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| WebBits | February 2002 |
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Turning . . . Uh . . . 39 I sat, glaring at the screen, which was winking at me - “invalid username/password combination.” This was my online checking account, for Pete’s sake. Of course, the username and password combination were correct. I had used them thousands of times - tens of thousands of times - in the past three years. My mind wobbled. I have five passwords that I use and three usernames, but there was no way I could have changed my username for my checking account. Mind reeling, I ran through all five of the passwords - none worked. All right - I’m getting closer to my...uh...39th birthday (dispute it - I dare you). I’m told that memory slips are natural as one approaches their...uh...39th birthday. But to forget the password to my checking account? It was Saturday night and, of course, the bank was closed, so I had to remain financially uninformed until Monday? This is not good! I’m supposed to be out Christmas shopping! I’m moving and must buy those necessities - beer and pizza - for my movers! I need curtains for my bedroom! ACK! I spent the weekend in a financial quandary - forgoing curtains and Christmas for the time being. Of course, the beer and pizza could not be forgone - one must pay their movers, no matter how bad it hurts! In the quieter moments of the weekend, I pondered this development. Grandma had Alzheimer’s Disease. Is this a signal that it’s coming for me? Monday morning, I get ready to leave for work and cannot find my keys. I always know where my keys are. I’m compulsive about putting them in the same place so I can’t lose them. Yet, I can’t remember where I left them. Another memory lapse?? Argh!! By the time the bank opens, I’ve got myself worked up into a pretty good fit. Convinced that senility is just around the corner, I look up the phone number for the bank - funny, I had it memorized last week - and push in all the numbers the mechanical voice requests, after looking them up, of course, and hold for a live person. After holding long enough to almost forget why I was calling (almost! HA!), a woman’s voice thanks me for my patience and for being a customer of National XYZ Bank, and assures me that she can help me. In near tears, I explain to the representative that I’m getting old and feeble, and my memory isn’t quite what it used to be because I tried to log in to my account this weekend and apparently, I’ve forgotten my password, so I’d greatly appreciate her giving it to me. I swear I could hear her smiling, as she assured me that I was not getting old, or feeble, and that there was nothing wrong with my memory - the bank’s computer had gone down and nobody got in all weekend! I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry! |
