Love Your Bank

Yesterday turned out to be a pretty good day. It was a busy day and that usually equates good. It certainly means there is less time to dwell on the unpleasant aspects of life.

Amena and Cedric were ready for school in good time and did not miss the bus. That’s always a good start to the day. Seth and Joseph did not dilly dally and got their school work done quickly. I still need to go over their math but that’s on me, not them.

We had the sisters over for lunch. I cooked up some liver and onions because they said the week before they’d never had it and were willing to try. They were good sports about it and ate it but I don’t think they are lovers of it. We also had mini pizzas which were good with cinnamon and orange rolls with hot chocolate for dessert.

After lunch, we started reading The Horse and His Boy and the boys finished up what they needed to for school. Then there was LEGO club at the library at 3:00. Seth wanted to go and then didn’t want to. He and Joseph both ended up going and had fun. I had fun as well; I got to knit a few rows on the socks I’m currently working on and visit with Louise Nally.

Then Amena wanted to go to the bank so she could cash the money order Dan sent for a belated birthday. That was fine because I needed to go get some candy for the Pack Meeting. We got there and went inside because it’s always such a pain to do these things at the drive through. Maybe we should have done that instead yesterday because first the woman couldn’t read my last name. Then, I had a brain freeze and couldn’t remember my account number. We had to go into this woman’s office. She said to Amena, “You don’t have an account here?”

“No.”

“Do you want to open one?”

“Not now,” I said. I was already annoyed; this was taking far longer than I anticipated.

“Okay.”

She asked my name twice, wrote it down, looked up my account number, I was off by one numeral. She needed to look at my driver’s license to “update.”

Right. She wanted to make sure I was who I said I was because she couldn’t read my name (the pens at the bank are fine tipped and I can’t write big with a fine tipped pen and my writing is soooo messy—insert huge eye roll here) and I got my account number wrong.

“It’s outside.”

“Oh.”

So I went out to the car to get my planner and I took my time. No way on earth was I going to hurry at this point; the trip had already taken about ten times longer than the previous day when I took Seth and Joseph to cash theirs. I got back and she scanned my license. Then she went to get Amena’s money. While she was gone, I told Amena that I’m ready to close my account there and open one somewhere else—maybe GFA because they have a branch in Hubbardston as well as Gardner.

Finally, we were done. But I’m not.

While we were initially waiting, the first woman to help us was clearly under stress. She had taken Amena’s money order and after asking where it originated (really?) had her computer freeze up for apparently not the first time that day. That happens; it’s called technology. The system was slow when I was in with Seth and Joseph the day before. So she had the woman who couldn’t read my name come help. While we were waiting for her to tell me she couldn’t read my name, the first one was helping customers at the drive up window. With a frozen computer, she gave one customer a handwritten receipt or whatever they call the things they give you when you make a deposit. Cool. The next person gave her some money and she  misplaced some of it. “You gave me $100?”

“$75.”

“$75? I only have $60 here.” She looked around frantically and found the other $15 to the side. I’m not sure if that ever was fully resolved. I do know that when Blind Bat came over to talk to us, Slippery Fingers said, “I’ve got three messed up transactions and I don’t know what I’m doing.”

Wow. On our way to Blind Bats office, I’m thinking that any confidence I may have had in this bank is pretty much gone. I mean, once I took one of the boys in to cash a money order from Dan and this cashier wouldn’t do it because I don’t have the same last name as my child and I could be anyone. I had my child with me at the time and I had identification but I had no proof that my child was indeed my child. I later witnessed this same cashier cash the same money order for Paul without child, ID, or proof of relationship to the child. Adding the whole experience of yesterday to this one and others and I think this just isn’t really a place I want to have my money, what little there is.

Finally done at the bank, we went to Walmart so Amena could get a few things and I could get a couple bags of candy. Then time to grab a quick bite for dinner and get Joseph and myself to the Pack Meeting.

Do you like the random pictures? I took this one this morning.

We walked in and there were so few people there I thought maybe it had been moved to another date or time or place. I had all this candy and a plan to go with it but without lots of parents there, it really wouldn’t be effective. We started fifteen minutes late, didn’t do my thing, and ended half an hour early. Pretty cool other than the fact there were just so few people there. I didn’t count but I think attendance was about fifty percent.

Then Joseph and I went home and it was time to do our before-bed routine and get to bed.

Paul got home just after everyone was finally in bed (Cedric took forever) and was in a talkative mood. He likes to talk, and I like to talk to him, but he isn’t usually so garrulous when he gets home. And it wasn’t just for a few minutes. It was more like an hour and a half.

Which seriously cut into my reading time. I needed to read last night so I did once Paul finally went up to his office but not as much as I’d hoped to because I was tired and needed to get to bed.

And that’s that. It will be time to milk soon and I’ve got a few notes to write down from my reading yesterday. I think today will be a busy day but it has the potential to be a very good one.

Have a terrific one!