People Trying To Pass Bad Checks: STOP IT!

[BrenDAnn]

In the past 3 days, I've had 2 people try to pass bad checks on my shifts. Corporate policy is strict--we can not accept bad checks under any circumstances. No, I don't believe that you have no other way to pay for your gas. Go get cash, or call someone. Am I being a royal biotch about it? Maybe, but it's my ass on the line if I take your rubber check! Moving on, my two stories related to this are as follows.

Story the First
Characters:
ME: Hi!
OMCB: Old Man Check Bouncer
M: My manager

ME: **minding my busines, and my till, sees OMCB come in to pay for his gas** Hi! You had $xx.xx in gas out there?
OMCB: Yep. **writes check, hands it to me, waits**
ME: **runs it through our reader, starts to initial it as I wait, sees the "Denied--Customer on Bad Check List" notice pop up** Oh, I'm sorry, did you have another way to pay?
OMCB: What's that?
ME: Did you have another way to pay? I'm afraid your check has popped up on our bad check list.
OMCB: I don't have anything else! That check should go through!
M: **steps in from where she'd been standing nearby doing paperwork** I'm sorry, but you've had a check that's ended up on our bad check list. We can't take your check.
ME: **stands back and watches**
OMCB: What was it (the bad check), $20?
M: I don't know, your check has gone to a collection agency, and you'll have to take it up with them, but right now, we need another form of payment from you.
ME: **gets one of the little slips of paper giving the collection agency's number, givse it to M**
M: You'll have to call this number to get your check taken care of.
OMCB: Yeah, but it'll go through if you send it back through. Can't you find it and send it through?
M: We can't do that. It's at the collection agency. Can you go to your bank and get $xx.xx to pay for your gas?
OMCB: Well, I guess, but that check should go through!
Rinse, lather, repeat until finally he agrees to go get cash. We hold onto his check until he comes back, and when he does, he tells me that the lady at the bank said we should've accepted the check, because, say it with me folks, "that check should go through!" I polite3ly informed him that we can't break corporate policy, gave him his change and his check, and sent him on his way. Whew, that was long. Onto the next.

Story the Second
I'll make this one shorter. Teenage gal (TG) came in to pay for gas with her mother's check. She drops the check on the counter and walks out. I run it, and get the bad check alert, so I chase her down, get her to come back in, and ask if she has another form of payment. She seems hesitant and says she doesn't. I convince her to call someone else, she does, and that person pays for her gas with another (good) check. I felt kind of bad for the girl, because she didn't know, her mom had just given her a check for gas, or so it seemed. I left a note with M about it.If nothing else, the mother's name is in the note, so M and the rest of us will know to look out for her. Honestly, it's getting ridiculous. Sometimes, I wish we'd stop taking checks altogether! Yeah, the customers would all throw fits at first, but they'd adjust. I know us poor clerks would be a lot better off!

[Anakah]

So how can the teenaged girl pay for gas with her mother's check? Is her name on it too? I'm just curious. And that guy was a buttmunch.

[Midorikawa]

Most places I've been to don't take checks any more. Granted, this is fine with me. I have my debit card for every purchase.

As for using your parent's check to pay for gas, this is common. I used to do that as a kid, and as long as the last name matches, they tend to take it. (Of course, my family has a rather uncommon surname, which I'm sure helps.)

[KellyHabersham]

Reminds me of a list which I came across on the library's staff intranet site the other day - it was apparently for people whose checks had been returned as "NSF", and the sad thing was that most of the payments were for small amounts.

[Midorikawa]

the sad thing was that most of the payments were for small amounts.

I've bounced a check before (was 16 and still figuring out all this financial mess)

The check was for a Dr. Pepper and a candy bar at the corner store. While not entirely my fault - Bank flubbed a deposit that I didn't find out about until the bounced check - still sucks to bounce a check for $3. :-P

[Broomjockey]

So how can the teenaged girl pay for gas with her mother's check?

The requirements for a cheque at most places are the institution's name is filled in, the proper amount is filled in, and it's signed and dated. For gas, since you're in control of the amount pumped, it wouldn't be hard to just pump that amount, or even leave it for the daughter to fill in. I can't see why the place wouldn't take the cheque.

[dougall]

I think the daughter did everything right the cheque itself came up on the bad cheque list at the petrol station.

[Amina516]

What are thses "checks" you primitives speak of?!

Lol. Ive used only like 5 checks my WHOLE life..and i only used them b/c i had ordered special ones when I first got my checking account.

For the first guy, having enough money to cover the check youre wiritng and passing a BAD check that automatically FLAGS your furture checks, are two different things. Sounds like he was just thickheaded.

[bainsidhe]

A lot of places won't take checks anymore, because it simply isn't worth it. And I personally wouldn't take daughters check, even if it cleared. When I worked at MalMart, we had to ask for ID. We couldn't (wouldn't) process a check that didn't belong to the customer.

[Syndrn]

Those check readers are not always right. They do flag checks for no reason, that does not mean the people were trying to pass bad checks

[KellyHabersham]

Those check readers are not always right. They do flag checks for no reason, that does not mean the people were trying to pass bad checks

That's so true - it happened to me at Target once, when I knew I had more than enough money in my bank account to cover the amount of whatever I was buying.

[Sandman]

That's so true - it happened to me at Target once, when I knew I had more than enough money in my bank account to cover the amount of whatever I was buying.

Happened to me as well.. caused one place to stop taking checks entirely.. considering they were doing automatic removal and it denied me, yet when I used my debit card (coming from the same place) it let me! (we knew each other professionally.. so I could come to her as a customer and a professional with a little heads-up)

[KellyHabersham]

Well, in my case, I think it happened because I'd not used a check as payment in a store for a long time, and because I was paying for asthma meds, the amount was more than I'd usually write a check for. (at least, those are the only reasons I can think of for their system having flagged my check)

[infinitemonkies]

Ah, checks. Just like cash or plastic, but larger, slower, and less convenient.

In the last 5 years I've written 2 checks, both void, one to set up direct deposit for my paychecks, the other to set up automated payments for my student loans.

In fact, I don't think I've ever used a check to actually pay for something in my entire life.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

Checks as payment for in-store purchases need to DIAF.

It's really really fun, in the same way that amputation by rusty hacksaw sans anesthetic is "fun", when somebody tries to pay by check, and the register locks up and calls for a check approval, and management isn't so quick in getting to the register to approve the check and turn their key in the register, and the customer gets pissed off and just leaves without whatever they were thinking of buying.

Y'know, if you used a damn debit card like the rest of the civilized world, this wouldn't be happening.