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Showerthought: My bank's app went down for 2 hours on payday and I couldn't buy groceries
It happened last Friday right when I was at the store checkout. The app just spun and said 'server error'. I had $0 in my wallet and my card wouldn't work because it needed the app to approve big purchases. I had to leave a full cart and walk home. It made me realize how fragile this whole digital money system is. Has anyone else had a payment fail because the network was down?
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jessica7071mo ago
Actually, that's a good point about the digital system being fragile. In my experience though, the card should still work for groceries even without the app. The store's terminal might have a lower limit for needing extra approval.
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paulw531mo ago
Right, because nothing says "modern convenience" like having to guess which random purchase will finally trigger the secret offline approval limit. Feels less like shopping and more like playing a slot machine that only pays out in canned beans. The whole thing is built on this weird faith that your phone will never die and the store's system will never glitch. So much for progress when the backup plan is just hoping the machine is in a good mood.
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the_anthony1mo ago
That's the kind of situation that makes you feel like a caveman trying to buy a rock. My phone died once at a gas pump and I just stood there looking dumb for ten minutes. The whole system really does fall apart without that little green check mark.
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