Banking
Until this morning, it had been five years since I set foot in a bank.
Well, that isn�t strictly accurate. I’ve had to go to my bank on rare occasions, such as when I needed to deposit a large check, and when we applied for a home equity loan. But for the most part, all of my mundane banking needs — depositing paychecks, withdrawing money, paying bills — are taken care of via mail, online, or through an ATM. My bank is Digital Credit Union, which I joined as one of the many perks of marrying Chris*.
Although I’d heard coworkers complain about having to get to the bank before it closed, I never really thought about how good I had it at DCU until I had to deposit two checks for my boss at the local bank.
First I had to drive to the actual bank. Because our office is located on a fairly busy street, I prefer to walk to errands when possible. And gas prices being where they are, I felt walking would be better for me and my wallet. But snow had fallen last week, and I wasn�t too keen on walking through melting snow and wet mud in my good work shoes.
I parked at the bank and walked around the building and into the lobby. There were two people being waited on already, and I was pleased to see I would be next in line.
The only problem was that I couldn’t figure out where the line began. I’m not very good at starting lines even when I have signs assisting me, and the bank was clearly not interested in wasting paper on “Enter here” when they could use it for more important purposes (“SIGN UP TODAY FOR FREE CHECKING!” “BUY YOUR MONEY ORDERS HERE!”).
I was used to waiting in lines like those at the Post Office, which are so clearly marked that sometimes you have to go through a maze of barriers even when no one’s waiting in line. At the bank, there was a barrier behind the customers already at the teller counter, so I knew the line should start somewhere at one end of the barrier. But the barrier ended just shy of both customers, with equal space at both ends. Either end could have been the entrance, so I just stood in the middle of the lobby.
After one customer finished, I walked to the available teller.
“I’ll just be a moment,” she murmured.
“That’s fine,” I said.
She was typing in some numbers on her computer and holding a bank card in her hand. The teller next to her, helping a woman buy gift checks, asked her a question about the checks.
“We don’t have the gold ones,” my teller said. “Are these gifts?”
“Yes,” the other teller said. “But she doesn’t want to pay for them.”
“Can you just deduct them from my account?” the customer asked.
“No, you can’t do that,” my teller said. She launched into a quiet conversation with the other teller.
The other teller said, “Do you care if this one is gold and not the other?”
“No,” said the customer. “I mean, whatever way they can cash out the money. It’s just a gift. So can it be deducted?”
The other teller said yes. My teller said yes, but then said only one of the checks could be deducted.
Eventually my teller took care of my transaction. I started to ask her if she would deposit the checks in the order that my boss wanted, but she cut me off and started discussing the gift check issue with the other teller again.
The teller handed me the deposit slips. As I left the bank, the customer was still trying to figure out why her two gift checks were being processed differently, and had yet to receive the checks.
Maybe she should have just given them cash.
* other perks include free computer support and upgrades, friends by proxy, and a second set of casual clothes I can borrow. Lest you be carried away, there are downfalls of being married to Chris as well. One of these downfalls is being forced to purchase all the latest editions of TiVo as they come out, even when the new one records HD but lacks the file sorting options you liked better in the last one. Come back to me, old TiVo, come back to me!
Posted by: Supersonic Jane | November 15, 2004 | 4:43 pm
Posted in: This Life