It started out as a good. I go to work. I get all my follow ups done. I get all my reports finished right at quitting time. Last year, the hospital met and/or exceeded all of its financial & customer service goals so eveybody got a bonus check this week (up to $350 - Social Security tax, based on you employment status). Great. Found money!
Since it’s Monday, my bank closed its branches at 4pm. However, there’s a branch in a nearby Publix that’s open until six.
Being 5pm, I know there’s gonna be alot of traffic and I accept this without as much as a whine.
Until…
I’m sitting in the left turn lane to get into the shopping center. The lane is only about 7 car lenghts long and I’m fifth in line and the north-south light just went red.
No problem. It’ll only take 3 minutes.
Normally. After the east-west traffic clears, the north-south traffic sans left turners go. Where the hell did the left turn signal go?
Okay, maybe there’s something wrong with the signal. Another 5 minutes go by. Now the northbound left turn traffic goes, but not the southbound. WTF?
The line of left turners is now about 20 cars long. I ease out of line and go down to the next block and do a U-turn. When I get back to the intersection, I see what I think the problem is. The first car in line is about halfway into the intersection and the second car is about 10 feet behind him. There is no one sitting on the sensor!
Oooookay.
Anyway, after a coouple of minutes, I get a parking space, grab the bonus check out of my bag (or so I thought) and head into the store.
There’s four tellers, all busy. There’s three people in front of me. Directly in front is a woman with two little girls, I’m guessing ages 3 & 7. The 7 yr old insists on tormenting her sister AND her mother. Not standing still, playing with the ATM, the nylon rope divider thingies, wandering off, refusing to listen or obey.
She gets a teller. I get a teller only to realize I’ve grabbed the wrong envelope. I go back to the car and get the right one. The mother and her two unruly offspring are still being helped. Two of the tellers have closed. the other is on the phone.
Another 10 minutes of this:
“Stop, Ariel. Don’t do that, Ariel. Stand still, Ariel. Please behave, Ariel”…ad infinitum.
Now the 3 yr old is sitting on the edge of the counter wrapping the nylon thing around her neck (!). Mom is oblivious.
To make things worse, there’s an idiot behind me WHO’S HELPING THE GIRL PULL THE NYLON THING OUT OF ITS POST!
GAH!
ObliviMom finally finishes her transaction and I get to the teller.
I sign the check, put my account number on the back, and hand the teller my ID. I tell I’d like to cash the whole check, please. Well, since my wife’s paycheck hasn’t cleared yet, there’s not enough money in the account to cover my check, so she asks me if I’ll take $100 and deposit the rest. I respond that I’d like to have it all.
She informs me that she can’t (actually, I knew this might happen, but after the traffic and having to watch Satan’s offspring for 10 minutes, I’m in a pissy mood).
I say whatever. She says, “There’s no need to get mad at me, I have to follow the rules.”
I say, “I’m not mad at you, it’s just that your rule is stupid” (which it is, sorta, but I understand it).
She hands me a deposit slip and I slap my usual unreadable signature on it and hand it back.
She still thinks I’m mad at her and says so.
I insist I’m not, take my money and leave.
FTR, AT NO TIME WAS I RUDE TO THE TELLER.
So, how was YOUR day?