Unlucky November 28, 2007

These past couple of days have been distressing. I seem to be running through a streak of bad luck.
 
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Misfortune #1:
 
On Saturday I was shopping at Ulta, a beauty supply store similar to Sephora. I carried with me a blue bag, containing my purse, random papers and some new shoes I had just purchased, a notebook where I had written a very thorough list of beauty products to look for, and a shopping basket. I had such difficulty carrying everything in my hands while conducting my search that I put down my bag and my basket next to me. I was in the store for at least an hour when two short Hispanic men started walking up and down the aisles around me. I didn’t pay too much attention to them; I thought they were looking for makeup for their wives.
 
Unsuspectingly, I stepped away from my bag, which was sitting in the corner of the aisle with my basket. By the time I turned around to grab my stuff, probably a minute later, my bag was gone. Only the basket remained.
 
Instantly I knew. I had no doubt in my mind that they had taken it. Those two men who looked so out of place in the makeup section of a beauty store, it had to be them. Frantically I looked around. My eyes quickly landed on the store window where I could see the two ladrones walking away with MY bag. As if it were theirs. Fucking assholes.
 
Immediately I stormed out of the store, huffing and puffing, red as a tomato, and determined to get my bag back. I ran after them; they must have been no more than a hundred meters away. Like a quiet predator, I made sure they didn’t hear me approaching from behind. Much to their astonishment, I forcefully ripped the bag away out of the thief’s clutch. And then I stared the man down in the eye and firmly said in a loud voice: “THIS is MY bag you took!”
 
The two men were so stunned that they just stood there in silence with wide open eyes. Without another word, I decisively swung the other way and walked back to the store muttering curses under my breath. It was a long while before I stopped shaking like a leaf as waves of overwhelming fear, indignation, and guilt were swirling through me.
 
Though I was upset at what those men did, I also blamed myself for what happened. If I had been more careful, none of this would have happened. But never again. Never again will I lose control of the situation as I did. From now on I am not going to trust anyone and I’m going to guard my belongings as if they were my very last possessions on Earth.
 
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Misfortune #2
 
On Monday I lost my driver’s license in a thrift store. My purse, which is really a wallet with a purse string attached to it, accidentally opened on its own and my license slipped out without my noticing it. I was filled with panic when I realized it wasn’t there anymore. I thought, oh no, this can’t be happening again.
 
I looked, looked, and looked; I retraced every single one of my steps, but my license was nowhere to be found. I was on the verge of tears when I heard a very faint voice on the speakerphone butchering my last name. Joy! Relief! For once I didn’t care how they pronounced my name. My license was safe! I ran to the office and one of the employers handed it to me. If I wasn’t trying so hard to contain my emotions in public, I would have thrown my arms at her in jubilant gratitude. Saved once again!
 
Never again am I putting important items in those wallet pockets. They now go in the zippered section. You can never be too safe.
 
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Misfortune #3:
 
Today (actually it happened yesterday, but I only found out about it today), my paycheck bounced (the horror!!!) and threw my bank account in severe overdraft (just kill me already!). Current balance: minus $450 after the bank made its kill off those exorbitant fees they wasted not a second to hit me with. And as icing on the cake, autopay payments are processing AS WE SPEAK. I’m crossing my fingers and biting my nails that I won’t charged any more return fees. (Lord have mercy on me.)
 
The rage, oh, the rage. Again, if I wasn’t so fiercely adamant on losing control of myself in public, I would have allowed myself to break into tears at work and lash out at the culprit of this mess on the telephone. There is nothing that drives me to the edge more than losing control of my finances. I’d rather lose my driver’s license a hundred times, I’d rather lose my temper and make a fool out of myself than lose control of my money.
 
None of this is my fault, so I shouldn’t blame myself (but I do because that’s what I do, get mad at myself every time something goes wrong). Yes, I should have had $500 sitting in my checking account for safety, but as a lowly secretary, I really don’t make that kind of money. If I were smarter, more competent, more confident, not to mention more sociable, I’d be working for a better company.
 
But no, I work for the WORST temp agency ever. They pay me late; they make mistakes; they lie to me; they screw me over; they make my life a living hell; but this, this has got to be the ultimate fuck up this one-person run company has ever done to me. Oh, I can’t wait for the end of my contract at the end of December. No more paycheck woes -though possibly no paychecks for a while either, ugh. Maybe one fine day, when the stars are aligned properly, I’ll get a job that pays me on time without any fuss. Is it too much to ask for?
 
Anyway, the temp lady made up excuses (man, she’s good at that) and then advised me to ask the bank to resubmit the check for payment. So I went to the bank and they told me I had to wait for the returned check in the mail before they could reprocess it. Only trouble is I may not receive it till next week. Dang!
 
Fortunately, a good samaritan so dear to my heart, was kind enough to lend me some money today. With the late paycheck that was supposed to arrive last Friday, but won’t arrive till tomorrow (another fine example of the temp agency’s incompetence), I should be able to cover the big gaping hole in my account and pay for the urgent bills that all seem to be due in the next few days. As long as I deposit everything together, that is. Bank can’t charge me an overdraft fee again if I’m already in the negative, but they can if I put in some money and it’s enough to put me back in the positive yet not enough to cover any incoming payments.
 
Though the situation will get resolved sooner or later, I doubt I’ll sleep in peace until it is. I never thought I’d live to see the day when my balance would be three digits in the hole. If only this were just a nightmare I’d wake up from tomorrow… sigh.
 
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Bedtime prayer of the day:
 
Dear God, please, God, I’m sorry I said you didn’t exist, but will you please forgive me for all the bad I’ve done and stop throwing misfortunes at me? I promise to be good (at least through the end of the year).