It feels very satisfying to have a personal fear or conspiracy vindicated in front of your own eyes, but on the other hand, it’s twice as frightening. Today I witnessed something that goes without any explanation or reason, something that a friend of mine had talked about not even two years ago, which I thought was somewhat crazy at the time and something I didn’t think I’d ever see. Here goes…

I work at a national retailer which will remain nameless for obvious reasons. A customer of mine was making a sizeable purchase for which he was paying with his check card. He noted that he may have a per day point of sale limit, which I am used to regularly handling (my own credit union has a $500 per day limit). The only way to prove this was to go through the sale and hopefully be approved. The purchase was split into two separate transactions for other reason, and the first transaction went through no problem. It seemed like smooth sailing…

Second transaction comes up declined. OK, no big deal, there’s always an option of signing up for a store card. No such luck. Being Sunday, we felt there were no other options because he did not have his checkbook with him. I noted that a lot of banks, especially ones with a large operation such as his, offer 24/7 phone service. Luckily, his did. With one quick phone call to the bank to request a limit increase, we should be alright and he will be able to go home happy with his new purchase, right?

Wrong again. Due to my ineffective manner of delivering the point, let me reiterate. He called the bank to request a limit increase to allow him to spend his money that he had in his account, and they denied his request. Let me run that by you again…they would not let him spend money which he had in his account. Access denied.

If you’re not shocked, appalled, concerned, troubled, worried, fearful, curious, and/or affected in any way by this, stop reading, because the point is lost in you. Look at the big picture…as we slip closer and closer into a cashless society, the fact that this is even possible at this point in the game is frightening. Sit and think of some extreme cases of abuse of such ability…something that seems totally far fetched and unrealistic, something that you may have read in an George Orwell book. Now read back my story and think about how far fetched it may have seemed fifty–hell, even ten years ago.

Remember, we are being lead by people who shit hundred dollar bills. Whether Republican, Democratic, Libertarian, whatever, we’re being lead by people who no longer appreciate the value of a dollar, who don’t understand what money means to the average person. The fact that it’s even legal for banks to do this, to deny one the right to spend money they’ve rightfully earned, is completely twisted.

The icing on the cake is that he was an employee of our federal government. The kick in the balls is that, after splitting the payments across different cards with the second transaction (and thus after being denied by his bank), he got a phone call on his cell phone from his bank’s fraud protection service to make sure it was him using his card…ouch.

I openly welcome any logical explaination of such ability banks possess. I’d rather not come off as a clueless jerk venting about a baseless argument.