# How I lost $2,000 **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 2, 2010, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-lost-2-000/552438 "2010-09-02T22:24:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Chessic\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-lost-2-000/552438/1 "2010-09-02T22:24:15Z")
Yesterday, while the GF cooked dinner, I fulfilled my responsibility and paid the bills. There were only 3- water, electric, rent. The first two were in the double digits. The rent, however, is just about two grand. I fill out the checks, seal the envelopes, smack on the stamps and set them by the door like I always do. The rent check doesn’t go in an envelope, though, as the office is just downstairs in the lobby. I sit down to dinner (good stuff, hon’) and drink my beer (Mmmm, nectar of life). We clean up and I decide to head to the drug store. Hey, I know! I’ll drop by the mailbox with these bills along the way. Look at me, the responsible adult! Fastforward to today. “Hmm…I don’t recall taking the rent check to the office.” Call up the GF. She didn’t take it. She looks around, can’t find it. Awesome. One of two things happened. 1: I dropped it in the mail and it’s free-floating around the post office right now, or 2: it’s in with a utility check and I’ll have a -$1900 balance with one of them. While that wouldn’t technically lose me any money, the rent would still be due so I’d be broke. So I come home and turn the place upside down, looking for the lost check. It’s nowhere to be found. Frustrated and pissed off, I decide only alcohol will fix this. So I grab a beer and sit down to read some Dope. Hey…who put the check in the fridge? :smack: 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![The\_Devil\_s\_Grandmother](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/74df32/32.png) [@The\_Devil\_s\_Grandmother](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Devil_s_Grandmother)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-lost-2-000/552438/2 "2010-09-02T22:30:50Z")
Beer, the solution to, and cause of, so many of life’s problems. Glad you found the cheque, dude. ---
**Author:** ![swampbear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/swampbear/32/467_2.png) [@swampbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/swampbear)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-lost-2-000/552438/3 "2010-09-02T22:31:34Z")
Silly **Chessic Sense** , _everybody_ knows it’s the keys that belong in the refrigerator. You’re supposed to put rent checks in the pantry! 😛 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-lost-2-000/552438/4 "2010-09-02T23:09:46Z")
It’s been a long time since I’ve found something like that in the fridge (usually it’s the remote). What a really weird feeling, huh? ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-lost-2-000/552438/5 "2010-09-02T23:15:11Z")
> [@Munch](#): > > It’s been a long time since I’ve found something like that in the fridge (usually it’s the remote). What a really weird feeling, huh? At least it wasn’t the baby. ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-lost-2-000/552438/6 "2010-09-02T23:15:53Z")
Hey, hey, I hate when that happens! Glad you found your cheque. But couldn’t you have simply put a stop payment on it, rather than have it be cashed by the utility? ---
**Author:** ![Chessic\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2010, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-lost-2-000/552438/7 "2010-09-03T19:18:26Z")
> [@elbows](#): > > Hey, hey, I hate when that happens! > > Glad you found your cheque. But couldn’t you have simply put a stop payment on it, rather than have it be cashed by the utility? Sure. If I wanted to pay that fee. And if I knew which check (out of the 3) it was. But I’d probably just end up paying $40 to stop the $30 electric check and still have a problem. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2010, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-lost-2-000/552438/8 "2010-09-03T19:28:19Z")
Does it make you wonder what the hell is going on in your head some times when you do stuff like that? Like, if ANYTHING is going on in there? ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2010, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-lost-2-000/552438/9 "2010-09-03T19:49:01Z")
> [@Malthus](#): > > > [@Munch](#): > > > > It’s been a long time since I’ve found something like that in the fridge (usually it’s the remote). What a really weird feeling, huh? > > At least it wasn’t the baby. Not this time, anyway. We won’t ask about all the other times… 😉 My son nearly didn’t get his “care package” at summer camp. I boxed it all up and used the self-service kiosk at the post office, since it was after hours. Tossed the box in the bin, and as I walked out the door tried to stuff the receipt into my purse. “Hey, what’s this other paper? Oh crap, this is the postage sticker!”. :smack: :smack: So, not knowing what else to do, I pulled down the bin door, tossed the postage sticker in (hoping a postal worker would notice the juxtaposition of postage-less package, and postage sticker for the same ZIP code, and put one and one together. I phoned the post office first thing the next morning, explained the situation, the guy put me on hold for a minute or so, and came back on and said “OK, found them both, you’re OK”. I did not add “yeah, except for being a dumbass!”. I thanked him profusely. (btw, as much as people love to diss the postal service, really I’ve found that generally they do a pretty darned good job). ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2010, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-lost-2-000/552438/10 "2010-09-03T19:50:08Z")
