Wire Money

Years ago I was tending bar in a little town right on the outskirts of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. My husband (who was my boyfriend at the time) took a trip to Dover for a NASCAR race. He phoned me while I was working asking me to wire money as soon as I could.

Of course, I had a problem with this because I was working alone that day and I had no way to get to a place that would wire money before they closed. When I tried to explain this my then boyfriend said that he wouldn’t be able to make it home without some cash.

He forgot his credit cards and his bank card. He didn’t realize this until he was ready to get something to eat. He had a little cash but it wouldn’t go very long on the trip. He desperately needed me to wire money, fast. What made the whole thing complicated was that he also hadn’t found his friends yet, either.

This would not surprise me in the least today, but back then I was stunned that he could be so absent minded. By the time I got off of the phone with him, the bar had practically filled with people. This all had to happen on a Saturday evening on top of everything.

Even if the next bartender came in early, she couldn’t be left alone with all of these customers. There was no way I could leave my post to wire money. He would just have to wait. Fortunately, we were friends with quite a few of the customers. One kind man offered to wire money to my boyfriend for me.

Although I was happy to have someone offer to do this, I was a little apprehensive. This man was very sweet, but quite thick. He seemed a little slow and such a task could confuse him. I had no choice but to send him along with the cash to wire money to my boyfriend.

Hours passed and my boyfriend called in a panic. There was no money. I told him that there had to be because I had the receipt. He checked again and there was no money. I looked at the receipt. The person I sent to wire money to my boyfriend put himself as the recipient instead of the sender.

I almost didn’t have the heart to tell either one of them what had happened but I had to. Our friend made another trip and straightened things out. Now when we wire money we double-check who is sending and who is receiving. Really, it could happen to anyone.

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