Previously, I posted about having to pay for a speeding ticket in cash on the side of the road in another state. I found it odd at the time but didn't want to spend any time in with the local law enforcement so that seemed like a good idea to pay the fine and not argue. The court sent me a receipt so I am sure that the patrolman did not run and have a drink at my expense - even if he got a laugh out of me scraping to get the money while my wife refused to make up the difference between what I had on me and what the officer was asking for. After all it was my fault that I was speeding, not hers.
The last time that we bought a house ( sounds good worded that way but it is also the first time I bought a house ), moved in, we ran right downtown to have the utilities switched to our family's name after closing. We went in and gave them the address, told them what we wanted to do and then they gave us a dollar figure. Like many of you know, because you have done it before, the dollar figure they give you comes after they look something up on a computer if needed but sometimes they just know the figure if it is predetermined. But the process afterwards looks something like this:
- start a program on the computer
- enter the address of a residence or business
- click a button that indicates you want to add a current person responsible for the billing
- enter the name and identifying information of the person (name, ssn, blood type, name of first born child, etc)
- press the save button
There is likely something else. I have never actually worked at a utility nor worked on their billing systems but those are the BASIC steps. The person then takes your payment and thanks you profusely for allowing them to do something useful and wishes you and all your descendants a great day and future fortunes.
It didn't work that way when I bought my house.
I asked what form of payment was accepted for the deposit and fees. The response, practiced and casual was, "cash or local check." I had closed on the house that morning. Moved in from out of state directly and didn't have local bank checks yet. I had set up a local back account the day before. I stood there somewhat, shocked, surprised and clarified that they did not take credit cards or debit cards. The answer was "no" but there was a "gas station across the street that has an ATM" that I could use to pull out the cash and pay the bill.
It was then that I noticed that they hadn't pulled the information from a computer. There was a file cabinet with a bunch of card stock in it. The cards contained the last thirty-five years of billing and payment data for any given address.
I remembered the conversation I had had with some guy I met at dinner a few years back. He was telling me that the only reason he had a bank account was to pay taxes and there was never any money in the account except when the taxes were due. I know I was looking at him as if he had two heads.
I looked over the clerk's shoulder and out the window. At least it wasn't raining.