t 'n t luoma

We had lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe at Pier 39, got our parking validated in the gift shop, and walked down about 10-15 to Ghirardelli Square. Ethan started to do some work on the docks with his hammer and drill, so I went to get the camera from the diaper bag.

Except that it wasn’t there.

I was frustrated. It was hot (high 70s, no breeze), and now we had to walk all the way back to the Hard Rock Cafe, which we knew we had there. On the walk back, I suggested that we should put a sticker on the inside front cover with my cell phone number in case we left it somewhere else. We made it back to the restaurant and asked if anyone had turned in a black bag.

It wasn’t there either.

I was 100% sure that it was going to be there. Hadn’t given any thought to the possibility that it wouldn’t be there. I went and checked the table where we were sitting... I checked with our server. Nope, nada, sorry.

We checked the “Lost and Found” but didn’t have any real hope that it was going to be there either. We left our cell phone number “just in case” but I didn’t need the police officer’s skeptical and almost amused look to tell me that the chances were better that I would find the bag accidentally lodged in a body cavity than that someone would turn it in.

All we can assume is that it was taken right under our noses. If it had fallen out it would have been obvious (Tracey would have had to step over it) and we hadn’t left it alone at any point.

So what was in the diaper bag? Diapers, of course... wipes... Ethan’s juice box... the digital camera (less than a year old and not inexpensive... plus it had a new $50 battery in it that I had just put in yesterday)...oh, and Tracey’s wallet ....and our checkbook... oh, and our ATM card (before we left home I had cleaned out my wallet and decided that there was no sense in both of us bringing our ATM cards, so I left mine) and the last bit of cash that we had brought with us. I had given my last $3 to a street performer before we realized what had happened... Hey, the man juggled knives (big ones) and fire, what was I supposed to do, not throw him a couple bucks?!.

So the unhappy reality set in: we were going to have to cancel all of our credit cards and be left without any cash or any way to get cash. Yuck. The first call was to Discover, as that is our primary card with the largest credit limit.

Tracey: We need to cancel the card and get a replacement as soon as possible.
Discover: Sure. We can get a replacement to you by Wednesday.
Tracey: We are on vacation. Here is the address [street, city, state] where we are staying
Discover: Do you know the zip code?
Tracey: Do I know the zip code.... of the place where we are staying on vacation.....?!
Discover: (sound of silence as Discover Personnel misses the obvious implied question: Would YOU know the zip code?!?!)
Tracey: No
Discover: Well, we can’t send out the card without the zip code.
Tracey: You can’t look up the zip code?
Discover: No.
Tracey: Can I call you back in a few minutes and give you the zip code?
Discover: Sure
Tracey: (click)

Apparently the folks who work for Discover have never heard of Google or The US Post Office Website, which could have given him the answer in 0.0001 seconds. Instead, I use my cell phone’s web connection to look it up, and then we called back.

Tracey: I just called to cancel my card and gave them the address where to send the replacement card, and they needed the zip code, which is 94563.
Discover: I’m sorry, we can only send a replacement card to the billing address on file.
Tracey: They just told me they could do this two minutes ago!
Discover: I’m sorry, that is our policy, I can’t do anything about it.
Tracey: Well can you GET someone who can do something about it, because it wasn’t a problem a few minutes ago, and we’re on the other side of the country from our billing address.

Several-minutes-on-hold later, they did confirm that they could send the card, but it would probably be Thursday. Since we had planned to leave California on Wednesday, that wasn’t exactly good news either, but since we didn’t have even the address (much less the zip code) of where we were staying next, there wasn’t much to say.

We cancelled the rest of everything else without much fuss. Tracey remembered that I carry a credit card that she does not, so we did have one with us that we could use. Of course the big problem was cash.

So I called the number on the back of the card and asked how I go about getting a cash advance.

CitiBank: You will need your card [Gee, really!?!] and your 4 digit PIN
Me: Is that a PIN that I would have chosen or one that would have been assigned to me? [I had visions of trying the wrong PIN and having the machine refuse to give me back the card]

CitiBank: It would have been sent to you when you received the card. [Ok, that is information, but it does not have anything to do with the question I asked.]
Me: OK, well I don’t think that I know that, unless it was a PIN that I chose.
CitiBank: Well if you have I.D. then you can go to a bank and show them your ID and they can process your cash advance. You will need to have your card with you. [Wow! I never would have guessed. I think she was having a hard time with the concept that Tracey’s wallet had been taken but I had mine.

Me: Is there a penalty for a cash advance?
CitiBank: No sir. We do charge a 19% interest rate and a 3% transaction fee.
Me: Ouch! Well that’s slightly better than I would get from the mob...

