Mystery Solved

Remember how I said my order with Bookeen was on hold? Yeah, I figured it out. Last night when I was coming home, my card was declined at the grocery store. And tonight when I finally got around to calling, it turns out that the credit card company freaked out because in rapid succession my card number was used in Washington D.C. (by a human rights organization that I just agreed to donate to monthly), in France (to order the Bookeen) and again in New York (by me, trying to buy whole wheat English muffins, egg beaters and turkey bacon for what passes for a decadent weekend breakfast these days). The D.C. charge didn't come across as an e-commerce transaction, and so at that point they had already called to request verification...when my phone wasn't receiving calls. When their computer saw the French charge--also not flagged as an internet transaction--they were sure that my card number had been stolen by pirates, so they shut the card down until they could speak with me. It's all straightened out now--thank goodness for 24-hour customer service. (Why does this stuff only occur to me at midnight?)

I was a little annoyed at first, but honestly, a little inconvenience is a small price to pay to have them looking out for me, and I'm actually really grateful. After all, who knows what might happen otherwise? Maybe it's just the latest Jeffrey Deaver book I'm reading making me a little extra paranoid....