and more than anything, I'm grateful that the card company caught it so quickly and that my bank will cover the charges that went through.
"Are you expecting a call from the credit union?" the secretary asked when I answered the phone this afternoon.
"No," I answered, "but I'd like to talk to whoever is calling."
A click and a ring later I was speaking to a representative of the credit fraud agency who had detected a number of suspicious charges on my debit card. All of them were from today when I was verifiably in school, dancing to Celebration by Kool and the Gang, awarding prizes, and playing poetry Kahoots. Even so, a knot twisted in my stomach, and the all the fun of the day drained slowly away as he recited a litany of local grocery stores, gas stations, and banks where my card had been (mostly) declined.
At last he got to the charges I had actually made last evening: Total Wine (don't judge!) and the dollar store. "I made those purchases," I told him, and immediately I remembered that guy who just couldn't pick a line at the dollar store.
I watched him on his phone as he drifted around the checkout area, wondering if he was waiting for someone or what. When it was my turn, I looked at him and said, "Weren't you ahead of me?"
He held up his open soda. "I only have this," he said.
My handbasket was overflowing, and so I gestured for him to go ahead. He made unnecessarily awkward conversation as he dug through his pockets for exact change. "Have a nice evening," he said, stepping aside, but not actually leaving the store.
At this point, I noticed that I felt uncomfortable about him, but I figured it was my own dollar store bias, and I concerned myself with my own transaction.
Was that guy an RFID skimmer?
Who knows? Someone got my debit card info today, and more than anything, I'm grateful that the card company caught it so quickly and that my bank will cover the charges that went through.
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