> [@elbows](#): > > Hey, hey, I hate when that happens! > > Glad you found your cheque. But couldn’t you have simply put a stop payment on it, rather than have it be cashed by the utility? Not to mention, the power company might have a little trouble cashing a check made out to someone else entirely (or not… those things might get scanned too rapidly for anyone to notice). ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2010, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-lost-2-000/552438/11 "2010-09-03T19:53:33Z")
After a few beers, I decided my computer chair needed adjusting/fixing. I end up losing the bolt that holds the back on god-knows-where in my mess of an office. Now I have a backless chair with a dangerous pair of metal bars sticking out the back, and a cat-shredded replacement chair. Once I find it, I will hopefully attempt a sober fixing. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2010, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-lost-2-000/552438/12 "2010-09-03T20:01:32Z")
I used to date someone who, at one point, was afraid that she was sleep-walking. The thought of that really terrified her. I asked her what evidence she had of it. She mentioned things like finding her keys in the fridge and a jar of mustard in the medicine cabinet. It took a while, but I finally convinced her that most people don’t need to sleep walk to do dumb stuff like that. ---
**Author:** ![mcgato](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac8455/32.png) [@mcgato](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mcgato)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2010, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-lost-2-000/552438/13 "2010-09-03T20:15:42Z")
I used to live in an apartment complex with a mailbox right next to the office. I wrote out my bills and rental check, went to the mailbox and dropped the rental check in. I remember staring at the stamped bills in my hand with an “oh fuck” look on my face. I dropped the bills in the mailbox, went into the office and explained what had happened. The woman in the office acted like it was far from the first time that it had happened. When the postal truck stopped by, she went out and got the rental check. ---
**Author:** ![SeaDragonTattoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@SeaDragonTattoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeaDragonTattoo)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2010, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-lost-2-000/552438/14 "2010-09-03T23:02:51Z")
You write checks? ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2010, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-lost-2-000/552438/15 "2010-09-03T23:29:23Z")
> [@SeaDragonTattoo](#): > > You write checks? Heh - my bill payment story is paying my gas bill online, and my finger stuttered on the “ok” button - paid it twice that month. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2010, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-lost-2-000/552438/16 "2010-09-03T23:47:44Z")
For future reference, the utility company could not have deposited the check made out for your rent. If a bank deposits a check which is not made out to the person who deposits it (and the Federal Reserve actually processes it), they are liable for the balance. And for the person who brought it to the bank, its attempted fraudulent conversion. Just as long as you didn’t make the check out to “bearer” or “cash.” Never do that. ---
**Author:** ![Mona\_Lisa\_Simpson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ce7236/32.png) [@Mona\_Lisa\_Simpson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mona_Lisa_Simpson)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2010, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-lost-2-000/552438/17 "2010-09-03T23:53:40Z")
:smack:I discovered yesterday that two weeks ago I paid my hot water tank rental $700.00 I paid my gas company 70.00. :smack: I now have about a three year credit with the water tank people and a disconection notice with gas. Ooops. My bank is doing a charge back for the money which I should get in 7-10 business days, we are loving balogna rice and beans for the next two weeks, but I still have heat, hot water and life is good except for my headache. (From :smack: :smack: :smack: muliple times.) ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2010, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-lost-2-000/552438/18 "2010-09-04T01:23:08Z")
> [@Chessic\_Sense](#): > > > [@elbows](#): > > > > Hey, hey, I hate when that happens! > > > > Glad you found your cheque. But couldn’t you have simply put a stop payment on it, rather than have it be cashed by the utility? > > Sure. If I wanted to pay that fee. And if I knew which check (out of the 3) it was. But I’d probably just end up paying $40 to stop the $30 electric check and still have a problem. How could you not know what check it was? You don’t have carbons in your checkbook? You don’t write down checks in your register? ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2010, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-lost-2-000/552438/19 "2010-09-04T01:43:10Z")
What, no check for the Metro? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2010, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-lost-2-000/552438/20 "2010-09-04T02:51:02Z")
> [@SeaDragonTattoo](#): > > You write checks? I’d KILL to be able to talk with the owners of my complex and persuade them to accept EFT. For them, it’s personal or cashiers checks, no exceptions (well, money orders are okay, if you can find someone who will write one for over a grand. And the apartment owners won’t accept two money orders at a time). [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-lost-2-000/552438.md?page=2)