Blogging A – Z Challenge
N is for No Sir, No Excuse is New
If you cash a check or want to receive money, you need to have a valid, government issued ID, State ID, Military ID, etc. It has to be in some sort of legible condition, and cannot be expired.
“I need to see your ID.”
He hands me a mutilated piece of plastic and smiles. It is cracked and broken and the name and number are unreadable. “Sorry, I can’t use this.”
“Dude, they take it at the liquor store.”
“Dude, this isn’t the liquor store. You are trying to cash a check for almost $500. If the liquor store recognizes it as valid [Which I personally think is more than a bit ridiculous] maybe you should see if they can cash it.”
“I want to see a manager!!”
“I’ve already called one. If she says to use it, I will, but you will have to wait over there and talk to her while I help some of these other people.” On a Friday, especially the first of the month, even with three people working there can be a line of twenty or more people, none of whom suffer fools gladly.
A different person comes up. “I need to cash this.” His ID is good and the check is from a local construction company, but, “I’m sorry sir, the name on the ID has to match the name on the check. Your ID says ‘JR’ but the check doesn’t.”
“What?!? I cash checks here all the time!” I’ve never seen him before, but I keep that thought to myself. I am not purposely trying to make him mad, I am just doing what I was trained to do.
“You will have to tell your HR department to add JR to your name on the check or go get a new check.”
“That’s crazy. They do it for me all the time.”
“Well, you can go to a check cashing place to King Soopers or Safeway, they may have different rules than we do.”
Step aside, sir, wait for the manager. Actually, there are times when we might have a bit of leeway to work with a person, especially if they are pleasant and reasonable. Like this next guy, who has a small check.
“Okay sir, I can do it for this one time, but you will have to go back to your HR and tell them to add the III to your name on the check, otherwise we won’t be able to do it after this.” Most people are grateful and the next time I see them, everything matches. They thank me. This, er, gentleman, has a slightly different reaction.
“OH, $&^#*(!@$^#( NO! THEY WILL NOT! YOU ARE GOING TO CASH MY $%*&$^^&(*#@&^&*$# CHECK for me AND DO IT EVERY ^&$#$*($#@^ TIME I COME IN HERE!”
Well, first of all, until he started all this, I had already said I would help him out. I don’t have to call a manager because the commotion has attracted more than a little attention. An assistant, which in our store is a high level, comes to check it out. “Well sir, our rule is…”
“I AM GOING TO SUE YOU AND THIS STORE AND THE *(&*(#^&@&^*# IF YOU DON’T…”
She hands him the check and his ID, “Thank you sir. Have a nice day.”
“#$&*^%$*(&%# YOU”
“You may leave the store, sir, NOW.”
A different person (all these incidents were not on the same day. There are a lot of very nice people I deal with, too, and maybe I will share a couple of those on a different day.) come up to cash a check.
“Can I see your ID please?”
“Sure.”
“Um, sir, do you have another ID?”
“No. Why can’t you use this one?”
“It expired in 2012.”
“So?”
“So, that makes it an invalid ID. I’m really sorry, but there’s no way…”
“They always do it for me! You can see that it’s me. Why can’t you do it?”
“It’s over three years old.”
“Forget you man! I’m gonna go somewhere else!”
But the best Catch-22 logic, is the one where they say, “Well, I have to have the money from cashing this check so I can get a new ID.”
Most of the people that I wait on are pretty nice, though and some of their stories can be interesting as well. That will have to wait for another day, so I can get this posted, however.
