Red Flagged

It is not a good thing when you walk into the bank and everyone knows who you are. My bank account was over drawn for a long time (I would rather not say how long) and I just got my rebate money put into my account recently. My loans went through when the semester started two weeks ago but Penn State likes to take their sweet time and hold onto my money for as long as possible. They like to see how long I can survive on pretzels and pasta (plain pasta....no money for sauce).

So I thought my money went in a day before it actually did and I tried to check my balance at an ATM but I just got my card eaten. I didn't think it was that big of a deal since I would have the money the next day. I'll just go talk to them then. This happens to lots of people right?

Next day comes and I have money so I go to retrieve my debit card. I walk up to the teller and explain my situation. She seems to understand and asks for my name. I give it to her. She stops. "Hold on," she tells me and turns to the head teller next to her.

"Do you still have her card?"

Her card?!? The head teller did not need clarification. She knew who I was. Didn't ask my name, social, nothing.

"The card was destroyed. She needs to talk to Jason."

Who the F**K is Jason and why does he know so much about me?!?!

I head over to Jason who seemed to be waiting for me. I sit down and he types my name in his computer...without asking. He knew me too. I was the talk of the bank. "Oh dear," he says shaking his head, "How did you let this happen?" How did I let what happen?? I was overdrawn but I have money NOW! Isn't that what really matters? Can't we forget about the errors of the past?

The conversation continues as follows:

Jason: Is this still your phone number?
Me: Yes.
Jason: We tried to call you but you never got back to us.
Me: Well you see, the problem with that was that I already knew my account was overdrawn and I didn't think you had anything new to tell me. Oh yeah...and I didn't have money to pay my phone bill.
Jason: That makes sense.
Me: I have money now though.
Jason: Yes, that's good...but there was a charge everytime you overdrew your account.
Me: Oh?
Jason: You overdrew your account 7 times.
Me: Oh?
Jason: And then there were charges every 10 days it was overdrawn...
Me: Oh?

Needless to say, this all added up to a lot of money. The conversation got worse. At this point I was thinking that I should have majored in finance instead of education. Jason turned out to be a nice guy and he says hi to me every time I'm at the bank now. They all do now that I think about it. Apparently they get upset when you owe them money. Who knew?

Now if you'll excuse me I have to go pay back my sister, my mom, my rental office and late fee, get my car an oil change, and finally buy food that has some sort of nutritional value.