An easy trip...
We drove to NC to visit my eldest bro & his family this weekend. The trip should take about four hours with normal traffic.
For once, I'd done a good job of putting stuff together, packing, etc., for the trip. I had all our clothes picked out before Dan got home from work, and I was pretty much good to go. We left around 6:15 or so, since Dan had to do a little sealing work on our shower door. Our first stop was the bank to deposit some reimbursement checks and get some cash. No big deal, right? Ha!
Dan deposited the money, but when he told the ATM he needed another transaction, the machine locked up. That's right. It took his card and wouldn't give it back. A worker still the bank lobby said the machine was locked and there was nothing she could do (Not My Job Syndrome at its finest); another worker who was still in the parking lot also didn't have a key, but she said the machine would keep the card and we could get it back Monday*. She also told me that the machine had been working intermittently all day long, but she'd checked it (by doing a balance inquiry) just before she left and it had worked fine. Doncha think a basic warning sign on the machine (use at your own risk...it's been acting up today) would've been wise? Also, wise bank, doncha think it'd be nice if someone who worked at the branch had a key to the ATM for occasions like this?!
After we left the bank, we headed over to McD's for some dinner. I ordered a 10-piece McNuggets (this will be important in a minute) meal. We then proceeded to an adjacent town to use my card for cash retrieval from another bank branch ATM. We went on our way. At about the 1.5-hr mark of our drive, I was sort of nodding off. I felt like I'd eaten too much...shoulda just had six of the nuggets instead of all 10. I felt a bit bloated and then started wondering if I would look fat in my clothes. Oh dear. "Dan, did you remember the hang-up clothes on the back of our door?" Blank expression on Dan's face. Oh no. No no no no no no no no.
We'd just spent a good bit on some new stuff for me, so it would cost less to go back and get stuff we'd forgotten (like my hairdryer, though I could've gone w/out it since my SIL has one) than to buy new clothes. We'd left behind all three of the shirts for Dan plus two tops for me. We left our house again (with a very confused Rambaldi in tow) around 9:30. We arrived at my bro's house at about 2:00 a.m., exhausted but a bit too keyed up to sleep just yet.
Dan had worked from 8:30 a.m. until about 5:45 p.m., worked a bit on our shower, dealt with the stress of losing his debit/ATM card, and driven on a four-hour-turned-six-hour trip. And he was such a trooper! He totally laughed off the whole incident with the clothes. What a great guy!
We had a terrific time with family, and I became officially addicted to The Sims after approximately an hour or two playing it. I'm in trouble now!
*Dan called the bank first thing Monday morning. No card. So he had to call the customer service folks to get his card cancelled. Thanks, bank workers! You ROCK!
