There was an envelope in my mailbox a couple of days ago. There was nothing written on it. No stamp, no address, no sign of it ever being handled. I figured since it was in my mailbox I might aswell open it. Could have been delivered in person, I thought.
There was a single plastic debit card in it. Bright red with numbers and letters written in gold. There was no name, bank name or account number on it. The writing it had looked complete gibberish, unless there was a person named XUKO87z7HJKNm out there. On the innder side of the envelope was a four digit number, a PIN code. 1323. Written in the same gold color.
Since returning it to whoever the owner was was out of the question for obvious reasons, I decided to try and put it in the ATM machine. I typed in the PIN code.
$1.00.
Strange. Very strange. A card of who knows which bank is recognised by the ATM machine and has a balance of $1.00. I looked around and there was a candy store across the street.
I bought a bag of pop rocks for $0.99. For a reason still unknown to me, I went back to the ATM and inserted the card into the slit.
$1.00.
I had just bought something for $0.99. Money transactions do not take time to sync. They are practically instant. I rushed back to the store, made the same purchase and came back to the ATM machine.
$1.00.
I looked down at the two bags of pop rocks I was holding in my hands, and back at the ATM machine.
$1.00.
My mind was racing, nothing made sense.
I came home with 15 bags of pop rocks that day. The next day I brought home $320 worth of stuff. Everything in sub $1 purchases. I got hooked.
I figured I could transfer my money to this debit card so I could buy something outside the range of $1.00. Imagine if I could buy myself food without losing a single dollar. Imagine buying new furniture, a new car, new everything without ever having to work a day again. I got consumed by the idea of it. Financial stability at last. I have been trying to save money for a new home for so long, and now I held in my hands the means of salvation. Never again would I have to be careful to only fill my gas tank for $5. Never again would I have to buy offbrand. Never again would I have to work extra hours only to buy my favorite bag of cereal.
So I went to the ATM machine and took out my actual debit card and the shining red one. A click confirmed a transaction of $13.230.
$1.00.
That is what the ATM machine read.
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