Real Music & Real Estate . . .

Yiddishe Cup’s bandleader, Bert Stratton, is Klezmer Guy.
 

He knows about the band biz and – check this out – the real estate biz, too.
 

You may not care about the real estate biz. Hey, you may not care about the band biz. (See you.)
 

This is a blog with a gamy twist. It features tenants with snakes and skunks, and musicians with smoked fish in their pockets.
 

Stratton has written op-eds for the Wall Street Journal, New York Times and Washington Post.


 
 

LOSING MY CREDIT

by Bert Stratton

Last week I lost my credit card and went around town looking for it. (Been there, done that, you say.) I retraced my steps to On the Rise, the neighborhood bakery, and the clerk there had about 20 cards in a drawer. One card belonged to a friend of mine. My card wasn’t there.

It had to be there! I had  just done an in-depth regression analysis of every place I had been in the past three days. You know how hard it is to recall everything you’ve done in the past three days? Particularly when you’re 72.

My friend — the guy whose card I had found in the pile at On the Rise — texted me, “Crikey!!!!! That is so weird. Thank you for the heads up.”

I wish store clerks called when they found cards.

I monitored my online statement. I didn’t freak out. Yippee. Nobody was charging anything. If my card didn’t show up soon, I’d call Visa and ask for another one. My son Ted said, “Don’t say you lost it. They’ll cancel your card.” Right-o, Ted. I don’t want to spent two hours online changing all my auto-pays.

Yesterday I was at CVS to pick up a prescription and asked if by chance they had my card. I had also been there the week before to pick up some generic Lipitor. But I had paid cash then. The pharmacist held up my card and said, “I’ve been on a spending spree!” That was funny.

To repeat, I think stores should call when they find cards. (I suspect many stores do.) I didn’t ask the pharmacist why she didn’t call. I didn’t want to wreck my good mood. I love finding things I’ve lost.

[A Harvey Pekar tribute post.]

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Yiddishe Cup plays 7 p.m. Thurs., Aug. 18, at Walter Stinson Park, University Heights. Bring a chair or blanket.

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5 comments

1 Kenneth Goldberg { 08.10.22 at 11:01 am }

I have a great deal of experiece in this area! If someone finds a credit card – and one as all-encompassing as a Visa card yet – it’s absolutely irresponsible to not try very hard to contact the owner! Big BOO for On the Rise staff and policy!

2 John M. Urbancich { 08.10.22 at 11:37 am }

I’m tellin’ ya, it’s the Lipitor.

3 marc { 08.10.22 at 2:23 pm }

How can they contact you when they don’t have your phone number? Here is some great advice. Get a separate card for your auto pays that you use only for auto pays. Get a second card for other purchases. That way if you cancel your lost card you don’t have to change your auto pays.

4 Bill Katz { 08.10.22 at 5:42 pm }

Statins or not (AARP newsletter recently mentioned one of their side effects is hair loss to which we can pretty confidently add object loss), keeping track of one’s possessions is only more challenging the older you get. I think I may be on my 3rd wallet in the past 4 years, but can’t be sure.

5 Kenneth Goldberg { 08.11.22 at 10:01 am }

There are fairly good ways to get phone numbers from a credit card – at least numbers worth trying.

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