Karachi Diary II. Part Two: Bank to the Future

One of the biggest changes that I noticed in Karachi this time around was that almost every shop had a portable point-of-sale credit/debit card reading machine (some of them more than one). Previously as I remember, only a few places would accept cards, but now, every business, from restaurants to paan shops, easily and readily conduct digital transactions. 

Another thing I saw was that the new cards can simply be tapped for payments. I tried to tap mine, but it didn't go through. I was told that the tap is apparently disabled by default and you have to request the bank to activate it. 

I called my bank and the automated response said I was 12th in line and the approximate wait time would be about 6 minutes. But then, immediately after telling me that, it said that to request a callback, I should put in the date (day followed by month). I did not want a callback because I was happy to wait 6 minutes but the computer insisted. Well, it basically kept repeating the message. 

The third time it repeated, I realized that it really wanted to call me back so I put it 1312, as it was December the 13th that day. Next, it asked me to put in the time I would like to be called back. It was 11:14 at the time and I thought that since it said there was a 6-minute wait earlier, I put in 11:20. 

The robot then told me: "Thank you. The next available callback time is on December 19, 2025 at 1:15pm. Press 1 to confirm," etc. 

I said, "Double you tea eff," (which of course means Well, That's Fantastic!) and pressed the red button to end the call because I wanted to talk to someone in the next 6 minutes not after 6 days.

I had to call again and this time the wait was 12 minutes. The computer again asked if I wanted a callback and I just ignored it, as it kept repeating the same message until a real person picked up and told me that tapping on my card was, in fact, open but blocked until January because of security reasons. 

The next day, I went to buy something and I presented my card to the shopkeeper, who proceeded to tap my card on the POS terminal. Before I could stop him and tell him it doesn't work, the man ripped off the receipt and handed it to me along with my shopping bag.