Preschooler D and the Credit Card

Every stay at home parent knows the worst time of day is between 3 and 6 o'clock.  Every one's goodness for the day is just gone and chaos reigns.

It was this way for me last Thursday.  Colin was stomping around in a fit of preteen angst trying to get himself ready for piano.  Preschooler D (PD) was cranky and getting tired and I was trying to start supper.  PD thought he would amuse himself playing on my computer which sits in the kitchen. "Fine!" I thought.  "Good.  He will be right here where I can keep an eye on him."  I had my Facebook page up and PD immediately went to a game I tried playing but didn't like.  It's one of those role-playing Facebook games where you're building a little world. You advance in these games by having other people on Facebook send you virtual items for your world.  This one is an island.  I thought the island game was boring, so I didn't keep playing.  I had, in fact, taken it off my list of applications, but there was a picture of it at the top of the screen and that's where PD wanted to go.  "Fine," I thought again.  "What can this hurt?  I didn't like that game.  He can just move things around the little island to his heart's content right here where I can see him."

I went on my way making dinner . . . but I said out loud to the sink which was the only thing listening, "You know, I'm not sure this is a good idea."

I found out I was right two hours later when I got a receipt from Facebook thanking me for my purchase of 1400 credits for the island game.  And what a bargain!  They were on sale for $140.

Okay, so here's what happened.  I don't like the little island game, but I have been very addicted to the game where you make a little frontier.  So addicted, that from time to time I have purchased $2-3 worth of credits to advance myself along in the game without waiting for my other little frontier friends to send me what I need.  Several weeks ago I purchased $7 worth of credits and I sort of freaked out that my addiction was going too far.  So anyway, as you play these games, the fine folks at Facebook and Zynga, the creator of these games, want to make it easy for you to purchase credits and a screen pops up which says something to the effect, "Credits are on sale!  Would you like to buy some?"   When you click "yes" as PD did, another screen pops up with the different amounts you can purchase.  The default option is the maximum amount, in this case $140.  To be even more helpful, Facebook then automatically charged my credit card from the times when I made my $2-7 purchases of credits. With two clicks, PD purchased $140 of credits.

Stay tuned . . .