At this point I wanted little more than to get out of there and head home. The only problem was that it was 4:10 p.m. and we had been forewarned not to try to get from San Francisco to Orinda between 3:30 and 6 unless we wanted to deal with horrendous traffic. (Oh, around this point we also realized we had lost our parking ticket after it was validated, meaning we would have to pay the full day rate.)

I did not feel like I wanted to be in traffic either.

So we took a walk to the cable car and went for a ride in that (we had already purchased tickets). That was actually quite fun, although the driver was not particularly pleased with the fact that we had a stroller with us. At one point we passed another car going the other way, and the “hangers on” folks literally rubbed backs as the cars passed. Yowch! That’s a little too close for comfort!

We rode to the end of the route, and stepped off in front of a Bank of America which was still open (surprisingly for after 5p.m.... more surprising given how the day had been going thus far). So we went in and took out a cash advance (ouch ouch ouch). We asked the receptionist where we might go for dinner and she recommended a place that sounded delicious — but it was too far to walk.

“Oh, but don’t miss it before you leave,” she said.
“We’re not coming back,” I replied, and told her how the rest of the day had gone.

She recommended another place which she called “a funky dive” which was just up the street. Tracey popped in but deemed it a little too dive-ish for her comfort, given that we had a certain 21 month old with us. Instead we went to Lori’s Diner which was quite good. We ended the meal with apple pie ala mode and chocolate cake, at which point Ethan surprised us both by immediately going after the cherry on top which he enjoyed immensely. Who knew?

Afterwards we walked back to the cable car and rode back to Pier 39, and then headed home.

On the way we stopped at Circuit City to see about replacing the digital camera, since we are on vacation and would like to take some pictures. I went in and was glad to see someone right there without any customers who looked like he could help... he actually looked like he might be a manager, perhaps someone with enough experience to know how to guide us to make a good purchase (the stolen camera had never been one that either of us particularly liked... we kept thinking we were going to get better pictures from it, but never did, at least not consistently).

The man could only have been less helpful if he had punched me in the head.

I explained to him that normally we would do research online, but due to the situation we were going to have to make a choice sooner, and it was a lot of money to spend without knowing if we were going to like it...

He pretty much didn’t respond at all, and just walked away.

A few minutes later the same man was talking with another younger male employee (who also seemingly worked in the same department) and another female employee who worked in the next department. Another customer walked up to him and said, “Could someone help me with a TV?”

“Sure,” said the manager-type, at which point both he and the younger male employee walked away in different diretions. The customer was left there unsure what had happened or what he should do.

“I know, I’m sorry,” said the female employee, “I can give you a number to call if you want to complain.” He didn’t want to complain, he wanted help. The manager type came back and asked her to help the customer and he would send someone to help us. We stayed another 5 minutes and heard no page for anyone to come help us, and no one came. So we left and went to Best Buy, where we found the same camera for $70 less. [We didn’t end up buying because by that point I wanted to do some more research, and I’m glad I did because I decided against that model. Am leaning towards the Canon Powershot A80.]

So all in all this has been my least favorite day of the vacation so far, and hopefully the rest will be better. A lot worse things happened around the world today. We weren’t robbed at knife/gun-point, we weren’t in any danger, and unlike some of the folks we saw today, our lack of cash was a temporary situation. There are many who live that way day by day. When all is said and done, we lead lives that the majority of the world would gladly have, and not a life that we would be willing to give away. Yeah it’s a major hassle and I can only hope that it has no long-term effects (i.e. no unauthorized spending on the cards, etc), but it could have been much, much worse...

A few days ago Tracey gave me her driver’s license, so I had that in my wallet instead of hers. The rental car keys (which are often in the diaper bag) were in my pocket instead, so we didn’t lose those. I had a credit card in my wallet that she didn’t have in hers (had I lost my wallet instead we would have been much worse off). At the end of the day, we all came home safe and sound and together. Everything else can be replaced. Even the camera did not have any pictures on it because I had taken them all off before we left.

Lessons:

One: When traveling, separate credit cards between people. In the future, I’ll have Tracey carry the MasterCard (and I won’t), and I’ll carry the Discover (and she won’t), so that if one of us loses our wallet, we will still have a credit card we can use.

Two: Store cash separately from wallet/purse. Inconvenient? Sure, but so is not having any cash and no way to get any (or paying extortion rates to the credit card company).

Three: Always make sure you know the zip code where you are staying, or else the phone monkeys at the credit card company might not be able to help you :-)

Tomorrow, we head back to the same area to tour Alcatraz.

Oh, and although we obviously didn’t have any pictures for today, there are several good pictures from the beaglefest/Ethanfest (see yesterday) including good pictures of Yvette and Gage and Vivek and Gage and Kush, our hosts for the week.