Aargh!!!

Well, I guess it was bound to happen eventually.  I lost my bank card today.  I left it in the bank machine at the airport...  I guess a year of using idiot proof machines in europe and asia that won`t even spit out your money until you`ve taken your card back has gotten to me.  That and the absolute exhaustion. 

I noticed my card was missing when I went to pay for lunch.  Unfortunately I also made a second mistake when I took the original money out -- I thought I was gettng about 200 dollars worth or currency, but instead I only took out 20.  So I`m already low on money here and I have no way of getting more.  I guess I`ll be breaking into the cash and travelers checks early this trip.

No worries though.  I didn`t panic.  It`s not the end of the world, just a bit of a nuisance.  Calling the bank to report it was harder than I ever expected.  I looked up the number and the collect number they list for if you`re calling from out of the country refused to accept the charges.  Then I paid international rates to call the american toll free number.  When you`re calling a number specifically designed to report your card has been lost or stolen, why is the first thing they ask for the card number?  And why do they make it so hard to get through to an operator without giving that card number?  And why exactly did my online bank give me the number to report a lost credit card?  I didn`t lose my credit card, I lost my ATM card.  Fortunately I caught the customer service reps mistake when he mentioned the last transaction on the card -- no, that was another card, I didn`t lose that one!  Please don`t cancel it!!!!  Hopefully he didn`t. 

Let`s just say this is Citibank`s third strike.  I`m not happy with them and I`ll definitely be looking to move more of my business to other banks now...