Jeff Saves the Day

The plan was to go shopping, then go to the beach. Unfortunately, sometimes plans change.

One of the Swiss girls I had met earlier tried to withdraw some money from her account with her bank card, but the ATM machine confiscated it. Needless to say (but I'll say it anyway), she was a bit shaken up by the whole experience. Losing a bank card is trouble enough when you're home, but of another magnitude entirely when you're halfway around the world.

I called the number on the machine, but they weren't any help. "Nothing we can do," they said. That was a little disheartening to hear, but I had a backup plan: Go to the local branch office and ask them for help. I talked to the customer service rep, she explained that we would have to wait until Thursday afternoon to get the card back. That would have been fine, except for the small detail that the girls had a flight to Darwin on Thursday morning. The rep (who really earned the spot of Person of the Month in my book), called up the company that empties the ATM machines, and found out they could do an extra run on Wednesday and pull the card out then. The only catch, it would cost around AU$100. Pricey, but they decided it was worth it.

Bad luck, good luck, I guess. The beach was nice, and we played cards later.