What Goes Around, Comes Around

Yesterday, I mentioned that I'd gotten my first cash rewards check from Chase. What I didn't mention was that technically, I'd already spent the money...on a parking ticket, of all things! Definitely not a budgeted item.

My friend was being, well...just that...a friend. We were supposed to carpool to a meeting out in the suburbs, and usually she meets me at my condo building. But this week, she offered to pick me up at work. I thought she was stuck in traffic, so I took my sweet time, going to the washroom, shutting down my computer, packing up my bag, and mosey'ing down to the corner where she was supposed to meet me. Right as I get within 10 feet of the corner, my cell phone rings. I see that it's from my friend, so I stop to answer it. 'Do you see me?' Huh? Yeah, I see you. 'Well, hurry up. I see a cop behind me.' So, I start running to the car. And just as I get in, the cop arrives, and she's writing my friend a ticket. 'You see the sign? No stopping or standing. People want to use this lane to turn.' My friend doesn't say anything. Just takes the ticket.

So of course, I offered to pay for it. She was, after all picking me up. And I shouldn't have dawdled. But for crying out loud! $50 for standing there at most, 60 seconds? And why the heck did my friend call me instead of just circling the block when she saw the cop?!?!?! Argh. I know, I know. Hindsight is always 20/20. Just needed to vent.

Anyway, what goes around comes around. The $50 rebate went straight from Chase to me to my friend to the City of Chicago. Go figure.

Has that ever happened to you? You get a bonus or a rebate check and before you even have a chance to say 'thank you', some emergency happens, like the transmission in your car goes out, and you have to use the money to pay for that? For some reason, it feels better if the money sits in your checking account for a least a couple of days before you have to dish it out again.