My phone died at a taco truck and I had to beg for a burrito

Last Tuesday, my battery hit 0% right as I tried to pay for lunch at this amazing truck downtown. The guy just stared at me while my card kept getting declined on his reader. I literally had to ask the guy behind me to spot me $12 and send him cash later. It felt so weird, like I was a kid asking for lunch money again. Made me realize how helpless you are without a working device now. Anyone else had a total tech fail at the worst possible time?

3 comments

3 Comments

daniel_gonzalez1mo ago

Been there, it's the worst feeling. I keep a folded twenty dollar bill tucked in my phone case now for exactly this reason. It's saved me at a few food trucks and once when a gas station pump was down. You just can't rely on the tech always working, and cash doesn't need a signal.

the_piper1mo ago

Daniel_gonzalez that's a bit extra, keeping cash in your phone case. How often does the tech actually fail? My card works fine 99% of the time. It just seems like making a problem bigger than it is. I'd rather not have a crumpled bill messing up my phone.

dylan_brown301mo ago

You make a good point about the phone case, but my card has failed at the worst times. The reader at my local coffee shop glitched last week, and I was stuck. A backup twenty isn't about expecting tech to fail every day, it's for that one random time it does. It's flat enough that it doesn't mess up my phone, @the_piper. For me, it's just cheap peace of mind.