Gratitude

Yesterday I called our bank because we had a kerfuffle with an online bill payment.

They said, "You're not even authorized to pay bills online."

I said, "Well I do.  All the time."

They said, "You haven't signed into the bank for over ten years."

I said, "I sign in as my husband."

"That is against policy," was the very curt reply.

I said, "We have a joint account."

"Doesn't matter.  You have to sign in as you.  Oh, and you will have to re-enter all the information for each place you pay online."

I said, "OK, I will do that. Can I just ask you my question?"

He said, "Is your husband sitting there next to you?"

I said, "No."

He said, "Then I can't answer any of your questions."

Ugh.  So that was a pain.  But I created a new sign in (ten years ago is apparently an eon so I had to start from scratch).  When I was all signed in with my newly minted password and security questions, I got the message that I was not authorized to have online bill pay.

I called the bank again. And if you think it is easy to get to an actual person, it isn't.  I finally found a person.  She listened to me and said in a sort of patronizing way, "I can get you set up!  I will walk you through it."

It wasn't like I didn't know how to use the internet.  It said I wasn't authorized.

She said, "Oh, it says you aren't authorized."

So now she saw the issue.  She said, "Just a minute, let me look into this."

She came back and said, "You are not authorized because you aren't a tax owner."

"What does that mean?"

"You aren't the primary account holder so even though you have a joint account, you can't do online bill pay."

I said, "So I can't access my money?!?"

She was really nice about it.  She said, "Yeah, that seems really weird.  Let me see if I can ask more about this."

She came back and checked on me.  "I'm still working on this."

I felt like I was in Victorian times and had no rights because I was a woman.  I said, "Don't other people have joint accounts?  This seems crazy."

She said, "I know."

Finally she came back and said, "It may reset overnight.  Try again tomorrow."

I said, OK and that's an hour of my life that I won't get back.  When I told Adam about it, I said, "What if you were in some grievous accident and were unconscious.  I just couldn't use the bank?!?"

He said, "Well, you should be taking care of me and not worrying about things like that."

I didn't think he was very funny.

He also said, "If we have to, we'll close the accounts and set up something else that we can both access."

Yesterday I told my students about the magic of gratitude.  I told them that being thankful for what you have helps you feel happier if you don't have something you want.

I had them hold up their hands.  I said, "Look at that!  You have two hands!  Some people don't have two hands."

I think gratitude helps even when you're in a frustrating loop of phone conversations that have no resolution.

I'm grateful that the lady at the bank was very nice and helpful.  I'm grateful that I am not in actual Victorian times and I can get this worked out.  

I'm grateful I have two hands.