Just the time to run out of cash.... in the middle of nowhere

I was traveling from Nasik to Mumbai yesterday. One of the now frequent leave in the morning and return in the night trips. As soon as we started out, my driver indicated to me that we are going to have to gas up the car at some point. Fair enough I thought, knowing well that I had only Rs. 800 with me and that a full tank on the Mahindra Scorpio takes up around Rs. 1500 worth of diesel usually. And I did not intend on stopping by at a cash point. The credit card was going to be useful as always. Yes that American tool of mass financial mismanagement.

We pulled into a fuel station which displayed that they do accept Visa's and Mastercard's. I assumed that although we are in the middle of a work in progress NH3, with pretty much nothing but the bush and barren landscape around it, they obviously would have a working credit card terminal. We filled diesel worth about Rs. 1380 and when I flashed my card at the chap he casually informed me that the terminal is out of order. Bollocks!!! My first reaction. But they displayed that they do accept credit cards! Highway works have ripped the telephone lines he informs me. Who uses landlines anyways in India these days, with the mobile revolution well and truly in.

Out comes the supervisor after unsuccessfully trying to resuscitate the credit card terminal and he has no intentions of letting me off his pump without the money. I offered to pay him the cash I had and the rest later that day when I returned from Mumbai. Obviously he wasn't going to fall for it, not that I was not going to pay him on the way back. After haggling and bantering with him about the faux pas he informed me that we could to a bank 1 km down the road and use their telephone line for the terminal. No ways did I want go through the embarrassment of having to go to village bank and ask for their telephone line due to lack of cash in my wallet.

Thats when I realised that I have always needlessly carried my cheque book with me in my office bag. Needless?? Not anymore. I offered to pay him by cheque for the fuel which he accepted. Infact he offered to return me the cheque when I would come back and pay him the cash later that day. I did return to the pump in the evening and the guy who had filled my car was literally jumping with joy as soon as we drove in. He was quietly embaressed about the fact that he did not tell me that the credit card terminal was out of order beforehand. I paid him the cash and got my cheque back which is now headed from the paper shredder.

I really wonder what we would have done if not for the chequebook in my bag. I actually almost offered him to remove the diesel from the car and only leave how much I could afford at the time.

Moral of the story - If a fuel station on highways in India indicate that they accept credit cards, do not take it for granted unless you have a chequebook in tow!!