There's but one clerk at the check-out and you're second in line. To the First-In-Line-Shopper is addressed the dreaded phrase: would you like to apply for a [store name] card today and save 10% off your purchase?

Second in line and you could be in for a wait.

So what would you hope First-In-Line would say?

Not now, not ever (well, that's what Paul Newman answered to Jessica Tandy's repeat-offerings of tea in "Nobody's Fool"). Or alternatively, they could say: Never! (an emphatic Homeric response). I incline toward these wonderful idioms when accosted by the greeter-photographers at the Zoo and Wild Animal Park, but my wife suggests I don't be a smart-ass, so I keep mum.

The vast majority of chapter 7 bankruptcies do not entail lawsuits by creditors. Yet, some debtors do face adversarial motions that must be overcome with diligent defense. One element creditors need to establish is that extension of credit (and assumption of risk of nonpayment) was predicated upon the debtor's representation of solvency or ability to pay. However, one's belief in ability to pay is linked to the interest rate. The tantalizing teaser rate can lull a buyer into once-affordable charges that cannot be repaid later, after interest is hiked. Assessing increased interest rates makes the creditor a contributing party to the exponential incurrence of debt.

Credit is extended indiscriminately. First-In-Line, with her new blouse on the counter, folded neatly in white wrapping paper, tenderly placed in the store bag with the handles; she says, show me the way to the next credit card. You're second in line, asking, why? But, she says, oh, don't ask why, oh, don't ask why .