Sunday, December 13, 2009

Rebooting Money

This afternoon we were in a local supermarket.  At the checkout we tried to use our debit card, and got an error message.  The young bagger, perhaps still in high school, immediately declared that the debit card reader needed to reboot.  So he pressed some buttons and we waited about 3-4 minutes while the reader slowly and painfully (especially for the next people in line) went through its cycle, complete with cryptic notes.  Finally it was ready and we were able to complete our transaction.

He wasn't surprised, and explained it must be because so many people were probably shopping and using their debit cards, right at that exact moment.

So let me see here.  Did spouse and I almost bring down the entire U.S. economy?

That would have been embarrassing.

Hmmm....  On Black Friday we shopped in two stores where computers were either down or just had gone back online.  And today we nearly weren't able to buy some groceries.

Says a lot about the electronic economy, doesn't it.  And the really scary part is that we are in a recession and people are still holding back their spending.

What happens when everyone feels comfortable enough to start shopping again?  And if they all decide to do it at the same time? 

Has anyone thought about this?

Better keep some money under the old mattress just in case.

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