Whoa! Tamp down those big expectations. It wasn't a big present, nor any present for that matter. Nobody dropped anything, from a secret to money in my path on the ground. In fact, this is more about what I didn't find when I went looking.
And, of course, my personal thoughts and opinions about it. C'mon, you know I do that, and you know you read it. You're here, right?
I was online, and decided to check my financial balances. I was thinking about spending some funds, and wondering whether it would be best to go with cash or credit. Knowing the cash balance to avoid an overdraft is a painful lesson I learned a long time ago. What's come in recently? Should I transfer funds? Has _____ come out yet or has the holiday delayed it? Did _____ get canceled? What have I forgotten? And the good old favorite, are my security measures still secure? For that last alone I pop in to check my financial information every two or three days.
The credit union comes first, always. Real money before wishful money. So I entered my information to secure access and... None of the columns and categories I usually see. Just an otherwise blank white page letting me know the site is not up today. They're doing scheduled maintenance on it.
What? Really? They picked Christmas Eve to shut down? They're making people work on what for many is a sacred holiday? Perhaps worse, depending on where you're coming from, they're making people work instead of being out there doing their last minute present shopping or hosting-the-holiday-party shopping? Because people do wait to shop, you know, with busy lives and lots of obligations, plus for many the need to play Santa without giving away the game... yet. And there just might be that last minute close-out deeply discounted sale item, right? Or worse yet, that person you forgot till now: OMG!!!
But somebody or -bodies are in their offices, on their computers, programming something for the system, today of all days. Did the company give plenty of warning about the workload? They didn't inform me with their usual disclaimer banner across their site, and they usually do that a few days ahead. Did they pick out employees whose holiday wasn't going to be spoiled because it's not their holiday, or they had nobody to celebrate with, and this just might possibly be a better option than being alone feeling sorry for themselves and/or wondering how early the bars closed?
What about those still shopping? Do their cards still work right now? If I can't find out my balances, do the ATMs still know? The stores?
Now mind you, the question of whether I can shop is purely theoretical. I have plastic independent of my real money, and from a different institution. In addition, I have no plans to go buy anything today. It feels good to simply stay home, putter when I feel like it and/or when a certain pile of clutter somewhere points to a corresponding box and demands to be Packed! Right! Now! Last time that happened was two days ago. I successfully ignored that one because I was busy getting things to the post office. But we just might have company tomorrow and the house's level of packing clutter is way beyond my tolerance for public display. Today Rich will be continuing painting doors and trim in my bedroom, but all the supplies are paid for, so that's no reason to go shopping. There's enough food, and then some. I don't need gas for the car even if I were going somewhere. That's not happening till tomorrow when I promised to open the club for two hours in the morning in case anybody wanted to get in then, and the car is plenty full of gas and then some for that two mile round trip. Very little else would be open anyway.
So while what's spendable in my real money account is theoretical, the question of security is always valid. Although, by now, there would be no way to connect with somebody with any authority to do anything like put a stop on my account. But hey, it's an excuse to write something anyway.
What was your excuse for reading to the end?
Have a Happy-Merry-Christma-Hanu-Quanza-kkah-New-Year!
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