Checking your bank balance after a big night out can require a certain amount of courage.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!Maybe you bought one round too many. Perhaps contactless payments made it dangerously easy to keep spending. Whatever happened, you know there’s a chance the damage is going to hurt.
But nothing could have prepared Maddie McGivern for the number waiting for her when she checked her banking app after returning home from a bar.
According to her account, she was $50 billion in debt.
Yes, billion.
The bizarre incident happened in 2021 and was captured on camera by her friend Gabe Floress, who shared the situation on TikTok.
The clip went viral and has continued to resurface on social media years later, presumably because discovering you apparently owe $50 billion after a night out is a fairly difficult story to forget.
Friends could be heard in the background admitting they initially thought McGivern was ‘exaggerating’, while the caption explained exactly what had happened: “We went to the bar and Maddie checked her phone when we got home and she’s -$50 billion dollars in debt.”
Faced with a figure that would make almost any normal financial problem seem insignificant, McGivern understandably had one question.
“What do I do?”
Despite the panic, she appeared able to see the funny side of the completely surreal situation.
Her account did at least show that she had just over $76 available, although that probably wasn’t particularly reassuring while staring at a supposed $50 billion debt.
Things became even stranger when the account reportedly indicated that she was due to receive a $50 billion payment by 2099.
There was, of course, one fairly obvious issue with that solution: McGivern wasn’t exactly confident she’d still be around to collect it.
She eventually contacted her bank to find out what was going on, only to discover staff were seemingly just as confused by the enormous figure.
At one point, an employee asked: “can I put you on hold”
Thankfully, the explanation was considerably less dramatic than the balance suggested.
The bank said there had been a “technical glitch over the weekend” which caused unusual figures to appear on the banking apps of several customers, with the issue subsequently resolved.
So McGivern hadn’t somehow managed to spend $50 billion during a trip to the bar after all.
That didn’t stop viewers from imagining how they would react if the same figure suddenly appeared on their own accounts.
One wrote: “I could have a heart attack from this error. this not funnyyy.”
Another agreed: “The panic was valid,” while someone else added: “That would give anyone a stroke however healthy they are.”
Others managed to find the comedy in the situation, with one person joking: “Ma’am you’ve just been awarded all of our student debt.”
Probably not the banking notification anyone wants to wake up to after a night out.
Featured image credit: Maddie McGivern / Gabe Floress / TikTok
