Adding a fly in the ointment to all of Mira's motivational speeches and my joining the community was a call from an unknown number early one morning. I realized there was no one who would actually be calling me. So, I decided to call back, sensing something was fishy. Of course, it turned out to be the debt department of a bank in America, demanding money I owed. But where was I supposed to get it from?

And they really know how to be supportive, damn it.

-Are you aware that you have a debt of so-and-so?

-Yes.

-And do you intend to pay it back?

-Yes, of course.

-When?

-Well, today (and it just happened to be my first payday).

-How much?

-I don't know.

-Approximately?

-Well, 50%, I think.

-Are you sure?

-Well, not entirely.

Then he explained to me that this questioning was only for my benefit, in the sense that it could portray me as someone who wants to pay off the debt rather than someone who has disappeared. That is, he made a note somewhere in my profile that supposedly "everything is fine with this guy. I checked him out." But it's still unpleasant, all of it.

Besides, according to the talk, the salary arrives at midnight, and here it was already morning, and the money still wasn't there. Many people had already received theirs, but I hadn't. And again, everything was going wrong for me. I went to the managers to ask if everything was okay or what. Well, of course, it sounds strange. They took my check out of the safe, checked the account number, and guess what? Of course, they made a mistake in my account number. They mixed up one digit... And because of this, I would have to wait a few days for the money to return from the wrong account and then arrive to me. And the bank is waiting for my 50%. Oops?

I called the bank and explained the situation. Perhaps by doing this, I demonstrated that I am a good debt client who actually cares. And they stopped pressuring me and just changed the debt payment date to 2 weeks until the next paycheck, which suited me just fine. They gave me another nervous day, but overall, everything seems fine.

Looking ahead, I'll tell you a secret: in 2 weeks, with my second paycheck, I finally covered the debt. Imagine my happiness. Considering the fact that I'm a paranoid person who constantly checked my phone expecting to see another missed call from the bank.

And my first paycheck was only returned to me after a couple of weeks, because in the entire bureaucratic system of the States, it is very difficult to return money from an erroneous account and then resend it. At first, they even told me that nothing would work at all. And in the end, so as not to wait another week or two, I took the issued check by hand to cash it myself in the city. But the situation with the money improved, and now I could calmly spend what I earned in stores/Amazon/eBay.

But the debt was not the final part of my summer quest, so let's move on.