I don’t know about you, but I rarely write checks anymore. When Kathy and I were first married we had a checkbook with us at all times. We were able to order special checks that somehow fit our personality or whatever. You could make a personal statement with the checks you wrote. You would get a check writing card at the stores where you purchased things …like the grocery store. Every month you would get an envelope from the bank, with your statement and a pile of checks. That was then. Today I don’t hardly ever write a check. Everything is electronic, or an ATM or a credit card. I certainly don’t carry a checkbook anymore. I get an electronic statement from the bank each month, but I rarely look at it because I can get all the information I need on my electronic application from my bank. Note deposits and bill payments and current balance.
When we lived at Dyess AFB in Abilene, TX I remember one Sunday we went to this large retail store called “Giant”. It was big in every sense of the word. Not only did they have a lot of stuff, but they also had about 12 check-out lanes. It was Sunday so we were exposed to the Blue Laws. Remember those. On Sundays, retailers had to cover certain items that were not to be sold on Sunday. Like beer and liquor and a number of other things that I can’t remember. We completed our shopping and went to one of the check-out lanes. We were not paying attention to which one we were in. It came time for us to pay and, of course, we were going to pay with a check. Kathy wrote out the check and as part of the approval process had to pose for a picture. Here is where it gets weird. I think we must have been in lane 10, or 11. The camera was positioned in lane 1. So, if you are in lane 10… everything stops in all the other lanes and they are asked to make space for the camera to take a picture of the check writer in lane 10. Now Kathy had about 50 people looking at her as her picture was taken. Unbelievable… we were not expecting that. At least our check was approved. I don’t even want to think of the humiliation surrounding a situation where there was some difficulty associated with a person’s check. All I can say is that they might have come up with a less invasive approach to check approval. Maybe rethink the entire process. At least they didn’t require a front and side view of the person writing the check.
