Oh...It's THAT Card!

Yesterday I was dashing around like a mad woman trying to finish the preparations for Emily's birthday. She was very specific in what she wanted for her birthday dinner and I was not able to find a couple common ingredients at the first store I went to. Or at Costco. In fact I went to THREE grocery stores to find a chocolate pie crust. In the amount of time it took to drive to those three stores, I could have bought Oreo cookies and made my own pie crust...

At the last grocery store, I was beyond the point of exhaustion. It had been a marathon errand day. Post office. Music store. Library. Kohls. Grocery Store 1. Costco. Grocery Store 2. Another store to pick up a final gift. Finally I stopped at Safeway.

I only picked up two things at Safeway--Fuji apples which were on sale and the Oreo pie crust. The lines were long. I thought, "I will do the self checkout."

Would you believe I needed assistance THREE times for two items?

The first time I needed assistance was really not my fault. The woman in front of me canceled her transaction and a friendly Safeway employee had to clear the scanning machine.

I scanned the Oreo pie crust. It was on sale if I used my club card. The machine asked me to scan my card. Obediently I did so. I like a sale!

I then placed the Fuji apples on the checkout scanner. There was no bar code so I had to find the correct produce and choose that option on the touchscreen. The apples were on sale for 78 cents a pound. Yet, the machine showed that they were $1.98. I called the friendly Safeway employee over and pointed out the error.

"Look," she said pointing at the screen, "They deducted part of the price reflecting the sale price because you used your Safeway Club Card."

Oh. I felt a little embarrassed. Because I was flustered, I placed the apples on the shelf next to the bag instead of IN the bag. I didn't think it mattered. Apparently it mattered.

"Unauthorized item on shelf. Please make sure you scan item."

Or something to that affect.

I quickly put my apples in the bag. I then told the machine I was done and needed to pay for my purchases. The machine gave me several options for payment. I pushed the debit/credit option. It told me to slide my card. I did. It told me to type in my pin. I did.

"Unauthorized transaction," the machine said. "Please see employee for assistance."

"That's strange," I thought. I KNOW I have money in my account. "Maybe I pushed the wrong button."

So, I tried it again.

I pushed the debit/credit button, swiped my card, typed in my pin.

"Unauthorized transaction. Please see employee for assistance."

"What?" I motioned to the friendly Safeway employee for the third time and then I looked down at my card. I was swiping my Safeway Club Card instead of my debit card! Quickly, I changed the card before the friendly Safeway employee came over. She walked me through the transaction and Voila! It worked.

It's amazing what using the right card will do!