At the bank, with a Canadian check in my hands:
Me - I'd like to deposit this please.
Teller - Um, k...just a second I don't know what to do with Canadian checks.
2nd Teller - *examining it* Hmm. I'm not sure.
*both staring at check, baffled*
2nd Teller - Oh, it should be okay since its in American funds.
Me - *not quite sure what to say as I know that it is in fact not in American funds* Well...
2nd Teller - *explaining to first teller* See, you know its in American funds because its in dollars.
(And that's when my head exploded and I explained oh so kindly that Canadians USE DOLLARS TOO F**K!!! The banks I've dealt with here treat anything Canadian as so foreign and so confusing they generally simply won't cash Canadian checks or even money orders, hello! They don't take Canadian currency to change into American or vice versa and they have no idea what an exchange rate is, never mind what the current exchange rate is. I have had HEATED discussions with tellers about the fact that I find it VERY OFFENSIVE that they are hesitant to cash a check from the GOVERNMENT of my country. Last time I got a money order they told me to go to the post office to cash it. Um. I could go on and on. Paul won't go to the bank with me anymore :p)
6 comments:
And with the two dollars pretty much at parity, there isn't even any complicated exchange rate math needed!
Everyone knows Canadians use looneys, though, not dollars. And beaver pelts.
Sorta on topic, just to show you that Americans are just as bad when it comes to American money...my pal Em and I had a Speedway cashier refuse to take Em's $2 bill. (I was dragged out of the store to keep from calling their corporate office and asking them to advise their clerk that why yes, there is such a thing as a $2 bill...)
And these people handle your cash transactions every day...
I would be willing to bet that these tellers thought that we did use beaver pelts, they were SHOCKED that we used dollars too. Shocked.
That $2 bill thing is super mega lame. Seriously, I would have had to be dragged out too. My friends and family are very unhappy when things like that happen around me because I will fight for my rights and its very obnoxious, apparently ;)
I'm not trying to defend the tellers for their stupidity, but I know that I can't use my American cheques here in Norway. I have to have American bills in hand if I want to exchange it for Norwegian crowns. And, I couldn't send a cheque from my Norwegian bank to pay for my bills in the States, so what I ended up doing was opening an account in the States and wire transferring the money over, then using the cheques from that account to pay my bills.
So, being ever so long winded, might I suggest that if you are getting money from relatives or whatever, that you have them wire transfer the funds into your account in the States? There is a fee to do that, though.
And, I will add that I've never dealt with having a cash a foreign money order, so I have no clue how simple or not those are to use (if in theory rather than practice).
Oh, another idea....
My parents often decide to give us money as gifts instead of actual gifts, since shipping costs so much. And, we can save that money for our trips home, so it works out great. What they do, then, is put the money into my bank account back home (I granted them access in case something ever happened). So, I can just use my handy dandy ATM card here in Norway and take money out in crowns if I ever need the money here. And, my Norwegian ATM card works in the States for taking money out, so I dont' have to travel with a huge wad of bills to exchange once I get there, or use traveler's cheques.
So..again, to make things short (too late!), maybe if you have an acocunt in your Canadian bank, granted your parents access, got an ATM card, then, you could have money gifts deposited into that acocunt and use the ATM back in TN.
Has my English gotten so bad or did that sentence just run away with me? *blink*
I think that I would be less irritated if I had this problem all the way out in Norway :) I think that I get so irritated because Canada is right next to America and in Canada they generally accept American dollars and just don't put up a stink about dealing with American money. I don't expect the American banks to be able to work easily with every currency in the world...just Canadian and Mexican money, if I think about it...the two countries that border them.
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