This stupid bitch is in an airport complaining to some security-looking dude behind what appears to be bullet-proof glass that her bag has just been stolen. She’s all hysterial - “It’s my BAG! It’s a BLACK BAG! It’s got ALL MY MONEY in it! It’s my BAG!” The guy has the long-suffering I’m- trying- to -be -reasonable -even -though -I - want- to- bitchslap- you tone of the harried airport employee down pat. He keeps trying to tell the lady “I’m sorry but I can’t help you until you fill out this form”. She, on the other hand, keeps on with the “You don’t UNDERSTAND, it had all my MONEY!” rant.
He understands you dumb fucking cunt, that’s why he wants you to fill out the goddamn form - so he can help you
Granted, it won’t be a lot of help, but it’s what he can give you. C’mon, she’s an adult, right? She’s lived in this century, right? Everything requires fucking paperwork, deal with it. Even Asshole Express (the company paying for the commercial) will require you to fill out fucking paperwork for you goddamned black bag with all your money in it. Not that they want to admit that. Nooooo… they want you to think that if you use their traveller’s cheques you’ll never have money problems on vacation.
I dunno - maybe it’s just this ranting bitch reminds me of all the other fucking idiots I have had to deal with at airports.
…and I thought: so who (in this day of debit cards, etc) travels with a purse full of money? Duh! She deserves to lose it. Maybe next time she’ll smarten up.
I guess the airline worker was supposed to shit her bag for her.
Even if she had Travelers Cheques (btw, why not ‘checks’? even US companies use this affectation), if she didn’t have the receipt thingees, even AmEx can’t help her. And (altho’ the helpful Cheques folk tell you NOT to, I bet many do), if the receipts were in the same bag as the cheques, well she’s just as SOL as she is in the ad.
“But my black bag!! It had my Travelers Cheques!!! Well, Yes, the receipts were in the bag too. But that’s all my money!!!”
Moral - don’t let go of the bag with all your money, ever.
I hate that ad to, and for the same reason. If she was stupid enough to carry that much cash, and to leave her bag unattended on top of it, she deserved to have it stolen. Thanks to a combination of credit and my debit card, I rarely have more than $40 on me, and usually MUCH less, even on vacation. The one time where a roommate paid me for her share of a room in cash, I immediately went down and left the money in a locked box in the care of the hotel. I certainly did not carry it around with me!
Credit cards, debit cards… and, when I went to Europe I had a money belt. That’s a small pouch on a belt you wear under your other cothes. I kept most of my money and my passport copy and other important stuff there the whole trip. Short of being whacked on the head and forcibly unclothed (after which money may be the least of my concerns) no one was gonna get any of that.
Yeah, even careful people can get ripped off while traveling - the “bump-and-switch” routine being particularly vile - but come on!
And the other American Express commercial, where the lady and her companion (and why is it always a woman who is getting screwed in these commercials?) are at a restaurant and she discovers her purse is stolen – she indicates “it was right here”, down by her feet. DUMBSHIT! Didn’t you mother tell you to never let go of your purse in a place like that? If you absolutely must put it on the floor by your feet then put your ankle through the strap so if someone does try to steal it you’ll notice. And putting all of their money in just one place? What, her companion is too good to carry cash?
Surely they can promote their service without making everyone look like fucking idiots.
Close–don’t carry all your money in one place. Spread it around through all your luggage, several pockets, in your shoes, wherever you can stand to have a couple 20’s stuffed…
Err, you don’t need the receipts to have lost or stolen travelers cheques cancelled and replaced. You DO, however, need the serial numbers of the cheques. See American Express - Lost or Stolen Cheques.
I frequently carry $100-$400 in cash when traveling. Of course, I wouldn’t react as she did and I wouldn’t have it in a place easily stolen and I only carry that much because losing it - while not a happifying experience - wouldn’t be the end of the world.
I know many people that travel with a decent amount of cash.
I’d rather be paranoid than be out three hundred in cash. I just don’t use cash much anymore, and the thought of carrying that much around made me acutely nervous. For me, that was a LOT of money. So, is it really paranoia, when they’re really out to get you?
Thanks for the clarification, but the point is still the same, if Ms Airhead had ALL her cash and cards and ID in one bag, she would also have the list of cheque numbers in the same bag. “I’ll put the list right here in my bag, so I can get to it if I need it.” And, unfortunately, so would many others, who don’t heed the advice of many in this thread to scatter your valuables throughout your luggage and stuff.
Back to the TV ad, couldn’t Mr. Long Suffering Airport Employee, usher Ms Airhead into a private room so they could “begin the investigation” … in other words get this (justifiably) hysterical person away from the public that is already nervous about flying.
give me the ads where the evil horde (in various guises) is stopped by a Visa Card!
[Airport Security Guard}]
What? Someone stole your bag?? In my fair city? On MY watch??? OMIGOD!!!
::turns on airport loudspeaker:: ATTENTION! SEAL OFF ALL EXITS! CALL OUT THE DOGS! PREPARE FOR STRIP-SEARCHING!!! A TOURIST HAS BEEN FLEECED!![/Airport Security Guard]
sighs Does this person have POCKETS?!?! Yes, I know about pickpockets, but at least you’d have it on you. And a bag is a good spot for some money - two places at once (wallet and bag), and never unattended. It’s harder to lose them that way.
So she has to keep it in her bag, is that it?? Yup, she deserved to have it stolen.
[hijack]I once had a bag stolen from me on the Greyhound. Not my capital-B bag, with money and so on, but a paper bag of Slovak nut roll that my mom had baked from her mother’s recipe. We were about to pull into a rest area, and I told my seatmate, “I hate Sbarro’s. I always bring my own food on the bus; it’s cheaper.” I was about to pull out my Tupperware container of deli stuff, then remembered: "I have some Slovak nut roll my mom made. From my grandma’s recipe…I didn’t put it in my carryon because…oh where did it go? Do you want…Where?..
“[sniffle]”
It had to have been the guy who had that seat before he did, who got off in Harrisburg. I had too tight a grip on my carryon for him to get that, and maybe he thought a brown paper bag had drugs in it. Or maybe my second seatmate had even quicker hands.
Anyway, in regards to the OP, it sucks to lose your money, but it sucks just as bad, in a different way, to lose something that’s precious and irreplaceable, and is only valuable to you. When we stopped, I did look under other seats, and ask surrounding passengers, “Did you pick up a brown paper bag? I’ll let you have some of it, if you did…No, nut roll…” Nada. Don’t know whether to hope whoever took it enjoyed it or choked on it.
