Once Upon a Time, there was a BANK
[[Of course this is a fairy tale, because I am full of them.)
1942.
When I began making big money in 1942, caddying at the Lochmoor Country Club, I managed to save ten dollars the very first month. It was an ‘automatic given’ that I worked seven days a week and put in 12 hours per day. On average, I made three dollars on Saturday and the same on Sunday. The other five days of the week returned me, a total, of seven dollars. Thirteen dollars a week.
Some of you might recall my description of my Mother, that being one of a
CON-Lady, who enforced her demand of my saving one third of my earnings.
Even today, it takes my breath away.
But this story is not about that. It is about the way I was treated,,,,, as a customer!
A branch of the Commonwealth Bank, on E. Forest, was just a few blocks away from our home on McClellan.
I walked into the Bank and asked a Teller if I could open a Savings Account. She said, “Certainly, just wait a minute, I will get the “Manager.” She walked over to his desk and said something to him. He got up from his chair and walked over to me.
The teller introduced me to the manager. He shook my hand and said he would be pleased to open an account for me. He did not gush. He did not wink. He told me that my account would pay 2 % yearly interest.
I kept that account until 1951. I had $ 1,200.00 in it. I made a withdrawal of
$ 1,000 in order to buy my first gas station, located on E. Warren and Maxwell. It left me with very little capital to run the Station. I opened a Checking Account with the Bank. I quickly learned that I could ask the gasoline delivery dispatcher, to deliver my weekly load of gas, late on Friday afternoon. I would pay the driver with a check that was post dated for the following Monday. A Purist might call it “kiting a check..” I did it for two years without a whimper from anyone.
Back then, the banking hours for all banks were 9:00 am till 3:00 pm, except for Friday when they stayed open till 6:00. This meant that I had to hustle my fanny to my bank, every Monday morning, to be first in line to cover my Friday Check passing, from keeping it from bouncing.
Friday afternoon was riotous. Pumping gas and cashing checks for my regular customers. With my small amount of operating capital, I could cash only ten or twelve checks. Then, I would run back to the bank and cash those checks and then hurry back to the Station and cash ten or twelve more. Never once did a check bounce.
And everything that goes around, comes around. To wit
2012. [[A week ago.)
A reminder from my Credit Union in Michigan arrived, to the effect that my Certificate of Deposit would mature in a few days. I told them to re-issue it at the going rate, 5 years at 2.1 %. Just imagine, an increase of one tenth of one per cent,,, and it only took 64 years.
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