A real Jonah of a day.

WARNING!!! If you are one of the millions of tech-minded Americans who have learned to love the ease and convenience of paying bills online, beware!

So there I was, eating my lunch at work and checking my phone messages when a friendly voice from my bank told me I had some "suspicious" activity on my debit card and should call at my earliest convenience. So I did.

And then my day got worse. Much worse. Apparently a scheming thief in the Philippines got their grubby little hands on my debit card number and racked up enough purchases in a 24 hour period to completely wipe out my checking and savings accounts. All of it. Gone.

The good news is that it's protected by my bank and I'll get it back. The bad news is that I, the innocent victim, have to jump through hoops and file police reports and fraud affidavits in order to reclaim money that was mine in the first place.

What a cruddy day! And of course we were swamped in the ER and saw over 50 ambulances in 12 hours, not to mention the 150 or so that came through triage. And all I really wanted to do was go home and take care of this mess. I'm working on the ambulance tomorrow, but I think my partners will understand if I ask to make a stop at the bank as soon as possible in the morning.

So a word to the wise: stamps are good. Checks are better. The convenience of one-click bill pay does in no way outweigh the inconvenience of having all your assets swept out from under you. It just isn't worth it.

Love, your conspiracy theorist daughter/sister.

P.S. For my birthday I'd like stamps. Lots and lots of stamps.