Story of the Day 8/ 7/ 2014

I have a friend.
I pause now, so that people who know me from work can gasp or choke or whatever the appropriate reaction is.
At work, I am paid to be bitchy.
And I am VERY good at my job.

But this woman does not know me from work, which is probably why she is my friend.

Anyhow, she is a very nice young woman who happens to be a Girl Scout Leader.
This is despite the fact that she doesn't have a daughter in the Girl Scouts.
In fact, she doesn't' have a daughter.
Or a son.

She was asked to be a Girl Scout leader for a troop of girls from an "underprivileged" neighborhood.
"Underprivileged" is another way of saying poor.

Poor is probably an understatement, in terms of some of the girls in her troop.

At any rate, the girls earned some certificates , I think from cookie sales.
I am not sure because I didn't ask.
That is great.
Except, in order to redeem them, they need to go on the internet to a site that requires a charge card and a small fee.

The fee is very reasonable.
If you have an extra $5.
They don't.

They also tend to come from families that do not have a charge card , or one that is not maxed out.

And my friend does not have a charge card.
Which surprised me.

Not that she has tons of extra cash hanging around, but because it is kind of the norm, in America, to have several.

But she doesn't.
And, she explained why.
She managed, in college , to end up with a lot of debt.
And she has been digging herself out of debt, and part of how she has done it ( she ha sheen digging out for 4 years, now, and she is young) is by NOT having a charge card.

It is admirable that she is working on this , but it is also a problem because she needs to have these certificates redeemed.

Which is where I come in.

I have a charge card.
I even have an account with the company through which they are being redeemed.

So, this is the third or fourth evening she has asked me to do this.

Let me explain, I am not paying the few dollars, well I am, but I am being reimbursed.
I do not want you to think I am being generous with anything other than my time and the use of a card.
She managed to get the small amount of money to do this from donations .

But, I am doing the "redeeming" for her.

EXCEPT, it isn't working.
Apparently, I have redeemed too many or something like that, and now it isn't working for me.
And this is not a company that I can call and explain why I am doing this for girl number 4 or 6 or whatever number she is.

And it is 11:41 PM.
So, tomorrow, I will ask another friend if she would be willing to use her charge card for a good cause.

Obviously, not someone from work.......