you oughta know

depositing checks at the bank of the philippine islands branch in blue ridge...

the teller told me one of the checks will be on-us while the other will be local.

ok.

then she asks me:  'does <supposedly on-us check issuer> know you'll be depositing it today?'

me:  'aw, i dunno...  that's my mom's...  she just told me to deposit it...'

teller:  'can you ask your mom whether <issuer> knows the check will be deposited today?'

me:  'is that necessary?  the check is dated october 15.  it's already 24th.  that should be funded already.'

teller:  '<issuer> might not know you'll be depositing it today...'

me:  'do you know <issuer>?  has he bounced checks before?'

teller:  'i don't know <issuer>, ma'am.'

me:  'neither do i.  i'm just running an errand for my mom.  just deposit it.  if it's not funded then let that be a lesson to the issuer that he should fund his checks on time.'

teller:  'is it okay with you if i just process it as local?'

me:  'you were the one who told me it's on-us...  why will it be  local now?  what will happen if you process it as on-us?'

teller:  'it will be blocked, ma'am...'

me:  'really?  why will it be blocked?'

teller:  'because the issuer does not know that it will be deposited today...'

me:  'are you sure?!  how would the system know the issuer does not know the check will be deposited today?'

teller:  'i'll just call <issuer>, ma'am...'

me:  'ok.'

then teller comes back and tells me she could not contact the issuer.

me:  'is it really your policy to inform the issuer of every check deposit?'

teller:  'it depends, ma'am...  if the amount is big...  if...'

i blurt out:  'so P10,000 is big?!'

teller:  'no, ma'am...'

me:  'then why did you have to call the issuer before processing the deposit?  is that really your policy?'

teller:  'it varies, ma'am...  in this case we have to inform the issuer because it's on-us and it's interbranch.  if it's local there'd be 3-day clearing.'

me:  'actually, it doesn't really matter whether you process it as local or as on-us because my mom's not going to withdraw the money anyway.  but because of the things you've been saying i wanted it processed as on-us because i could not make sense of your policy and i want to test it.'

teller again asks me whether she can just process it as local.

me:  'okay.  but you better be sure that's really how it's supposed to be because i'm going to blog this.'

teller says yes.

my errand is complete.

whew...