I commented on a previous post about how bad I was about cashing checks whenever I didn’t have direct deposit. Maria expressed some dismay that anybody could afford to do that. My boss’s wife, Pam, and the office manager, Nancy, at Wildcat (the place where I found $6000 worth of uncashed checks when I was cleaning out my office) felt the same way.
Periodically, the office manage and my boss’s wife would go through my office and clean things out for me. They did not completely understand my meticulous (cluttered) organizational structure. Okay, I was not very organized when it came to physical things (as opposed to the network file systems, where I was meticulous) and so I never really minded and felt kind of bad that they were taking care of that for me. On the other hand, I always knew where stuff was. I just didn’t have space for everything. Anyhow, Pam was aghast that she would find paychecks. It was probably not a good idea to leave them laying around in my drawers because Pam’s husband, Cal, was not only my boss, but was also the CEO of the company. It became an ongoing thing about how they must be paying me too much for me not to be cashing checks.
Mostly, though, I just didn’t like going to the bank (which had all of three locations in the entire city of Colosse, two of which were over 30 miles away on the other sides of town and the third located nearby but on a main road with tons and tons of traffic). So I would put it aside and I would only cash my checks two or three at a time. But four to six weeks would become six to eight weeks and at some point I would forget how many checks I had to cash or one would get lost in the shuffle and I would assuredly find it for the next time around so I wouldn’t worry about it right then. Except I would forget all about it until Pam and Nancy found it in their next sweep or until I was clearing out my desk and leaving the employ of Wildcat.
I was supposed to get a raise as soon as I got my college degree, which didn’t exactly happen. I could have sworn I told my boss when I had graduated, but maybe I didn’t. It actually came up when he was introducing me to someone he knew and said that I was set to graduate “any semester now” and I corrected him, informing him that I had graduated three months ago. About three weeks later I got my raise. (in typical Cal fashion, he made sure that I did not think that I was getting the raise because I did a good job - it was just what we had agreed to and nothing more). Prior to that, I had wondered if they were holding back because of the lost paychecks and the assumption that I didn’t need the money.
Of course, insofar as I was able to go weeks without cashing paychecks, I didn’t. But I kept a pretty solid amount of savings and whether I had $3000 (about three paychecks) actually in the bank or in my drawer didn’t matter as much as the fact that I had the money. That I would lose track of how much money I had and the result was money slipping through the cracks kind of alluded me. It had its upside, though, because it would make me think that I was poorer than I was. And so I would spend less. And, of course, it gave me the severance package that Cal tricked me out of.
Things were a bit tighter when I worked at Falstaff. Clancy and I hadn’t merged our accounts yet and I was making under $10/hr with my first hour of work going towards paying for gas for the commute. That and the fact that I had switched my banking to the omnipresent Wells Fargo meant that I was more regular about depositing my checks. Even there I found a couple of paychecks when I was leaving, which helped pay for the move down to Estacado.
When I was younger, I did something similar with my allowance. Back then, I had no real expenses other than comic books. And so I would hide the money behind comic books hanging on my wall. I was sure I remembered which comics they were behind, but inevitably I would take out some comic book to read and sure enough there would be a crisp $20 bill hiding behind it. That was absolutely awesome. Whenever I’d find money like that, it was like I was free to spend it on whatever I wanted no matter how stupid. I was freed from the obligation of having to be responsible. And $20 was worth more to me then than $200 would be now.
You’re leaving paychecks kicking around, and you wonder why they didn’t give you a raise? That’s just…dumb. Sorry but it is.
Anyway, some paycheck-cashing places don’t even require an I.D. Sure, anyone picking up and cashing one of your checks would be committing fraud, but fat chance your boss would cut you a second check after the first has been cashed. You could have lost out big.
I still remember back in my early USN days, when they paid in cash, at least on ships. No checks, just cash. The disbursing officer would sit at a table with a big pile of it and we’d all line up. Now, I think it’s all done with debit cards, with even the coke machines taking them. Same thing with cruise ships, afaik.
Comment by Kirk — December 13, 2010 @ 11:52 am
It became an ongoing thing about how they must be paying me too much for me not to be cashing checks.
They were 100% correct.
Mostly, though, I just didn’t like going to the bank (which had all of three locations in the entire city of Colosse, two of which were over 30 miles away on the other sides of town and the third located nearby but on a main road with tons and tons of traffic).
Wow. You should have picked another bank or used direct deposit, which has been available your entire adult life.
Comment by Mike Hunt — December 13, 2010 @ 4:38 pm
They were 100% correct.
By that logic, someone living on credit card debt deserves a raise.
Wow. You should have picked another bank or used direct deposit, which has been available your entire adult life.
Wildcat (2001-03) did not offer direct deposit. Nor did Falstaff (2004-06), despite a petition pleading for them to institute it and despite actually working in the banking industry (sorta). My job with the census bureau actually wouldn’t pay me any other way but direct deposit.
If I had it to do over again, I would have gone with a different bank. I’m a pretty loyal customer, generally, and my parents had been with this bank since I was two and I had been with the bank since I was 12 (very conveniently located until I went to college - 30 miles away - and later worked - an additional 20). I think I partially figured that at some point I would move back to that part of town.
Comment by trumwill — December 13, 2010 @ 11:24 pm
You’re leaving paychecks kicking around, and you wonder why they didn’t give you a raise? That’s just…dumb. Sorry but it is.
I could think of any number of reasons that they hadn’t given me the raise. Cal forgot about his promise, for example, the paycheck drawer, financial hardship, they didn’t know I had graduated. I got it shortly after Cal was informed (or actually remembered) that I got the degree, so it was probably the latter. Or maybe they were trying to bribe me to move closer to my job so that I wouldn’t have such a bad commute (something Pam would pester me about).
Anyway, some paycheck-cashing places don’t even require an I.D. Sure, anyone picking up and cashing one of your checks would be committing fraud, but fat chance your boss would cut you a second check after the first has been cashed. You could have lost out big.
Pam and Nancy were pretty trustworthy.
Comment by trumwill — December 13, 2010 @ 11:29 pm
Despite rolling my eyes at your carelessness with your paychecks, I think I can relate to how you felt about money. I used to think nothing of lending out hundreds or even thousands of dollars to my “friends”. Most of it came back; some didn’t.
As for when I was a kid, I made less than five dollars a week for mowing the lawn, but somehow my folks almost always owed me about $100. Obviously, I didn’t party much in high school.
Comment by Kirk — December 14, 2010 @ 8:36 am
Having a monthly paycheck, even when I was cashing it, the idea of “missing” one is a bit much.
If I were weekly or biweekly, I could actually see it happening if I weren’t keeping a budget and watching things to make sure things process correctly. Having a daily emailed statement from my bank also helps me track that sort of thing.
When I have the credit card debt removed from some medical things, on the other hand, it’ll be significantly easier to get into the situation you describe, where I might not pay so close attention to the daily statement after having “enough” money set aside in rainy-day funds and a rolling balance…
Comment by web — December 14, 2010 @ 4:29 pm
By that logic, someone living on credit card debt deserves a raise.
Well once upon a time, men got paid more than women, married men got paid more than single men, and men with children got paid more than men without children. Why? Because society recognized that the more responsibilities someone had, the more resources they needed.
Anyway, I stand by my original statement. By not cashing your paychecks, you were giving prima facie evidence that you didn’t need the money. As Robin Williams once said, “Cocaine is God’s way of saying you’re making too much money.”
Comment by Mike Hunt — December 14, 2010 @ 4:56 pm