Stupid People - 3

Since space in the city is tight, all the major shopping centres are all outside of the city centre. Its a 20 minute walk under an overpass, through graffiti decorated walls and through even sketchier tenement blocks. Needless to say, Mike has forbid me to walk there by myself. Its one of the few times I have actually listened. Let's face it, I'm a little white girl who cannot understand what most people in this area are saying. But every 2 weeks, we trudge to the shopping mecca.
This week Mike could not make it, so I took the bus with the bus driver who tried to tell me that he didn't stop anywhere near the shopping complex (although he did) and overcharged me. So, I was already frazzled by the time I got there. All our prior experiences in Tesco have been slightly trying. Most people do their shopping on the weekend so the store is usually packed with pushy women, screaming children, and those who have found that their legs cannot possibly work at normal speeds and refuse to walk any faster than a freaking turtle! Luckily for me, some of the isles were actually clear! I was able to finally peruse and even found chocolate cake, brownie, and muffin mixes. They even had pancake mix! (I have only seen chocolate cake mix once before and we have looked everywhere for it.) So, I got to the check out and realized that all the perusing and finding new products had resulted in me getting too much. I had money for the groceries (thankfully) and some left, but I still had one more stop. I decided to hit the ATM outside for a little extra cash just in case. Unlike usual there was no line! I walked right up to the ATM, slid my card in, punched in my code (and I even remembered it!), and then all hell broke loose. The stupid machine was apparently not working anymore. It was the same machine I used before my shopping, but now the card was not being spit out correctly. The machine started beeping louder and faster, and I almost had my card out when some man came up to my side and started talking to me. Needless to say, the distraction resulted in my f*#^ing card being eaten. What this man was trying to tell me was that the same thing had just happened to him. This man had watched me walk up to the machine, put my card in, try to get money out, and THEN decided to tell me that it wasn't working.
I told the customer service desk inside the store that the machine wasn't working (which they already knew...) and walked back outside. This same man came back up to me and started telling me that I needed to go find someone to help. He needed his card back. That's when I smiled and said there was nothing I could do and walked off. My mama would have been proud of me. I did not swear at him at all even though he really deserved it.
Mike thankfully came all the way up to the store to "save" me (and in record time too! And he even walked through rain and driving winds!) And in the end, I would have had enough money to cover what we needed from the other store. Although it was wonderful not having to carry it all back by myself!