Up the hill I trudge to the old financial giant that has held onto my money for some quarter of a century now. [In fact, I am actually in the process of writing out check number 18,500 from my checking account there. Do you know anyone who has written over 18,000 checks from one lousy little checking account? That’s banking loyalty for you. Indeed, when I wanted to switch to a credit union because I became more with-it and politically correct over the years, I did not do it for the sole reason that I liked my high check numbers. Stupid? Yes, but that is not the subject of the post.]
The point is that I walk over to this major financial institution and am told that it no longer deals with foreign currency. If you want a foreign check made out to your favorite French village homeowner, why sure, okay, they will take care of it for you (at a fee), but they will have to outsource it. And you’ll get the check in several days.
Outsource it? That sounds like asking cheap labor in India to do it for you. Surely, I am not getting my check for 166 Euros from India? Do we really have such low demand for international dealings here in my home town that we're outsourcing Euro transactions to distant places?
Suddenly, I feel like I live far away from everywhere.
This weary traveler is going to end with two photos, taken seconds ago from my window here at the loft. Then off I go, eventually ending the evening at the Weary Traveler, in fact. If you’re there later this evening, look for me. I’ll be the one groaning about banks without an eye toward borders. Or the need to cross them.
looking out my window as I write this...
...tonight, on Friday the 13th
"Outsource" is bank-speak for, "ways we can charge a lot of extra fees to compensate for the rising health care costs of our tellers, except we've pretty much converted most of our tellers into part-time workers so we don't have to pay them benefits and can instead use the extra fees to pay our CEOs some exorbitant salaries that they don't deserve but all the other companies are paying these high salaries too so we have to."
ReplyDeleteOr something like that.
KAW
I think you can choose whatever number you'd like on your first check when you open a new checking account. Not as much satisfaction as knowing you've actually written 18,000 checks but, heck, if it's important, why not "check" into it? (Heh. I kill me.)
ReplyDeleteNice site, by the way. Wandered in from Althouse and now I check in every couple of days.
Good morning Nina -
ReplyDeleteJust wanted to tell you Thank You for linking to me. It was a pleasant surprise.
I have only been stopping by Ocean for a few months, but am always glad I did. Especially for the food photos! The french pastries were beyond words. :)
Have a good weekend and Dzieki...