Today I went to one of my many doctors. In case you are not familiar with the way doctors offices work in a big city (or maybe it is just Dallas) they all have offices inside medical buildings attached to hospitals. Therefore, in order to visit the doctor you must pay for parking, just as you would if you were visiting the hospital for any other reason.

Some hospitals have Valet-only parking at $4-$5 for the entire visit. Some have parking lots or garages that charge based on the length of time you are parked. This doctor’s office was one of the length-of-time varieties, which charge you as you exit the garage or lot. In this particular garage, the line to exit and pay was so long that I had to break into the line backwards just to back out of my parking space. After inching forward toward the toll booth for 2 levels and 10+ minutes, I finally got there and the fee was $3. I only had $2 cash in my car.

Let me just explain that neither Christian or I carry cash. At all. Ever. Or checkbooks. Nothing except cards. We do keep valet money in the cars for just such an occasion, but like I said, there was only $2 in there – apparently we did not replenish after the last time we used it.

I do have a debit card, and these hospitals typically have ATM’s in their lobby charging $5 fees just for people like us. However, my bank had issued me a brand new debit card about 3 days ago, which I stupidly activated right away, before they sent my new PIN number. So I can’t use the debit card until I get the mail that tells me what the PIN is. I had already tried using it with the old PIN and it did not work at the grocery store.

I explained this to the lady, but there was nothing she could do. Apparently to go through without paying would cause her to have to pay for me when she clocked out. I certainly did not want that to happen but there was nothing I could do. I think she believed I was hiding money from her. There were at least 20 people behind me in line to exit, and she pointed this out to me. She suggested I write a check, but I do not carry a checkbook. We were at a standstill. I was about to cry.

Then from the truck behind me came a nice man probably a little younger than my dad, and he gave us a dollar. I would just like to thank the fellow in the truck, even though he will never see it. Thank you!