Farmer H has been expecting a check from the department of revenue. It's a partial refund on the sales tax we paid on SilverRedO, because we sold the Ford F250 4WD Extended Cab Long Bed, and the TrailBlazer, within a specified time of our SilverRedO purchase. So we got a percentage of our sales tax back.
I've been watching for this check for two weeks. It arrived Saturday. Here's the thing. We had been planning CasinoPalooza4 with my sister the ex-mayor's wife (and the ex-mayor) ever since we returned from visiting The Pony. So at least I knew nobody was going to get this check out of EmBee's mouth while we were gone.
However... I wanted to get that check deposited forthwith. Even though Farmer H is in no hurry about these kind of things. I see no reason to have a check sitting around in a safe in his basement workshop, when the money could be (cooling its heels for 10 days) in our bank account. You don't want to forget about a check from a government entity. There's usually a VOID date on it. Sometimes after 60 days.
So there I sat in T-Hoe, on the gravel road across from EmBee, with that check. It was Saturday, you know. The banks would be closed on Sunday. We were heading out for CasinoPalooza4 on Monday morning. Our bank is not on the way.
Wait a minute! Could I make it to the bank on time? My Shaming Bracelet said it was 11:30. The bank is open until noon on Saturday. It would be close, but worth a try. I hastily filled out a deposit slip, and
Well. Upon glancing down at my Shaming Bracelet, I saw that it read 11:42. That was impossible! Wait! I must have misread it the first time, as 11:30 instead of 11:40. Still. I'd give it a try.
Of course a car pulled out in front of me on the blacktop county road. Saw me, but pulled out anyway. Drove 25 mph. Sweet Gummi Mary! The actual speed limit along there is 35, even though everyone generally drives 50. I puttered along. When that car came to the county lettered highway, it took off at about 65 mph! Good deal. I did, too. It was pulling away from me. Not that I was trying to catch it, only trying to make good time on the way to the bank.
That car turned on the same road I was going to take, that runs past the bowling alley, through two roundabouts, and behind the local high school. Of course a car pulled out in front of that car, and despite the speed limit of 40, went only 30. They both took the roundabout to the highway, though. Which I should have, but I don't drive on the highway anymore. It makes me nervous.
I was lucky that a car coming in from the roundabout drove 40 mph in a 30 mph zone behind the high school. So I did, too. Yet when we got to the older part of the road, that goes by the cemetery, where the speed limit is 45... this car went 35. What in the Not-Heaven? When we entered the city limits and 30 mph limit, it dropped to 25. Lucky for me, that car turned to go to The Devil's Playground.
I caught the light, just barely, and by that I mean that I kind of went through a red. But that was okay, because people do that to me all the time, and the truck ahead of me was going extra-slow while making a left turn on the yellow.
Whew! I was pretty much home free now. Sure, there were three cars ahead of me at the stop sign by Farmer H's old neighborhood bar, when normally there's no traffic there. After that I had smooth sailing, until I got over in front of the drug-dealing metal recycler that's now closed, and the church food store. Did you know that people who shop at the church food store don't use a turn signal on their cars newer than T-Hoe?
At the stoplight by Jack's vet, I hit a red light, with three cars in front of me. Couldn't make it through that one. I got to my bank, and drove around to the drive-thru. My Shaming Bracelet said 12:00. On the dot. The red light was on all three drive-thru bays. I pulled through, and up the alley, and looped back around into the parking lot. A man was just coming out the front door of the lobby. I threw T-Hoe into PARK, and hurried towards that just-closing door with my check and deposit slip.
It was locked.
Dang it! My Shaming Bracelet still showed 12:00. Their hours on the lobby door said 9:00 to 12:00. IT WAS 12:00!
I just can't catch a break at that bank.
Possibly it was 12 and a few seconds by the time you got to the door and banks are well known for closing right on the dot, not a second later. I'm a little gobsmacked that you have mail deliveries and banking at all on Saturdays. Here in the Land Down Under, those things were last seen in my long distant childhood years. The only time we get an open post office and mail delivery on a Saturday is the three weeks leading up to Christmas. But the banks don't open even then. It's Monday to Friday, 9.30am to 5pm (or maybe it's 4.30pm, I don't remember) and that's all you get.
ReplyDeleteRiver,
ReplyDeleteWell, then. I think their hours should be listed as 8:30 to 11:59! I guess the banks and post office are open part of Saturdays to accommodate the working people who can't get there during the work week.
No, because 11.59 leaves sixty seconds to spare when they shouldn't be closed. Sixty seconds when a person in a hurry, like you, can get a foot in the door and I bet they can't finalise a transaction in sixty seconds.
ReplyDeleteour working people aren't catered for that way. They all have to use their lunch hour to race around getting things done. When in Australia, never visit a post office or a bank between noon and 1pm, Monday to Friday.
River,
ReplyDeleteThis reminds me of ANOTHER bank story!
I'll make a note to self, so I won't visit an Australian post office or bank between noon and 1:00 during the work week. I'm guessing your post offices don't smell like dead mice, though!