Our daily life in US is customarily regulated by a large number of cards such as credit card(s), health insurance card, photo/DOB/student identity cards, and of course shopping cards and more. Not only the number, but incidentally they are all of same size and width. In addition to that, I keep all my cards in the same pockets, with a slight arrangement of them with respect to their frequency of use and necessity. But within a while that order gets lost. So being such an uncoordinated persion, it is usually not easy for me to drag the right card at the right time and I create all sorts of funny card confusions.
*** In our library we need to show our student identity card to be granted for the admission. Even though I am not a regular library visitors, still more than a few times I had mistakenly shown my credit card or other cards. Interestingly, once the checker (usually the students) approved my student identity card, but when I was about to pocket it back, I discover it was not the right card.
*** In Boston, now a days you can buy your Subway (traditionally called 'T') ticket of any amount and that can be used for any arbitrary period of time. Note that this card is different than montly pass, where the former one is called 'Charlie card'. One saturday, I had to refill my 'Charlie card' in a Metro station near the airport. You can easily do that using the 'Charlie slot machine'; where the procedre is as simple as to swipe your 'Charlie card' first and then the credit card and lastly 'Charlie card' again. So I drew out a white looking card along with my credit card and was trying to tap the pass to activate it, but the machine was unable to recognize the card. After two three such effectless effort I thought that the machine might have some problem and I changed to the next machine. Still, I was getting the same error. Seeing me helpless, the station guard came forward to me and asked me the most unexpected question 'are you alright, Sir?'. I looked at him surprisingly 'Yes! why?'. He said 'cause you are swiping your health insurance card'.
*** To get the benefit of the reduced price in any grocery store here, you need to have their particular shopping card. Shopping cards are usually two types for the grocery stores like 'STOP and SHOP' and 'SHAWS'; a small one you can tie in your key-ring where the bigger one looks like the other cards I have mentioned so far, but good thing is that you can only carry any one of them. Contrastingly, the 'WHOLE FOOD', another local grocery store (mainly famous for the organic food), does not believe in any such system and thus has absolutely no cards; you just pay the right amount and go off. This store is quite uncommon and relatively expensive than the others, and thus we are not used to their 'NO CARD' system. One day, eventually I presented the tradesman my smaller (key-right hanged) 'SHAWS' shopping card before the pricing. He refused it in a some incomprehensible Bostonian accent which I am still not used to it. So I stupidly thought that the smaller card won't work here and I proudly said 'No problem I have the other one'. Then he repeated which was then clear to me 'This is WHOLE FOOD, we don't even have a shopping card.'
*** In our library we need to show our student identity card to be granted for the admission. Even though I am not a regular library visitors, still more than a few times I had mistakenly shown my credit card or other cards. Interestingly, once the checker (usually the students) approved my student identity card, but when I was about to pocket it back, I discover it was not the right card.
*** In Boston, now a days you can buy your Subway (traditionally called 'T') ticket of any amount and that can be used for any arbitrary period of time. Note that this card is different than montly pass, where the former one is called 'Charlie card'. One saturday, I had to refill my 'Charlie card' in a Metro station near the airport. You can easily do that using the 'Charlie slot machine'; where the procedre is as simple as to swipe your 'Charlie card' first and then the credit card and lastly 'Charlie card' again. So I drew out a white looking card along with my credit card and was trying to tap the pass to activate it, but the machine was unable to recognize the card. After two three such effectless effort I thought that the machine might have some problem and I changed to the next machine. Still, I was getting the same error. Seeing me helpless, the station guard came forward to me and asked me the most unexpected question 'are you alright, Sir?'. I looked at him surprisingly 'Yes! why?'. He said 'cause you are swiping your health insurance card'.
*** To get the benefit of the reduced price in any grocery store here, you need to have their particular shopping card. Shopping cards are usually two types for the grocery stores like 'STOP and SHOP' and 'SHAWS'; a small one you can tie in your key-ring where the bigger one looks like the other cards I have mentioned so far, but good thing is that you can only carry any one of them. Contrastingly, the 'WHOLE FOOD', another local grocery store (mainly famous for the organic food), does not believe in any such system and thus has absolutely no cards; you just pay the right amount and go off. This store is quite uncommon and relatively expensive than the others, and thus we are not used to their 'NO CARD' system. One day, eventually I presented the tradesman my smaller (key-right hanged) 'SHAWS' shopping card before the pricing. He refused it in a some incomprehensible Bostonian accent which I am still not used to it. So I stupidly thought that the smaller card won't work here and I proudly said 'No problem I have the other one'. Then he repeated which was then clear to me 'This is WHOLE FOOD, we don't even have a shopping card.'
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