No, not Windows Vista, the computer operating system. I mean Visa, the credit card.

The story goes like this. I was recently fired from McDonald's for flirting with co-workers and the manager not finding it too funny (I was the night manager, and he found that behavior inappropriate). Well, as useless as that information is, I did need to include it because McDonald's is where I got my paycheck.

I'm a plastic type of person. Most of my purchases are made online. I can't use a bank account because it takes too long for paypal to do an electronic funds transfer. I can't use mail order because that takes longer. What do I use? My go-everywhere do-everything credit card. Now, being only 16, I found it necessary to use this because I intend fully on building my good credit.

Now, other than my owning a credit card and the etcetera, there's no problem. That's where Visa steps in. They're my credit card company for the last seven months. I've been a good customer, paying my balance early and all that nice stuff. To be honest, I thought them a good company. I've never had a reason to speak directly to one of them, because there was never any problems concerning my card.

Then last Tuseday rolled around. I went to make a purchase on newegg for some new RAM sticks (2GB in total). When I saw the "your credit card was declined" message, I promptly tried again. There it was reappearing, however. I called Visa and asked them what the problem was. I was put on hold for thirty minutes, told I was being transferred to some snob, and then told their machines were broken and they didn't know when they would be fixxed.

Now that's all fine and dandy, but here we are a week later, and I still have $300 on my credit card that I can't use because of their danged machines! I keep calling to see when they'll be repaired, but unfortunately I'm met with horrible customer service along with another "we don't know". So, I'm stuck here to wonder, am I the only one being affected by this?