A couple of weeks ago, my Deutsche Bank ATM card stopped working. According to Renee, this happens all the time, as she has gone through 10. This is a cash only town so being without an ATM card is like being without money. I called DB right away to explain that it stopped working and request a new one. Since I usually bring my lunch I didn't need much cash other than to get to the airport for my MN trip. I tapped into my US ATM card with no other option. When i returned from my trip, a new card had arrived. A new CREDIT card - a duplicate of the useless piece of plastic I already had. Since I discovered this past 9PM, I knew I wasn't going to be able to get an English person on the 24-hour help line so I waited until the next day. I called in the morning to explain that I still needed a new card. Of the five or so pin numbers I had been assigned I did not have the correct one and so even though the person understood my problem she was not authorized to order me a new card even if I told her my passport number, blood type, and maternal grandmother's shoe size. So now it's Wednesday and I call again with my stack of pins on hand and order a new card. I am informed that the new card will take a week! Lady, you gotta put the gas on this, I am running out of groceries. Knowing well it would make no difference, I switched from sweet to salty and asked the lady how I'm supposed to access my funds they are holding hostage if all their branches are open for 6 hours a day and I can't get a new card. She told me there was one branch, in the airport or something, that is open on Saturdays. At this rate, that actually is my best bet.
Before hanging up I asked if I would be assigned a new set of pins with my new card. I was told all pins would remain the same. I was skeptical. When I call Chase customer service, I speak to someone in India with a midwestern accent. When I call DB customer service, I get someone in Deutschland. Even as I try to explain my issues slowly and clearly I usually get passed to three people before someone answers. I was sure the pin question was misunderstood, but without the help of a call center in Bangalore I would have to wait and find out the hard way.
I made it through the week without even trying to conserve Euros. Melissa offered some cash but by Friday I was sure I could make it. Problem was, Friday night we went to this CD party for Frida Gold (some of the German Musik I like) at Puro and Melissa and I got split up. As I had no money for a cab, I took the train. Had I been abducted while taking the train home at 2AM (in no condition for such an activity), I would have blamed DB. Since phones work on the train Max kept me company and I got home safely and ate an entire box of imported Kraft Macaroni and Cheese.
Saturday, probably by magic, the card came! I spent the day vegetating so I didn't go out to use it.
Sunday, I packed up the last of my snacks for a day out and about. There is a park between my apartment and the gym that I have passed 100 times, Volkspark Hasenheide. I tried walking through there in the winter months but the paths were solid ice. Today I took a cruise through on my bike and discovered it was huge! First awesome thing, there is a petting zoo. It was closed but I saw a peacock. Next, there was this awesome kid's park. It had a pirate ship, and a camel and all kinds of other fun stuff to climb on top of; kids in Berlin have it good. I didn't want to be creepy and go inside to take a picture so instead I was creepy and biked around the perimeter trying to get a good angle. I cruised the park for a while then left through the back exit. Thinking I knew how to get home, I cut through an alley between a cemetery and some vacant looking buildings. Proving that there is always something unexpected, when I turned the corner the next street was lined with license plate huts?
All day as I ate my boring snacks I thought about what I would have for dinner…Thai? Mexican? Spaetzle? The sky's the limit! I popped over the to ATM to load up my wallet even though I was still undecided. I was leaning towards getting both Indian and sushi.
My pin didn't work. The pin that didn't change had changed. I tried again and again. Not caring that the ATM woud eat my card because the stupid card wasn't going to give me money anyway. And in a dramatic conclusion, I had pasta for dinner. Also, I will be riding my bike tomorrow because I can't afford the train ticket.
As long as I'm complaining: I got a DHL package slip on Thursday. I am not complaining about this, in fact I am excited about this mystery package. I can't wait to see what it is and who it's from! Unfortunately, DHL left my package with a store on my street that is open M-F 11:00-16:00. Maybe tomorrow when I bike home to get my package over lunch I will go to the bank too.
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