What Now

Oh yeah! I forgot to add Steve's misfortune!

Steve had decided to take an empty credit card on TDY with him because the advance he requested from work didn't get pushed through in time. Who knows why, but that credit card was his only reasonable option. Anyways, back at home, I got a call from an automated service requesting information about a "questionable charge" that was added to that card. Since he had held both the car and his hotel room on that card, I didn't worry about it, thinking that was what they were talking about. I just sent him an e-mail message saying that we had gotten the call and that he might have trouble with his card or be questioned about it when he tried using it.

He called a little later to ask what I was talking about, but he wasn't worried about anything either since he knew that Discover card has that protection program for users of the card, and knew he hadn't made any strange purchases that day. About an hour later he called back and was furious. His card had been declined at the resturaunt and he had to use his check card, which takes money out of an account that he had used to pay bills with (so we don't know if it will overdraw or not). He also tried calling the 24 hour customer service line, which was CLOSED! We finally found a number for the automated system which he called and someone had indeed stolen the number and made a huge purchase with that card somewhere in New York! Luckily he isn't completely out to dry. He was carrying another card that we had just paid a chunk of money on, so he will be able to eat and everything. I felt so bad for him! He was already stressed out about this trip and the last thing he needed was something like that to happen. He was going to call the customer service number again today, but I haven't heard from him yet to see what happened or to see if he got it fixed.

Oh well, maybe he will end up on one of those commercials where he talks with some other person's voice. Those things just kill me!