We had a crazy conundrum trying to get home after the Korean Night in Hawaii show. When we first arrived at the theatre (early since we were meeting friends for dinner), we parked in an expensive lot that would have cost us $24 and after we realized that price, we moved the car to a less expensive lot, the Municipal Lot. But we didn’t realize until it was too late, that this lot was cash only. The problem was that this was the one time we somehow both had zero cash on us, not even the $4.50 cash that we needed. The pre-event emails warned us not to bring big bags or purses, not even water bottles, just the minimum for the security checks, so I only brought my phone, ID and a credit card. And usually I might have had some money in the car’s glove compartment, but our glove compartment latch is broken, it is jammed shut at the moment and I need to take it in to get it fixed.
We asked a police officer where to find a nearby ATM. She directed us to CJ Market. We tried the ATM with only the credit card that we had on us. The transaction kept failing because we either had the wrong pin or we never set up a pin. We asked the very kind clerk if we could buy something and she could overcharge us $5 on the credit card and give us the $5 in cash. She cannot because it messes up her totals. I texted a neighbor who had shared that she also attended the event to see if she was still somehow in the area and could spot me a fiver. No, she was already home. We considered calling friends who live in/near town, but it is a big ask to ask someone to come to Chinatown late at night to let us borrow $5. I just kept praying and hoping we could find a solution.
It was ironic during this fiasco that a lady approached me and asked, “Can you spare a few dollars?” And I could honestly say, No, I’m sorry, I literally don’t have any cash on me.”
Finally, my husband Ben had a somewhat crazy idea. He asked a customer ready to check out if we can buy his purchases (a beer and a pack of cigarettes) with our credit card in exchange for $5 cash. We explained our situation and he hesitated a little. I could tell he must think we are trying to scam him somehow. So I upped the ante a little and offered to let him pick a couple more things if he wanted. His eyes lit up and he said, “Okay, I’ll get some candy for my son.” So he got some candy and another beer and we worked out the transaction to get our $5 cash for the parking fee. The clerk was so nice and looking out for us and she tried to convince the guy to reimburse us the exact amount in cash. We thanked both of them and told her it’s okay this time, we’re just glad to get the $5 cash. We ended up paying $20 for his groceries, which ended up costing us as much as the expensive lot without any headaches, haha!
