Turns out I am actually turning into my Granny. My Granny always had a healthy scepticism about new-fangled things. Like rice, for example. Rice, she firmly believed, was something you made into a pudding and it should never, under any circumstances, be eaten in any other context. To the day she died she never ate chinese food, indian food, risotto or anything of that sort.
I was in the bank today, as I had a cheque to pay in. I was greeted at the door by a young man (and I mean young. I suspect he wasn't much older than First Born) who asked if I needed any help. I breezily told him I did not, I was just going to use the Quick Deposit service to bank my cheque. Then I looked around for the little paper Quick Deposit envelopes. But there weren't any.
I looked back at the young man, slightly helpless now, and he told me that these days you pay in cheques using the machine. "Are you paying in by card or by slip?" he asked.
This is when I started to turn into my Gran, as I suspect that the look on my face at that point was exactly like the one my Granny used to wear when I tried to show her how to work the video recorder. The look that says "I know I am supposed to be able to follow this, but really, you lost me five minutes ago and I am sort of losing the will to live."
The young boy man had to actually steer me to the machine and show me how to use it, including turning the cheque the right way round because I tried to insert it into the slot the wrong way EVEN THOUGH HE HAD JUST TOLD ME WHAT WAY TO DO IT! I swear he was seconds away from referring to me as "Dear". As in "Do you need me to do it for you, dear?"
I crowned my performance by exclaiming, "Wow, that's clever!" when the wee receipt printed out with a scan of my cheque on it. Then I slunk home and hung out on Facebook in order to prove how cool and edgy I am. I'll be blogging next, just you wait and see.
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I work with college students (all male) and you just perfectly described a typical interaction between me and one of them. Makes me feel like I'm about 92 years old.
ReplyDeleteSo not fair for US to feel old when THEY went and changed the rules on us!
ReplyDeleteNever mind that young whippersnapper. Just swear loudly, trip up a few yoofs with your walking stick and demand face to face service lol.
ReplyDeleteDid you get his name so you could add him as your Facebook friend?
ReplyDeleteby a young man (and I mean young. I suspect he wasn't much older than First Born)
ReplyDeleteThat's a major sign right there. I find myself doing it more and more: declaring that people are awfully young to be doing whatever it is that they are doing. Like the two children that flew the plane I on in Alberta in June. They wre children, I tell you, mere children! *sigh*
OH! That's so exciting for you. I hope you had a nap afterwards. You can't be too careful, you know.
ReplyDeleteYou still go to a Bank??? And Queue??? Stick it in the post, woman! I haven't set foot in an actual bank for years. Try First Direct, you'll never look back.
ReplyDeleteTo be quite honest, I don't like the machines either (and I'm, oh, maybe even ten years younger than you?) The Bank of Scotland near the Sheriff Courts still lets you hand your cheque to an actual person - or it did last month, which is the last time I paid one in.
ReplyDeleteThe last time I watched my husband feed a cheque into a machine it didn't print out a scan, though. I can see that would be slightly more reassuring.
Laughing at the coffee lady's comment just made me spew tea everywhere. Being called "ma'am" is traumatic enough, I don't know what I'd do if someone called me "Dear".
ReplyDeleteBut at least if the end of the world was near, and one phone call was required to save it, and the only phone at hand was as an old rotary phone, we would know what to do, and humanity would live on. (They'd be busy turning it upside down looking for the touchscreen as Armageddon befell us.) So see, there's an upside.
ReplyDeleteWell, I'm only slightly sympathetic since you couldn't find words of comfort to me about the imminent departure of my last baby! You wait till it happens to you.. and it will, very very soon. (Or at least it'll feel like it.) Sob.
ReplyDeleteI still can't get to grips with self scan at the supermarket....
ReplyDeleteThey keep over pricing me, which probably means they are getting ready to put me on as a 2 for 1 offer to get rid of me once and for all....
Ack! When this device hits rural Canada, I am going to have to keep my money in a sock.
ReplyDelete