# Money makes bank tellers ill, Hazmat team called. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 21, 2012, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/money-makes-bank-tellers-ill-hazmat-team-called/638372 "2012-10-21T00:57:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2012, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/money-makes-bank-tellers-ill-hazmat-team-called/638372/1 "2012-10-21T00:57:41Z")
I love my job. I love my job. I love, \ \ \ my job. šŸ˜› Tough day at the bank. Especially getting the fire hose shower in the parking lot. I wonder if this money came out of a meth lab? Weā€™ve had some local houses ruined by dopers cooking meth. The chemicals are extremely toxic and nearly impossible to clean up. Why didnā€™t the guy that brought the money get sick too? This is a strange case. Heā€™s got a lot of explaining to do. [http://www.modbee.com/2012/10/19/2420937/hazmat-scene-at-modesto-bank-3.html](http://www.modbee.com/2012/10/19/2420937/hazmat-scene-at-modesto-bank-3.html) > [@](#): > > MODESTO ā€“ Six employees of a Modesto bank were hospitalized Friday afternoon after at least three of them broke out in hives shortly after a customer handed a bank teller money wrapped in a paper towel, authorities said. > > The man, a customer at Chase Bank at Tully Road and Standiford Avenue, gave a teller a ā€œlarge amount of moneyā€ to deposit in his account about 4 p.m., said Sgt. Brian Findlen of the Modesto Police Department. > > Minutes later, the teller broke out with hives and had trouble breathing. She came into contact with two other employees, who then exhibited similar symptoms. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2012, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/money-makes-bank-tellers-ill-hazmat-team-called/638372/2 "2012-10-21T01:11:36Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Why didnā€™t the guy that brought the money get sick too? This is a strange case. Heā€™s got a lot of explaining to do. > > [http://www.modbee.com/2012/10/19/2420937/hazmat-scene-at-modesto-bank-3.html](http://www.modbee.com/2012/10/19/2420937/hazmat-scene-at-modesto-bank-3.html) Well, he carried it wrapped in a paper towel, dinā€™t he? Must have been Brawny. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2012, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/money-makes-bank-tellers-ill-hazmat-team-called/638372/3 "2012-10-21T01:11:58Z")
Question: You think this was deliberate? Or an accident? The guy made a deposit and that will easily identify him. If heā€™s a terrorist, then heā€™s a very dumb one. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2012, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/money-makes-bank-tellers-ill-hazmat-team-called/638372/4 "2012-10-21T01:50:02Z")
Local TV news has a good video on the incident. [http://www.news10.net/news/article/213944/2/HAZMAT-issue-shuts-down-Modesto-bank](http://www.news10.net/news/article/213944/2/HAZMAT-issue-shuts-down-Modesto-bank) ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2012, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/money-makes-bank-tellers-ill-hazmat-team-called/638372/5 "2012-10-21T02:32:55Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Question: You think this was deliberate? Or an accident? If he carried it in wrapped in a towel that implies he knew something was unhealthy about it; so I doubt it was an accident. It might well be an example of a total lack of consideration for others rather than an attack, however. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2012, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/money-makes-bank-tellers-ill-hazmat-team-called/638372/6 "2012-10-21T02:45:02Z")
He is apparently unfamiliar with the concept of money laundering. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2012, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/money-makes-bank-tellers-ill-hazmat-team-called/638372/7 "2012-10-21T16:18:17Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Local TV news has a good video on the incident. > [http://www.news10.net/news/article/213944/2/HAZMAT-issue-shuts-down-Modesto-bank](http://www.news10.net/news/article/213944/2/HAZMAT-issue-shuts-down-Modesto-bank) **aceplace57** , you profile shows you in Central Arkansas but youā€™re reading and watching news in Modesto, CA? Yikes, that bank is walking distance from where I live and I do my banking there sometimes. And last Friday was getting kinda coolish weather here, to be taking showers out in a parking lot. \ ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2012, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/money-makes-bank-tellers-ill-hazmat-team-called/638372/8 "2012-10-21T19:10:55Z")
I found that local tv news article with Google. I originally read a national news article and searched for more info with google. Iā€™ve found that the local tv news often gives better information. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2012, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/money-makes-bank-tellers-ill-hazmat-team-called/638372/9 "2012-10-21T19:19:13Z")
I see that the bank has reopened and the employees are out of the hospital. > **[UPDATED: Modesto Bank Reopened After Employees Break Out In Hives](https://www.cbsnews.com/sacramento/news/modesto-bank-employees-break-out-in-hives-after-customer-deposit/)** > > Three people inside a Modesto bank broke out in hives Friday afternoon after a customer brought in money wrapped in a paper towel, police said. Iā€™m glad the substance wasnā€™t more toxic. Iā€™m sure it scared the heck out of those people. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2012, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/money-makes-bank-tellers-ill-hazmat-team-called/638372/10 "2012-10-21T19:44:04Z")
Much of the time these incidents are classic [mass hysteria scenarios](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_hysteria)where one person has some sort of reaction to a smell or substance (possibly quite legitimately) and a bunch of surrounding people not in direct contact with the substance have the same symptoms. Itā€™s usually seen in predominately female groups. Itā€™s quite fascinating actually. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2012, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/money-makes-bank-tellers-ill-hazmat-team-called/638372/11 "2012-10-21T21:45:25Z")
Itā€™s a bank. In Modesto. And youā€™re wondering if itā€™s from a meth lab? Iā€™d say the question is answered. Oh, and: > [@aceplace57](#): > > Weā€™ve had some local houses ruined by dopers cooking meth. :rolleyes: I donā€™t think itā€™s cool to accuse all of us of that stuff! :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2012, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/money-makes-bank-tellers-ill-hazmat-team-called/638372/12 "2012-10-21T23:58:07Z")
Meth criminals cooking meth then. šŸ˜‰ Sometimes it isnā€™t discovered until after they leave. A new family moves in and starts getting sick. Iā€™ve read itā€™s nearly impossible to clean up. They pretty much have to rip up the floors, subfloors and some of the drywall. If those chemicals spilled onto a pile of money then I can easily see the bank clerks getting ill. typical example [http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-204\_162-57525298/family-new-homes-meth-lab-past-made-us-sick/](http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-204_162-57525298/family-new-homes-meth-lab-past-made-us-sick/)