Now that is some effin instant karma

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Or: How a Burger King run turned bizarre (and I didn’t even get my Whopper Jrs.)

Our story begins at roughly 1 am (Eastern Time, for those of you who are concerned about such things), and I am sitting in my dorm room, chatting with the GF when my stomach sends a message up to my brain saying, “Hello. I’m the organ you didn’t bother feeding yesterday with all your silly moving people in. I’m hungry. You know what sounds good? Whoppers.” My brain counters, “Whopper Jr. = $1 apeice.” Stomach says, “Great! I’ll have three.” I, in turn, tell this to my GF (greatly paraphrased as “I’m hungry.”), and she tells me I really shouldn’t, as I’m supposed to be working on those washboard abs (which is also true). My stomach and brain then have a long argument, during which time I start to say goodnight and such to lovely GF. With her in bed, stomach very quickly wins the argument. I’m so glad Burger King just extended their hours to 2 am, I think to myself. I set out.

I get to the intersection where I can go straight to get to the BK. I see the sign lights are turned off and what appear to be employee cars leaving. I look at the clock and see it is 1:20 am. Well, damn, I thought. This is no good. But wait! There is another BK by the interstate! I shall try there! I turn to head north to the interstate.

Now, to get to said interstate, there is a little section of US 231 that is outside of city limits and has a speed limit of 50. I respectfully obey the limit. (No, seriously.) Then I see police lights in my rear view mirror. Oh, probably just going to the hospital that is directly in front of me. I pull over to the left (as I was in the left lane getting ready to turn to BK). Cop car pulls up behind me.
Double-yew-tee-eff is this? I say. I just put the sticker on my license plate last week. My seat belt was buckled. I just looked at my spedometer to see I was driving the limit. I believe all my lights were working properly. What is going on? Police officer (sheriff, technically) shines flashlight directly into my completely bewildered face. “There is no reason you should be driving that fast!” he yells. More confusion on my part. “Do you have any idea how fast you were going?” he asks, still in an elevated tone. “I was going 50, wasn’t I?” I said, completely uncomprehending what is going on. “I had you clocked at 78,” he says. “What?” By this point, not only do I have absolutely no idea what he’s talking about, but now I’m scared shitless that I’m going to get a big time speeding ticket. Like, felony type speeding. “Where are you coming from?” he asks. “Just coming up from Wabash, sir,” I reply. “Where are you headed?” “Just up by the interstate.” “To get something to eat?” “Yeah.” Discussion continues for a short while (I don’t remember what was said at this point, but I do remember him conceding that the car he clocked could have turned around already), and he eventually tells me, “Well, I’ll take your word for it. Just slow down.” “Yes, sir,” I meekly reply. I go up a little ways to see BK is closed here, too.

I’m a bit shaken at this point, as you might imagine, but my stomach still demands food. I know good old standby McDonalds is open 24 hours, it says. Yes, their burgers have a “heavier” taste, I would have much rather preferred the “light” taste of a Whopper (I have no idea if that makes sense to anybody else, but those are descriptions that make sense to me), but they will do. I go through, order my food, and pull up to pay. I had my debit card over to the cashier, to which he lets out a sound of frustration. Great, I think, what now? “Do you have any cash?” he asks me. “I’ve been having trouble with the computer tonight and I forgot before I swiped it.” Well, damn it, I thought. “No, I don’t.” I try to think of solutions to pay. Before I can come up with me, the cashier hands back my card, “Just for tonight,” he says with a wink as he puts a finger to his lips. “Thank you so much,” is all I can come up with. I break out into laughter after his window closes.

If that’s not instant karma, I have no idea what is. All I have to say is I have a great many thanks to owe to the McDonald’s guy and whoever else was looking out for me tonight.

2

Glad to see the Interstate Balance working out for you tonight, dude. :slight_smile:

3

You can use debit cards in MacDonalds!?

4

Apparently not at that particular one.

Sailboat

5

Martiju: Yep, you sure can use your debit card at McDonald’s, as well as at most fast food restaurants these days. I’ve apologized for using my card to buy 3 bucks’ worth of food before, only to be told that they actually prefer cards to cash. Just a simple swipe, and the transaction is complete!

