Oh, Crap---It's not worth it.

   After a slow start to the day, I decided to drive to Mechanicville to get:  gas, bottled water and Kleenex. I was out, or almost so, of these 3 items, and I had a Price Chopper coupon for Poland Spring, 2 for $5.00.
    My first stop was Cumberland Farms for gas. I don't have their discount card, but their price, at $2.69 per gal., is still lower than our local stations and I figured I'd be in Mechanicville anyway. I pulled up to the pump and inserted my L.L. Bean card, which I keep in my car for payments where I don't have to open my pocketbook, like drive-thrus and such. I tried several times, but my card would not go through. So I walked into the store and gave the clerk my credit card. He said it was declined, tried again, still notice of decline. I handed him another credit card. That was also declined. He asked me to go to the next register and said I should call my bank. I didn't see the point. I know I carry  a considerable balance there, and I'd checked it only this morning. Could someone have hacked into my account and stolen the money?
   At the second register, the same 2 credit cards were declined again. I handed the clerk a 3rd card, and same story---declined. I asked the clerk what the problem might be, and he said he had no idea. I needed gas, so paid with my last $20 bill.
   I left for Price Chopper wondering if I had enough cash on me to buy the water and stuff. I was anxious to ge home and call the card companies and bank to figure out what had happened. I had to go home and call because my cellphone has been dead since the June 18 collision between a vehicle and a telephone pole near the Country Store.
  I stopped at Price Chopper, bought my items, and tentatively presented my disgraced card at the register. No problem, the transaction went smoothly.
 I lugged the 3 cartons of Poland Spring out of the store and toward my car, where I was parked in the front row. A man was crawling out from under the rear of my car, clutching money which had blown beneath it. Not just bending over, he was on his belly, stretched out beneath my car. I offered to move my car, but he thought he had gotten it all. As I was loading the H2O into my trunk, I realized I had not used my coupon. Moreover, I had bought toilet paper, of which I have a plentiful supply, instead of Kleenex, which I'm totally out of. I didn't care. I was anxious to get home and call about my credit.
    I removed my L.L. Bean card from its slot in the car, planning to make it my first call. When I got into the house, card in hand, I saw the telephone on the floor, and the cat sitting where the phone should be. It made me mad because I had moved the plant from the center of the stand so the cat could have room on the OTHER side.  Probably because I was late for its dinner, it decided to assert itself. Who knows. I had to tote the other stuff into the house before I made my calls. Finished with that, I wanted to call Customer Service at L. L. Bean first, but I had put the card down somewhere inside the  house and I still can't find it.
    So I called the second declined card, Synchrony, and after going through the menu hell, I reached a very kind representative who checked, found nothing out of line with my account, checked further and saw there was a "terminal break" at the gas station.  Wouldn't you think at least one of the clerks might have had a suspicion?
   I'm home now. My gas tank is less than half-filled, I have water, though bought coupon-less, I have no Kleenex, though a lot of toilet tissue,  and I still can't find my L.L. Bean card.
  I check my email to find first a request from MONOCARE Nannies and Household Staff for  an employee reference. And a later thank you from the company for replying.