Dec 12, 2009

While Arizona continues to sink into the giant financial black hole we have created for ourselves, our legislators argue about the important matter of texting while driving. Don't get me wrong, texting while driving is a bad idea. But a law outlawing it is pretty much unenforceable short of police checkpoints to review the recent texting history of random drivers. So what's the point? How about laws outlawing eating, drinking, putting on makeup, reading, fiddling with the radio or any of the hundreds of other things that take our minds off the task of driving? I propose a law that makes ten o'clock and two o'clock hand positioning on the steering wheel mandatory under law. At least the cops can see that. I'm going to go out on a limb here and assume that most people who cause traffic accidents don't do it on purpose. It seems to me that whether you kill someone's Aunt Harriet because you are texting or because you zoned out and didn't see the red light, you get about the same result. Trust me when I say the the authorities will figure out something to charge you with, either way. Then the lawyers will sue your pants off. Interstingly, as cell phone use has grown in the US over the past 20 years, traffic fatalities per 100,000,000 miles driven have fallen year over year. Last year, they hit their lowest in over 40 years, 1.27 deaths for every 100,000,000 miles driven. Statistically, that is one death for every 26,000 trips driven between New York and Los Angeles. Granting that correlation is not causation, it is not unreasonable to conclude that cell phones actually make driving safer. Just kidding. Here's something else. At the hardware store we get paid by check every other Friday morning. My buddy, the Seafood King, tells me that paying retail workers through direct deposit is more trouble than it's worth, because they tend to be a flaky bunch, bank-wise. Present company excepted, of course. What this means is that I have to go to the credit union and cash my damn check. I could drop it in the night deposit, I suppose, but I don't really trust that so much. Do you know who else goes into the bank to deal with an actual teller? People who can't keep track of what they spend and want someone to argue with about their overdrafts. This morning two of these knuckleheads managed to tie up all four teller windows with their hijinks. One guy, and I'm not making this up, said, "I just put $20 in my account." Does a person making $20 deposits really need a checking account? Really? The other joker was some sort of building contractor who kept taking one call after the other on his cell, while two tellers tried to make sense of his banking disaster. That is until someone in line, who may or not have been me, muttered, "For God's sake", kinda loudly. Evidently taking the hint, he began telling callers that he would call back. And the best news is that he didn't wait around to pummel me outside the bank. I'm waiting for my credit union to start letting people scan checks into their account from home. Things in this blog represented to be fact, may or may not actually be true. The writer is frequently wrong, sometimes just full of it, but always judgmental and cranky

11 comments:

Barbara said...

They will never be able to stop texting until they build in something like our Prius GPS system has that prohibits you from entering an address while the car is moving.

As for the building contractor, he is probably doing drugs on the side. What do you think?

Steve Reed said...

It seems to antiquated to be paid with a check. I haven't seen an actual paycheck in years! (And at the rate things are going, I may not see one anytime soon, either!)

The Bug said...

We get the occasional check - birthday money & stuff like that. When we moved to the Cincinnati area 12 1/2 years ago we opened an account with a local credit union. They had a branch near our church & one on the campus where my husband was getting his Ph.D. Now we've moved an hour away, & although I still work in Cincinnati there are no branches of our credit union anywhere near me. Last month we had to make an emergency trip to our bank to make a deposit. An hour drive each way. And yet we're too lazy to change banks. Yes, there is something wrong with this picture!

Perpetual Chocoholic said...

What's a bank teller?;-)

Ronda Laveen said...

Oh, I love the check scanning from home idea.

Reya Mellicker said...

The place where I bank, the National Capital Bank, purposely overstaffs so that you can always deal with an actual teller. I love the personal contact and never ever have to wait in line. It's a small bank so there aren't many ATMS - just two in fact, in all of DC, but well worth it. It was voted one of the 20 strongest banks in the U.S. It is well over a hundred years old so it survived the Depression.

As for the rest of your post, well I always say this but - I wish everyone would listen to you.

Anonymous said...

i havent been inside a bank in 3 years... the last time i went was to get some euros and traveler's checks.

Coffee Messiah said...

Although we have direct deposit, which I use a few weeks ago I went in to make another deposit. 1/2 checking, 1/2 savings. 2 days later, looking online, checking posted, but not savings.....huh? Went to the bank, showed my receipts and asked why did one not show up as clearing. Teller wasn't there, so they took my name and number. Sent an email through the bank website. Next day, I hear nothing so I go again after work (20 minutes each way). I was told by the teller they were too busy to look into it. Huh?

Long story short, again the bank called official headquarters, they asked for copies of the receipts and 10 days later, still haven't heard anything, although the last day I was there, they forced the savings deposit.

Not sure what's happening, but the future looks bleak ; (

Cheers to you and yours!!!!

Kurt said...

No paycheck, so no direct deposit. I have an online money market account - no bank to go into.

edward said...

how is Lacey?

Megan said...

I get paper checks because I never know when I might want to run for it...