Lt. Ducksworth's Angry Souls Travel Blag, Part 3

As an ongoing effort to document my misadventures in Europe, here's a rant about debit cards while it is still fresh in my mind.

Why can't my card just work? Seriously, this is ridiculous. When I speak to the fraud detection department of a bank and they tell me that everything is just fine, I expect to be able to buy my train and TSO tickets with absolute no difference from the times when my card worked. I don't know if it is a problem with Visa or my bank, but someone's not doing their job here. If there are lingering problems in a different department of the bank, don't tease me by letting ATM transactions through but not an online payment. This is really like none other.