Vanilla Reload Card.  The Girl.  The Story.

Yesterday afternoon, American Express sent out emails to all Bluebird and Serve Card members alerting them to changes in the way you can load Bluebird and Serve in the future.  In both emails, we learned that Vanilla Reload Cards (VRC) would no longer be available for purchase (and subsequent loading to Bluebird or Serve) beginning on April 1, 2015.  Here are the emails I received:

I thought it would be fun to have an analogy to the Vanilla Reload Cards, to make it her more lifelike and relatable.  This is her story…  

Ms. VRC moved into town a few years ago with her family.  Her dad was the manager at the local Office Depot, so she was always hanging around there.  She was immediately very popular in town and all the boys (and some girls) would go see her after school/work.  She was friendly to everyone she met and always very generous.  There was a rumor in town that Ms. VRC had some tattoos because she love Ink (slang for tattoos).  I never saw any tattoos, but the rumor persisted for a few months.

Without notice, her dad was let go from Office Depot and shortly after became the store manager at the local CVS (her mother works at the pharmacy).  He wasn’t very happy about the move, but made the best of the situation.  Realizing that CVS had all the pretty make up she loved and her favorite ice cream flavors, Ms. VRC was excited for the move.

During the summer months, Ms. VRC began working at CVS and worked long hours from the early mornings to the late nights.  She loved her job and she continued to see all her favorite friends from Office Depot, they made her feel special and appreciated.  She had a few favorite customers who would come in every day to see her.  She treated everyone with respect and was happy working there.

Just as her senior year of high school was about to begin, her dad sent her a memo text message telling her to focus more on school and stop working at CVS.  Ms. VRC was not happy about her dad’s decision, but she did not question him.  So everyday after school, she would come to CVS and do her homework in the back of the store.  Her friends would come visit her and try to talk to her, but she would ignore them and get back to her homework.  Even though she was present in the store, she had changed and was no longer that pretty, friendly, generous friend that we had first met at Office Depot.

Shortly after Ms. VRC stopped talking to us, her younger sister Ms. OVGC started working a few hours at CVS.  Ms. OVGC started talking to all of Ms. VRC’s friends and soon enough, she was the popular girl.  She had many friends and all the boys (and some girls) would come visit her frequently at work.  She loved everyone she met.

Unfortunately, Ms. OVGC was dating the boy from Walmart and things got ugly.  They would yell at each other and all lines of communication were broken.  We tried to get them back together, but it was hopeless.  No one really knows what happened between the two of them, it is still a mystery to this day.

Just yesterday, we learned that Ms. VRC was going off to college in a few months.  We were happy for her success, but sad to see her go.  We grew apart and no longer talked as much as we used to.  If only we could go back in time to the good old days when she was so happy go-lucky at Office Depot.  Those were the best of days…

Good luck and safe travels Ms. VRC!