December 30: Declined

Throughout my twenty-seven years of living on this planet, I've been rejected, denied, and declined in every way imaginable. My grade-school crush never returned the favor and I missed the fifth grade presidency by a mere two votes. I follow one professional sports team religiously and another half-heartedly and neither one of them has ever won a championship. I wasn't cast in You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown and I didn't get the one role that I'm still convinced I was born to play in Little Shop of Horrors. Out of all the heartbreaks in my life, however, the most humiliating of them all is when the cash register attendant informs me that my credit card has been declined.

Like I wrote in my November 17th entry, I take my credit very seriously. I always pay my bills in full, still maintain a balanced checkbook, and just recently forked over my entire savings to expunge my college loans. I even keep a spreadsheet of every penny spent and earned that dates back a few years. So yeah, I don't mess around with the finances of my life which makes it that much more embarrassing when the attendant judges my personal habits as I scramble to retrieve my backup credit card.

The irony of it all is that I know exactly what he's thinking. Because I work in the service industry, I run credit cards every day. It's part of the job, but that doesn't make having to inform a guest that his card was declined any easier. Although I'm well aware there are a myriad of reasons why the card was denied, my first human instinct is to think that the guy maxed it out. Irresponsible spending.

I never use the word decline when returning the card because it's embarrassing enough to get the news in front of friends and/or family. I hope that by putting the blame on the restaurant's computers, it softens the blow a bit. "For some reason, our computers aren't reading this card. Do you have another form of payment?" Although I'm confident the guest knows what I'm really trying to say, my hope is that by phrasing it a little differently, the news will be easier to take.

Enough about him, though. Why was my card denied? How could a card belonging to someone as financially responsible and mature as me ever be denied? Apparently, it's just the bank doing their part to ensure my safety. Thanks. I get it. If someone had actually stolen my identity and went on a mad spending spree, I would have been genuinely grateful for the bank's procedures, but I would hope that they would treat the situation differently than they had with me earlier this week. If you see unusual activity with my account, please do me the favor of informing me before I go to the store without any cash.

Having a credit card denied is one of the most embarrassing moments a person can go through; especially if he knows he didn't do anything wrong. I guess what I'm trying to say here is that when it happens, you are definitely being judged, but if you're the informer, try to break the news in the most pleasant manner you can. Thank you.