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Another long gap between entries. I have a semblance of an excuse this time -- I was in New Orleans, working at a conference, and didn't have the leisure time to sit down and write up any entries, although I could have written a great one titled "Reasons I Don't Work Tech Support Anymore". I know, it's a little longer than most of the titles I tend to use, but it sums up a lot of how I felt about the conference.

Anyway, I was on this conference in New Orleans. Now, for anyone reading this who hasn't had the pleasure of that All-American sport known as "business travel", let me explain how the financial end of it works. In short, you pay for everything, save receipts for the important things (plane tickets, hotel room, etc.), you get a fixed amount per day for meals and "incidental expenses", and at the end of the trip, you write an expense report with all the receipts that shows how much the company needs to reimburse you for the trip.

So, yesterday, I was filling out my expense report, and I went to look at my credit card statement on-line, to see if the hotel charges and such would be on this month's statement (which should be arriving in a few days, and if the charges were on this one, I'd better really hustle and get this expense report in quick!), or would they be on next month's statement (in which case I should still do it quickly, but there isn't a guillotine blade hanging over my head, so to speak). So the charges don't look like they're on this statement, but there is a charge I definitely did not make. It's to 1-800 Flowers's online store, for a little over $60, on a day when I was in New Orleans, definitely not buying anything from an online store.

You know the saying that "Ignorance is bliss"? It's so true. Instantly, I had envisioned about four stomach-turning possibilities, most of which had the same queasy element at their core -- someone had my credit card number, and was using it. I had no idea where they might have got it from -- probably a credit card receipt out of some dumpster somewhere. Shit. Shit shit shit. Wait. I had bought Liz's Valentine's Day present from 1-800 Flowers. Maybe she had been browsing around that website while I was gone, and clicked on something, thinking that she was just viewing details, but in actuality it bought it using my credit card information that was in their database. I went upstairs to see Liz.

"Liz, while I was gone, did you buy anything at the 1-800 Flowers website?" I should have known this was a bad question. When I get excited, my damn Yankee, Northerner, Midwesterner, etc. heritage jumps out, and I talk rather fast, and run some words together. Liz is from here, and while it's not the South per se, it's close enough that people tend to speak a little slower, move a little slower, etc. So she blinked at me and said "I browsed around a little, but I didn't buy anything." I figured out later she hadn't heard the "while I was gone." part. So in my mind, she probably had accidentally bought something. Who knew what it was, or when it was arriving, or where it was going. I stomped back downstairs to my office, to have a little chat with the 1-800 Flowers people.

1-800 Flowers actually has one of the best on-line support options I've ever seen. It basically starts up a Java-chat session with you and one representatives. No calling and being on hold. Every time I've tried (and the last time I did this, it was right around Valentine's Day, so it's not like I've been trying this at off-peak times) I've been connected with another person right away. So I fire up the chat, and get connected with a rep. She asks what she can do, I explain that I'm seeing a charge on my card for an order I didn't make. Have I ever placed an order with 1-800 Flowers? Well, yes, back around Valentine's Day. She searches for any other orders in my name. None. Just the one around Valentine's Day . . . which is for the same amount as the bill that showed up on my statement.

About then, I start to get a bad feeling, and start looking at my past statements (also available online, of course). No charge for the flowers in my February statement... or my March statement... or April... shit. Dammit. About this time, the rep says that she's just been told that some of the banks have been really late in sending out their bills for 1-800 Flowers.

So, the good news is that no one's using my credit card. The bad news is that I've got an extra $60+ charge coming on this next credit card bill, which will take a fair chunk out of the per diem I'd gotten from the New Orleans conference. But it's good to know that no one's got my card number. In retrospect, it is rather unlikely that someone would have my card number. It's not like I'm all that casual with how I use it...

But from now on, I'm burning all my credit card receipts.