Fees--100 Words

Fees.

Last night, I received a note saying that a credit card would soon have a fee associated with it.

Unless I charged an outrageous amount to it each year.

I don’t think so.

I’ve only used this card in case of emergency. It was used for travel. Or only when necessary.

Now, they want to charge an annual fee.

Call it a result of the 2009 credit crisis. Call it banking in today’s world.

Call it what you want.

I called it ridiculous.

So, I stayed on hold for 20 minutes to opt out.

Not going to pay fees.

Waiting--100 Words

Waiting.

I hate to wait. If I have any other choice I’ll choose it over waiting.

That holds true at the bank.

In traffic.

Grocery store.

Parking lots.

I’ve been known to move to another lane at the bank, change lanes of traffic repeatedly, move to another checkout lane, and just park the car instead of waiting on a space that “might” come open.

Terrible trait to have. My wife will confirm that. Friends will as well.

What do I do? What do you do about it? I can’t be the only one who struggles with this!

Right? Be honest!

When Does A Rule Go to Far?

A Muslim woman was forced to do her banking in the back room of the institution because the head scarf she was wearing violated the company’s “no hats, hoods or sunglasses” policy, The Washington Post reported.

The 54-year-old Maryland woman was standing in line a few weeks ago waiting to deposit a check when an employee asked her to go to the back room, citing the new policy. The incident happened again last weekend, but this time, Kenza Shelley refused.

“I want to be served like everyone else,” Shelley told the employees. “There was so many people there, and I was embarrassed.”

The new policy started in December and was implemented to prevent armed robberies and identity theft, Tom Lyons, senior vice president for security at Navy Federal, told the Post.

“We want to be able to clearly identify who you are and make sure the transaction is safe,” Lyons said. “This is a policy that applies to everybody in the branch. She wasn’t singled out. ... We tried to accommodate her and help her with her transaction and move on.”

But, some say the policy is not acceptable and must be modified for religious reason.

“This may be the tip of the iceberg,” Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesman for the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), told the Post. “There’s got to be a way to work it out so that this security concern does not lead to violations of constitutional rights.”

What do you think? The bank my wife and I use has the same policy. On my days off, if I have to go to the bank, I’m probably going to have a baseball cap on—after all, I am bald and the hat protects my head from getting sunburned. Should I refuse to remove my cap? Should I defy the rules and leave my sunglasses on?

I don’t have religious reasons to wear my hat. I wear the cap to protect my head. But, let’s think about this for a minute. Would an Amish man have an objection to the rule? Would he want to remove his hat if he entered a bank? Would he protest and make a scene? Or would he simply obey the rule and move on?

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this one.

Rolling, Rolling, Rolling All the Way to Jail

Authorities on Florida’s east coast have arrested a man in a wheelchair who they say robbed a credit union on Merritt Island and hid the money in his prosthetic leg. I promise, I’m not making this stuff up!

Brevard County deputies say 45-year-old Christopher Warren Reed was caught Friday afternoon about 10 minutes after they say he robbed Space Coast Credit Union. Reed is a paraplegic who uses a motorized wheelchair. I have to wonder at this point why it took 10 minutes to locate Mr. Reed.

Investigators say he came into the credit union about 4:00 p.m., told a teller he was armed with an explosive, and demanded money. He left with an undisclosed amount of cash—don’t all robbers leave with an undisclosed amount of money?

Mr. Reed told deputies that two people had threatened him with a gun, told him to commit the robbery, and were going to take the money for themselves. He was charged with robbery, grand theft, threatening to use a hoax explosive device, and aggravated assault.

So many questions come to mind here. How did Mr. Reed get away? Did he have a getaway van parked in the handicapped parking spot closest to the bank? Did he simply roll down the sidewalk, heading toward his house? Or, did he simply try to blend in to his surroundings?

I suppose it takes desperation to rob a bank. Or, maybe it takes stupidity. But, someone should remind Mr. Reed that the excuse he offered police has already been used, and if memory serves me correctly, those police officers didn’t believe that crook either!

Well, hopefully the bank got their money back in a timely manner. With our economic downturn, they’ll need all they can get.