A close friend and I are walking through Soho. The sun is out, but there’s enough wind to keep the air crisp. My favorite kind of weather.

Walking side by side, my friend and I come off as an odd couple. He’s dressed very sharply, with a deeply tanned leather jacket over a faded grey sweater. I helped him take a picture that day for social media and it got a hundred likes. That’s a lot.

Now, I had just spent a few months singularly focused on improving as a developer, and I just was never the type to put a lot of thought into my fashion sense anyway, so my outfit was pretty plain in comparison.

Being a good friend, he would sometimes encourage me to try to up my style, to which I would just dismiss with a “not really something I care a lot about.”

Rationally speaking, there is no reason not to, but if you’ve been in a similar position, maybe you can understand. Change is not always comfortable, and I felt that if I were to dress very differently, my identity as a whole would be changed, which I was not so sure I wanted.

However, that day, as we were passing by a Hugo Boss, the topic comes up again, and he says, “You know what, let’s try this one.” Slight hesitation, but to be honest, I was intrigued. I had never been inside a Hugo Boss before, and really what was the worst that could happen.

So we go in, and start browsing. I’m not even sure what I’m looking for, so I just give a knowing nod as I lightly touch every piece of clothing I see.

My friend picks out a dark blue windbreaker for me. “Try this.”

As if on cue, someone who worked there briskly walked over and motioned for me to remove my jacket while taking the hanger from my friend.

I put on the windbreaker, and it fits like it was made just for me. It looks sharp. I’m impressed, and a smile escapes my lips.

My friend, who has taken a seat on a bench beside me, gives a knowing smile and nod. “It looks good on you.”

My mind is made. I replace the windbreaker on the hanger, and make strides towards the counter to make my purchase.

“Did you find everything okay?”

“Yes.”

“Great. So will this be all for today, sir?”

“Yes.”

“Okay.” Buttons are pressed and tags are scanned. “That will be five hundred and twenty-two dollars, sir.”

“Oh.” That was the first time I had ever been stunned while buying clothes. “Umm… excuse me.” I walk back to my friend and I tell him the price of the windbreaker.

Totally unfazed, he says, “Yeah, that sounds about right.”

I had been so sure that I was going to buy this windbreaker, but now the price tag was giving me serious doubts. I could definitely afford it, but the choice was whether I wanted to afford it. I could donate that money to charity! At the same time, I had never really been a big spender, and it would be nice to reward myself for a change. It also looked really good.

“Okay, I’m going to buy it.” I walk back to the counter where the cashier is patiently waiting. “I’m going to buy it.” I hand over my credit card.

“Great.” Credit card is swiped.

“…”

“Sir, your card has been declined.”

Was this a dream? I was confident I had enough money in my account, and nothing sketchy had happened recently. It was the only card I had at that moment too, so my mind started racing to figure out what to do.

“Hmmm… I don’t know why this would happen. Sorry about that. I might come back later for it then.”

I don’t feel disappointment; actually, just relief.

Later that evening, I get a call from Chase. They ask if I was the one making a purchase at Hugo Boss this afternoon.

I can’t help but laugh.

“Yes, that was me, but it got declined. Please don’t go forward with the transaction.”

“Okay, sir. Sorry about that. It’s just that your purchase had been flagged since we’ve experienced fraud at that store before.”

“I see, thanks.”

To this day, I don’t know if they were telling the truth that the store had been flagged for fraud, or if they wanted to say that my purchase had been flagged because the transaction was so unlike me. I had never spent close to that much money on clothing, and it could have been flagged as abnormal behavior by Chase’s machine learning.

But I’m grateful. Looking back, while the windbreaker was definitely nice, I feel it was not worth its price, and since then I’ve found cheaper ways to improve my style.

And, I did end up giving that five hundred dollars to charity, which is way more stylish than anything you can wear. GiveDirectly