I made a trip to the store to pick up the things I needed for my son’s school birthday party and some items for the bar mitzva – cheese, vegetables, cake, snack bags, paper goods, drinks.
I ran my card to pay, and the cashier told me, ‘Declined.’
I thought I didn’t hear correctly. “What?”
“Your card was declined.”
“That’s not possible.” I ran it again. It was declined.
Shrugging, I took out cash and paid for my purchase.
When I got home, I checked my bank account. There was a healthy balance, the same as the night before when I reviewed my account. I had made a large transfer to the bank holding my mortgage to pay off a chunk of the principle the night before, and wondered if my bank had blocked my card for something related to that, but didn’t have time to call about it.
As I thought about the potential embarrassment I could have felt that morning at the store, I realized that budgeting and being clear about my money kept me from feeling shame in the moment.
Having your card declined can feel humiliating. But at that moment it was declined, I knew I had money in my account, I knew I was well within my spending limits, and I knew there had to be a mistake. So I didn’t feel embarrassed.
Early the next morning I went out to the hardware store and, cash in hand just in case there was a problem, ran the card at the checkout. It was fine. Apparently the blip had been related to the first store, not to my card.
Avivah
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