Banking for Bug

It's difficult to give money away these days.

When Bug went to Asia, of course she left things until the last minute (oh, my ceiling light just went off by itself — see here if that means nothing to you). She's like that, you know, always has been, and this banking was one of those things. She called and asked me to do her banking for her whilst she was globe trotting. Since a dad always agrees to help as he can, I acquiesced.

Without dredging up all of the details and reciting long-winded accounts about my running hither, thither and yon to obtain her funds, let me share this. In the end, I presented myself at a branch of Bug's bank (this involved a out-of-town trip because we don't have one of those branches in this town) with a thousand dollars in my pocket last week. Simply desiring to deposit said amount into her account, I presented Bug's access code to the teller. "Sorry sir, I can't punch in her access code from a piece of paper. I have to have the plastic card."

"No really, all I want to do is deposit money, not find out details. Besides the account is set up jointly. It's just that I've never used it and don't know the numbers. I can access the details online you know, I simply want to deposit money."

Of course, my yammerings were futile. Apparently, while it is deemed inappropriate to punch in my own daughter's access code, it is just hunky dory to verbally and within earshot of others dredge up all sorts of information about a person and find the account number through the back door as it were. So, I stood there for about fifteen minutes, answering all sorts of questions. To her credit, the teller eventually found the account numbers for me and deposited the money. She gave me a receipt and painstakingly highlighted Bug's account numbers for me .. to make it easier in future doncha know.

So, it's okay for me to have her account numbers but not okay for me to present her access card number to a teller to make the process easier? I mean to say, she could have used the access number to look at a screen that I couldn't have possibly seen. The end result would have been to obtain the very same information fifteen minutes sooner that the circuitous method that she ended up employing. It's the very same result in the end. What is it that I don't get?

It's crazy, I tell you. Crazy!

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Speaking of Bug (and Puff), guess what southeast Asian country they're visiting right now? Remember the bomb last weekend, down south in the beach and tourist area? Guess where the girls were last weekend? Guess what country experienced a coup yesterday? Guess who hasn't communicated with the folks at home since last Thursday? Guess who's a tad anxious?

Also, I sometimes forget my audience. While most real-life friends know of Butterfly's struggles with fertility, I pretty well forgot that y'all weren't up to speed. However, Cuppa revealed some of this in her blog yesterday.