American Express

What is it about American Express? What is their business modell? I once made the mistake, out of sheer conceit, to give in to a woman who presented to me the Platinum Card as a way out of the constraints of the middle-class, my ticket to a world where every time you bought something you made clear that you belong to a different social strata. Here, this is me, Mister Platinum. How hollow. How disappointing. They never let me into the lounge in the airport that the woman like the woman on the phone had promised. I did not need any of the services they offered because a) I did not know what they were and b) I don*t actually believe in insurance and all the rest. But the most disturbing fact about this card was how little you can do with it in terms of using it the way it is supposed to – so many stores in so many countries just don*t accept American Express. Which makes totally sense, I gather, because American Express charges much more than the other government controll friendly companies like VISA oder MasterCard. So why is really anybody using this card? I downgraded a while ago to the GoldCard which my friend Thomas said was a total mistake. He was about to call off our friendship, I thought, because somebody with a GoldCard from American Express is almost as bad as any hack from the NSA or the neighbour in the Phaeton. And so I quit American Express. Looking back it was a strange time. It was a bit like living in a James-Bond-movie from the sixties. It was like flying in planes where you were allowed to smoke. It was like Liz Taylor and Richard Burton were still married. It was like Monte Carlo was my hometown but I could not afford the rent. I am glad that I am out. The present feels better without American Express.