I want to run up a Tab, at the Bank

[Mondestrucken]

I was at the bank, getting a cashier's check, so I was at one of the desks.

Anyway, at the next desk, the customer was having trouble understanding why they were closing her account. No lie, direct quote: "I thought I just kept track of the checks I wrote, and then at the end of the month, I come in and pay for them."

The CSR (bless that poor woman's patience) tried to explain, "No, ma'am. The way it works is that you deposit money into your checking account. Then you can write checks against your funds, as long as you still have money to cover them."

"I don't understand."

I had to leave here, which was probably a good thing, because I wanted to do the whole while pointing at her. She was young, no more than 20, but still. This was not a line of credit, this was basic checking account, and she didn't have a clue.

[telecom_goddess]

Wow...I may suck at match but in high school I knew how a checking account worked.....

[Andara Bledin]

My middle school actually had a proper home ec class that was required by all 6th graders. We covered how bank accounts work.

But this is a failure of this poor girl's parents as much as anything else. They tossed their little fledgling out of the nest without any instructions on what it would take to fly.

Can you imagine how embarrassing that must be, to get to that point and realize that you're missing some crucial piece of information that most of the rest of the world considers so very basic?

^-.-^

[TheRabbi]

Can you imagine how embarrassing that must be, to get to that point and realize that you're missing some crucial piece of information that most of the rest of the world considers so very basic?

This requires her realizing it.

Sorry. In a very cynical mood today.

[LillFilly]

I DEMAND A REPLACEMENT BRAIN!!!

You broke mine.

[Ironclad Alibi]

"I thought I just kept track of the checks I wrote, and then at the end of the month, I come in and pay for them."

At least she has a good understanding of how credit cards work. She just got checks and credit cards reversed.

[KellyHabersham]

This is why it should be a requirement to teach basic finance in school. I've come across a ton of people who don't even know HOW to write out a check, much less know that they need a covering balance to cash it.

Sounds a little like the way my brother was when he was a teen - for whatever reason, Mom refused to teach him how to fill out a check, and so whenever she needed to leave a blank check for something, I had to stick around because her excuse was that "Jack" didn't know how to write checks.

[Sapphire Silk]

Really sucks for this kid: they'll put her on CheckServ, and she won't be able to get anything but a savings account for the next 7 years.

[dragon_wings]

God. Another thing I'm thankful my parents taught my when I was young. How to balance a check book. Well just understanding a checking account even.

[MoonCat]

I have a friend who used to teach 5th grade. He had a great project he used to do.

He'd assign each of the kids a "job" with a specified grade of pay, then let them cash their "checks" using play money. He taught them how checking accounts and saving accounts worked, rent, mortgages, how to budget, etc. He deliberately assigned low-paying jobs to the kids whose parents were rich, and high-paying jobs to the lower-income kids, so they would each get some understanding of a different lifestyle. He'd also throw things in the mix like, suppose you had a kid who needs medical care, or your car breaks down, and other stuff that could mess up your finances. They had to plan out a budget, figure out the cost of groceries, utilities, and so on.

Inevitably some kid would say something like, "well, I want to buy [whatever] but the money's all gone!" And his answer would be, "then you can't buy it."

[Zippity Doo]

At least she has a good understanding of how credit cards work. She just got checks and credit cards reversed.

I dount somebody this clueless understands how interest works.

[BeeMused]

I have a friend who used to teach 5th grade. He had a great project he used to do.

...

Inevitably some kid would say something like, "well, I want to buy [whatever] but the money's all gone!" And his answer would be, "then you can't buy it."

Excellent project, it should be done in each school all over the world; and not just in 5th grade, but repeated in Grade 7 and 9 and 11. Many lifelong debt carreers could be avoided.

[Severen13]

Quoth MoonCat
I have a friend who used to teach 5th grade. He had a great project he used to do.

...

Inevitably some kid would say something like, "well, I want to buy [whatever] but the money's all gone!" And his answer would be, "then you can't buy it."

Sounds like a class my older sister should have. She has absolutely no concept of money management. She has all the money in the world for DVDs, tattoos, and for her douchebag boyfriend to borrow, but is always "broke" when it comes time to pay her bills. And she wonders why she's had to declare bankruptcy twice and her credit rating is shot to hell.

[Sarcastica]

When I worked at the drugstore I had an 18ish woman come in and buy a stamp, and then afterward started asking me some puzzling questions...I finally sussed out that she did not know how to mail a letter. Where the stamp went, where the address went, or what those big blue boxes are for.

[Merriweather]

This is why it should be a requirement to teach basic finance in school. I've come across a ton of people who don't even know HOW to write out a check, much less know that they need a covering balance to cash it.

I was lucky enough to take a general business course in high school that taught the basics of personal finance, etc. Helped me to no end when I married at 18 and new hubby was almost immediately sent off overseas, and I was left to manage it all alone.

I have for years felt that every high school student should spend a year in a class for Life Skills or something similar. Cooking - how to read a recipe (or at least directions on a package), how to use a stove; Sewing - how to sew on a button or repear a tear, how to do laundry; DIY - how to hang a picture, unclog a sink; Auto - how to pump gas, check fluids in a car, put air in the tires; and Finance - check writing, how bank accounts & insurance work, how to budget (and what needs to be budgeted for). Enough general knowledge for a person getting their first apartment (or even living in a dorm) to be able to manage the basics without major mishaps. And all of it for all sexes, it's amazing how many schools still try to teach home ec to girls and shop to guys. (I read of a school that simply changed the name of half of their home ec sewing/cooking classes to "Bachelor Living" and the class filled up with guys, LOL).