Adventures in Banking, Part 3

I took the bus downtown to pick up my checkbook and debit card. (Yes, the bank is open on Saturday mornings. It's also closed all day on Mondays.) I guess I'm going native, because I wasn't even upset-- or particularly surprised-- to find that neither my checkbook nor my card have turned up yet. This is the M.O. around here: nothing is ready when it's supposed to be, no one can explain why, and you'll always have to make at least one more trip than you anticipate. It's not personal, it's just the way of things: I'm learning to shrug it off like the locals do.

Naturally, the lady who opened my account is now on vacation, and her replacement doesn't work on Saturday. But the nice woman at the welcome desk said she would ask about my checkbook on Tuesday. She suspected the problem might be that there is no money in my account. No problem, I said, I can make a cash deposit. She said this would be a great idea, then we stared at each other for a minute, at which point I had to ask how one goes about making a cash deposit.

Ah well, you see, the problem is that the tellers don't work on Saturdays either (I'm a little perplexed about who does work on Saturday, other than the reception ladies), so normally I would make a cash deposit via the ATM, only this is a bit tricky when one is not yet in possession of a bank card. Solution? The reception lady takes her special bank card and walks with me to the ATM, where we make the deposit together. Assisted banking! Ain't it grand?