During my lunch break, I took a little walk to do a quick deposit at the bank for my office, and decided to grab a bite to eat on my way back. I hadn’t grabbed my wallet, but I had my smartphone; I figured I’d just use the mobile pay app. Most places around here take the tap no problem, and it’s nice to only have one thing to keep track of as I walk thru the city.

Before getting in line, I made sure they took tap-to-pay, and confidently placed my order and tapped my phone for my $10 lunch.

Declined.

I’m not a complete knob with technology, but admittedly I don’t use very often; I pulled up the wallet app again, confirmed the payment source, and tapped.

Declined.

Oh, the look on the cashier’s face as I fumbled and apologized, and tried again.

Declined.

By this time, the line was growing impatient and I stepped away from the register, saying I’d call and get a card number from a coworker, so she could punch it into the machine.

And then: a good Samaritan took pity on me, and stepped out of line to pay for my lunch. I almost cried, it was such a sweet gesture. I thanked her profusely and she just said to pay it forward. While I ate I tried to figure out why my pay app wasn’t working; I’m still not confident I know why, since it was set to use PayPal and that’s tied to a bank account as backup funding, and I use PayPal all the time. I did remove two expired credit cards from the wallet profile, but am still stumped on why it didn’t go thru (yes, there’s money in my bank account). I definitely felt like an idiot.

As the good Samaritan left, I thanked her again, waving my (useless) cell phone and lamely explaining that I didn’t know why it didn’t work and what a day to forget my wallet at the office. Not sure she fully believed me, but I’ll be going back to that restaurant later this week to pay my $10 forward to someone who is struggling, either financially or technologically.

And I’ll be sure to have my physical wallet in hand when I do.