Jim: All I can say is “Yay for Karma!!!” :smiley:

6

Don’t they add a fee to your bill for using the card? Seems to me one of the big chains (Taco Bell, maybe) had a little tiny note next to the machine saying a 49 cent fee (or some such amount) would be added to your bill.

7

I’ve had that happen before, but never at a fast food restaurant. It would make sense for them to do that, because I know (thanks to my mommy working at the bank) that the store gets billed a charge for using a card transaction.

Sailboat: :smiley:

8

The clerks might prefer it, but the bean counters don’t - banks in Canada double-dip on debit cards - they charge both the cardholder and the business for every transaction (hey, you gotta make your multi-billion dollar profits somehow). Here, you CAN use debit cards for any size transaction at nearly every business, but most businesses REEEEEEALLY prefer it if you don’t use your card for such small transactions that they actually cost the business money (and I’ve seen the occasional sign to that effect).

9

So, wait a second, he told you he’d accept a blowjob in lieu of cash? Help me out here.

10

I think that’s illegal. Or contrary to the seller’s agreement.

Then again the CC companies could have worked out a special agreement just for the fast food places. But from what I recall from my merchant account agreement, adding $$ to the sale to make up for the cost of your transaction is a big no-no.

11

In Canada (or at least in my neck of the woods) it’s not uncommon for small variety store or mom 'n pop shops to either have a minimum debit card purchase requirement, or to add a certain amount to the transaction (automatically added by most debit machines). The debit machine at my local variety store automatically adds $0.25 to debit transactions. Other stores I’ve seen signs at the register that state “Minimum debit purchase is $5.00” or somesuch.

Most stores large enough to absorb or spread the cost of debit transactions across the day’s sales don’t though.

My solution to the double-dip problem recently presented itself in the form of upgrading my chequing account to an “unlimited” account, which gives me unlimited withdrawals and debit transactions with only my monthly service fee. Given my spending habits, it’s been worth it so far.

12

I understand what you’re saying 100%. Puts the businesses into something of a pickle, doesn’t it? They want to please their customers, so they accept debit cards - and yet, by doing so, they increase their costs.

Gah!

13

I am not sure where you are in Canada, but there are banks that issue debit cards for no extra fee and no limit use features. One that I know of is PC Financial. I have their debit card and as I mentioned, not only is it free and gives me unlimited transactions, it also gives me PC points for every transaction I make, which are redeemable for stuff that you can buy at their grocery stores.

I have to mentione that PC Financial is an “online bank” only though, that is no brick and mortar building anywhere. They do have pavilions at certain locations, but these are not for banking purposes.

14

McD’s charges 75 cents to use a debit card here. 75 cents!

And if my bank charged me to use my debit card, I’d go broke real quick. I never carry cash anymore.

15

PC Financial and ING Direct are two I know of that offer no-fee banking, but both are online-only, which doesn’t fit in well with my banking requirements. Neither offer E-Mail Money Transfers, either (well, PCF does, if in some obtuse, roundabout sort of way that apparently does cost more than the usual $1.50 due to some sort of inter-bank fee) and since I use EMT quite often, this rules it out altogether.

It’s a pain, but my plan at BMO is $16/mo for unlimited transactions (ATM and Interac) and two free EMTs a month, and since the amount of banking I do often exceeds lesser plans’ coverage (resulting in excess item fees) it actually works out well.

16

Great story. Sorry about them washboard abs. Mine are still in progress, too. You can blame Panera and Wendy’s.

In any event, a lot of fast food restaurants are now accepting plastic. No sig required either. It’s great because now I can get SkyMiles in addition to a delicious Grilled Chicken Sammich from Wendy’s.

17

I’m in the UK, so maybe such leaps in technology haven’t made it over here yet…

18

Kind of a hijack, but its my party and I can cry if I want to.

Have you tried the 99 cent chicken sammich from Wendy’s? I must say, I was kind of disappointed. The one I had seemed to have no flavor at all, which is sad, because Wendy’s is probably my favorite fast food place. But, oh well. More Jr. Bacon Cheeseburgers. :slight_smile:

19

I didn’t even realize that Wendy’s had a 99c chicken sammich. The one I always get (Extra Value Meal #5) is a juicy and delicious chicken breast with lettuce, tomato and honey mustard sauce. My husband gets the Spicy version, but it’s breaded and fried and I’m trying to keep my (cough) girlish figure.