Thanks for the courtesy...

I find myself stopping at the local grocery store where it’s easy to write a check.  Those clerks don’t prejudge and could care less who I am or what my financial status is!  It is a great way to satisfy two needs – much-needed groceries and a few extra dollars (for gas or to pay a bill) they allow you to cash out.  Most grocery store checks do not clear for up to 5-10 days – plenty of time for my paychecks to roll in…or sometimes not.

Now I am no angel and I do admit this has been happening for a few years now from time to time.  I refer to it as “survival mode” some of those nose up in the air types call it careless, pathetic, sick or even stupid!  Hey it is what it is and I own it!!

I wrote the checks and watched the balance.  I thought I had it all figured out this time around.  I just knew exactly when these checks would clear from the grocery store.  If I was mailing a check to pay a bill, I could pretty accurately judge when it would arrive and clear on their end.  What I didn’t count on last week were capable competent employees in the grocery store accounting office or worse yet at the cell phone company.  So ONE check arrived at my bank quicker than anticipated and all hell broke loose!

Check #1 was $201 (and I really thought I had an extra day for that one – (PLENTY of time as I was expecting a paycheck the next day), check #2 was $140 and check #3 was $72.  All three checks arrived at the same exact time (according to the bank records).  But those “nice” heartless moguls stated that the larger check always comes in first and gets posted first.  How nice of them to do that for me, as a courtesy I might add!  “Can’t you switch the order of the checks,” I asked, “then only 1 would bounce – the other two would be paid and I would only be charged $35 in fees instead of $35 for EACH of the three checks!”  “Oh no” she replied, “that’s just not how the system works.  We do it like this to protect.”  “PROTECT WHO,” I asked?  “We do it to protect YOU just in case the larger check was important – like your mortgage or something.”

Seriously??  Thankfully my doctor prescribed xanax three years ago because I was definitely going to need one after that response!

…these clerks just get smarter and smarter…hear what happens when I ask for quarter wrappers…