Things have been going mildly ok, all things considered. I just attended a very nice gathering, had a nice meal and met new people.

This is a huge improvement to yesterday when I tried using my new food benefits card at the cheapest grocery store around, and it just kinda… Didn’t work at all. Not tapping, not chip, not sliding. “Oh I don’t think it’s you, someone else earlier had the same problem. Must be our system.” I said, “thanks, but I am sorry I can not buy these groceries then.” And I had to wheel the cart to the other side of the lane and unpack the 2 bags of groceries I had just packed, trying hard not to feel embarrassed, and left the store. I knew I had it set up right and was pretty unhappy at that situation.

So I went just down the street to a much more expensive store, spent even longer shopping, got up front to check out and tapping didn’t work, and chip didn’t work, but sliding it worked. Holy fuck. I am guessing the other store’s checkout lane has dirty sensors on that Point of Sale machine, or their system is just plain not communication with the food benefits system.

Next time I will go to the stores that are slightly better priced but not the cheapest. Groceries and gas are just so fucked right now.