Wendy Wants to Know

Wendy (http://pinkberry778.blogspot.com/) asked me a question about one of my posts (“One Perspective on Spending”: http://monkey4cec2see.blogspot.com/2009/01/one-perspective-on-spending.html)
ORIGINAL:
Maybe I am wrong to ask why, but I dare ask you. Is that magic that you tried to withdraw $700 from the ATM; and it worked ? I still can not under stand why it was possible to do it.
EDITED VERSION:
Maybe I am wrong to ask, but, dare I ask you, when you tried to withdraw $700 from the ATM, did it work? I still cannot understand how it was possible to do it.

Yes, it worked. I was surprised, too! And here’s the background on the story. People think that I’m joking when I say that I’m poor, but I’m not. I really am poor. Of course, I’m not dirt poor. I have some wonderful luxury items. I have an almost new iMac (which I bought with a new credit card because my eMac “died” — well, it didn’t “die,” but it was very sick). I have a cell phone, a 2002 car (which was purchased when my ex-wife was my wife ☺), and an iPod. I use all of them for work, but I’m still very lucky to have such things. However, my job at CEC only covers my rent ($1,070/month) and some of my bills: e.g., credit card debt, utilities, and my phone). (By the way, I do not have “vacations” during the session breaks at CEC; I’m unemployed during those periods.) In addition, I have to buy some things to support my bad habits: e.g., food, gas, drugs (prescription drugs that is — see * below), toiletries, and coffee. So in order to pay for these things, I have to have more than one job.

I have two other classes now. I have a private ESL class with one gentleman, and I teach a group ESL class at a factory on Wednesday nights. (I used to have another private ESL class, but the student — a rich, lazy, spoiled young man who got all of his money from Mom and Dad — didn’t want to continue studying. Actually he never did any studying while we were together anyways, so his parents were actually wasting their money. Oh, well.) I am very happy with the students that I have now, but the class at the factory (my second major source of income) has not been held since mid November. (The factory’s owner said that they are too busy from mid November to mid January.) That class resumes tomorrow night (1/21/’09), but that didn’t help me last month.

Last month, I had to pay my rent and support the aforementioned bad habits, but I only had $100 in the bank, and I wasn’t going to get paid for two weeks. I told my private student I would give him a 30% discount if he paid for 12 lessons in advance. He did. I, also, borrowed $300 from my credit cards, and that maxed them out. However, I was still about $350 shy of my rent, and I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t think it would help, but I went by my bank (Bank of America).

The guy at the bank said that he would not recommend it, but he had heard that customers could withdraw up to $700 from the ATM — even if they did not have $700 in the bank. (If you withdraw more money than you have, you have to pay a $35 overdraft fee.) I had $350 in the bank. I crossed my fingers, closed my eyes, and I said, “Please, God. Please let it work.” God said, “I thought you didn’t believe in me!” “Well … ummmmm, yeh. That’s true, but ummmm … why don’t you prove that I’m wrong?” God said, “You’re on your own, kid.” I put my card in the ATM, and I tried to withdraw $700. On the screen, it said, “You may be subject to penalties blah, blah, blah.” I pushed a button next to “I accept” — or something like that. I waited about 15 seconds, but it felt like 15 minutes, 15 hours. And then the ATM gave me $700! I went inside with the $700 from the ATM and $400 in cash, and I opened a new bank account with all the money I had in the world: $1,100. The next day, I gave the apartment manager a check for $1,070 from the new checking account. I made it. Phew!


*I had a stroke about four years ago, so I have to take eight medicines every day. Because I’m poor, I only have to pay $160 a month. If I didn’t get any financial aid, I’m not sure, but I think that they would cost approximately $500 a month.