I Would Like To Cash This Check

I have a check sitting in my wallet. It is from the PTA, a reimbursement for a field trip totaling about $160. I simply had not gotten around to depositing it.

Since I am leaving for Oregon in the morning, and I was going right past the bank from which the check was drawn today, I decided to go in and cash it, knowing that I didn't have an account at Bank of America, but the check originated from that very BofA branch, so I could just cash it there! Cool!

I went into the nearly empty bank, walked up to a teller, handed her the check, and said "I would like to cash this check."

She told me to "swipe" my BofA card, and I said I don't have an account, but the check is from here.

She told me to sign the roster on the round table and a banker would verify the signature.

Twenty minutes later, after a conversation with a wonderful guy who was also waiting for something, the signature was verified and I was told to go back to a teller to get the check cashed.

Almost there...

The teller took the check and started entering keystrokes into her computer. Seven million keystrokes later she said, "There is a $5 service charge for cashing a check."

I took the check from her hand and walked out.

Now the check is back in my wallet, I guess where it belongs.

Oregon, mom, here we come. Blogging will be light, if at all, for the next week or so....