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Crap! I didn’t realize that my ATM card was missing. I was about to withdraw and gave myself a surprise finding out that my card was not in my wallet. I couldn’t even remember whe exactly I saw it last.

I have this habit of leaving my wallet upstairs and just pocketing money or my card if I’m to go to the bank. I did just that when getting dinner on Tuesday but I wasn’t able to stop at the ATM since it was too late to linger downstairs. I totally forgot that my card was in my jeans pocket.

It didn’t help that Robinson’s Savings Bank has crappy service whether at my branch or on the phone. It was a payroll account and I had no choice as to the bank. Before they upgraded their service, the machine would usually conk out a day before or on the morning of payday. So I end up spending a lot of wasted time in the bank when I need to do an over-the-counter transaction. This is already the second time that I lost the card as a machine ate the first one issued.

The number for reporting lost/stolen cards was difficult to find. As I am already at home, I resorted to looking for contact info online. RSB doesn’t have a website, it just redirects you to the JG Summit page for them. I had to search through Megalink to find any trace of contact information. When I dialed the numbers, one just kept ringing while the other one was already outdated. When I dialed the new number, they had options but the one for reporting only rang then cut off. I had to dial the trunk, wait for an operator (who sounded like the weekend security guard) before getting to someone who said that he’ll tag my card as lost. It’s soooo frustrating.

A couple of years ago, there was a rash of robberies in my old office. My colleagues and I went to the pantry to eat our lunch. I left my bag on top of my desk. I only took my cellphone (Nokia 9210, back then) with me. When we got back about 30-40 minutes later, I couldn’t shake of the feeling that something was amiss. Suddenly, Anne who was in the next cubicle started sending out cries of distress. Her cellphone, which she left inside her bag, was missing. That was when I realized that my bag was open. Checking its contents, my wallet was gone. It was a good thing that there was only Php 175 in cash but all my IDs were there – my social security, my driver’s license, my health card, my credit card and my ATM card. The ATM card back then only had a couple of pesos because I have made a habit of transferring money out of that payroll account into another ATM account that had a card that I keep at home. I wasn’t so bummed losing the wallet but the hassle of renewing (I haven’t had the chance of getting another social security card and renewing my license since I have nothing to drive anyway.) and cancelling cards. It’s a bummer having to pay replacement fees and getting affidavits for everything. We never really discovered who was behind the robberies. There was a whole ado about the whole thing but that’s another story.

Looks like I have to go banking on Monday once again.