Who helped who?

I just screamed at someone on the phone.

And now I am feeling slightly bad - not because the person I screamed at has probably ran to the nearest toilet to cry her little heart out, but because I think the whole office has heard me over these not-so-high cubicle walls and thinks that I am a bitch.

Actually no, she wouldn't be crying. She works for the Consumer Helpline of a bank, and presumably received training on how to deal with customers like me hence our little "debacle" earlier should be everyday work for her. They are probably taught to create other outlets for releasing stress - like having pictures of their customers pinned up on a board and shooting darts at the ones they hate. If so, I probably have like 5 thumb tacks on my face by now.

So she told me that the additional charge of $15 on my credit card statement is because I transferred money to a third party savings account and such transaction is considered a "cash advancement." I informed her that the transfer was in respect of payment for an official invoice and should therefore be considered a Bill Payment instead. Furthermore, I have already called up a colleague of hers from Consumer Helpline straight after the transaction to confirm whether any charges for the transfer will be levied and was given the assurance that there will be none.

"Sorry Miss. You shouldn't have called us. You should have called the third party bank instead."

What the...? Which planet is she from??! Now can you understand why I was screaming?

The short of the long matter is, as a result of my screaming and throwing around big words for the next ten minutes, I manage to convince her (and myself) that I am not responsible for the $15 they so erroneously imposed on me.

"Ok Miss, we can help waive the charge but you must make sure that the money is transferred from the third party account back to your credit card, ok?"

Excuse me, did I hear right? Didn't I just explain to her that the transfer is in respect of an invoice for services already rendered? She is asking me to ask the receiving party, a reputable association as that, to execute a refund of the money for no other reasons than because my stoooooopid bank is trying to document a justification for a waival of $15 which is wrongfully charged to me in the first place!

"Sorry Miss *quiver* If the money is not transferred back, we cannot waive the charge."

So I told her an alternative I can think of (OUT OF MY OWN INFINITE FOUNTAIN OF WISDOM) is to mimic a so-called "transfer back" by debiting $15 out of my own pocket into my own credit card account and for the bank to deduct this amount from my next month's statement instead - is that well and acceptable to you, dweebs?

'Yes, that would be fine, Miss."

Helpline, my backside.