What the H?

Today I got to participate in one of my favorite activities: calling my credit card company. (FYI: no this is not a picture of my card. This is an example of fake information that I plant throughout my blog.) Yes, next to calling insurance companies, calling my credit card company is a favorite midday activity for me, mostly because it keeps me humble, thus allowing me to better connect with the plebians that surround me.

Some examples: Once I called to ask them to cancel a card that had been missing for...I don't know, 5 or 6 months? Hey, I just wanted to make sure it was really lost. Another time I was Indian-accent-ed and fast-talked into signing up for some sort of card insurance thingy. (Note to self: If you're asked a bunch of questions that the answer to is "yes," don't just say "yes" to the next question if you can't understand it.) I had to call back and say that I didn't want the thing I said I just wanted. You see where this is going.

So today I called to cancel a credit card and couldn't remember the password on the account. My mystery question was "A favorite vacation place." For some reason, perhaps the accent and fast-talking, I thought the question was "A favorite vacation place you went to as a child." Uhhhh...my family didn't really do a "vacation place." Unless you count working on the farm in Wyoming.  Which I guessed, by the way. I got several helpful hints from the polite Indian man, who was probably repeatedly smacking his forehead in frustration. "It's a state." "It starts with the letter 'H.'" Anona: uuuhhhhhhmmmm. Gentle readers, do you know how many states start with the letter 'H?'"

One.

Yes, that's right. I don't think New Hampshire counts. After possibly injuring himself from the forehead smacking, the nice man passed me on to an even nicer lady, who also tried to get me to guess the password but quickly gave up and moved on to trying to get me to guess where I used the card back in April when I last used it. "It was in Murray." Anona: uuuuhhhmmm. "A tea shop in Murray." Anona: Hmm. That's odd. I don't drink tea. Are there any tea shops in Utah?  Was it a Thai place? I'm pretty sure it was Thai. Lady: "No, sorry."

So was I. But really, if I can't guess Hawaii then how am I supposed to remember my non-existant trip to a tea shop in Murray? Finally I was asked for my routing number. (Here, let me give it to you. 567834129) It took me a while to find the checkbook--I forgot where I put it--but my native intelligence triumphed in the end! We'll just ignore the part where I had to ask the nice lady which numbers on my check were the routing numbers.