I still need to pay for Chloe's trip to Madrid in March. Last week I checked around and decided that a foreign draft, express mailed to the Rotary office in Madrid, was the way to go. My bank, a savings and loan, has to order the draft so it would take too long and they suggested I shop around.
Every time I'd ask about getting a foreign draft or wiring money I felt slightly unseemly and wanted to explain: No, really, I don't have a brother in Helsinki who needs quick cash before his bookie breaks his legs and visits his wife's employer.
I was told to check Bank of America so I did. She asked if I was a customer (excuse me: client), I said No, she said Oh, and I assumed that I'd have to pay more. Fine.
Today I went back. Foreign drafts are for customers only. I mentioned that, had I been provided with that bit of information last week, I would not have made the return trip (honest, I was very polite and pleasant). She said she didn't know I wasn't a customer, so I reminded her that she'd asked and that I'd answered in the negative. She assured me that she would have told me I had to be a customer. No, she didn't, I thought, but didn't voice. Oh yes, she tells all the people who walk in off the street that they must be a customer to get a foreign draft.
But she was helpful and called other banks and discovered in the process that she didn't know as much about foreign drafts as she thought she did. I'm always happy to instigate a lesson. She didn't know why one had to be a customer, but at least she avoided using the specious "It's our policy." No, one must be a customer because they won't accept cash, but must debit the customer's account and would I like to open one? No, thank you. Must? I doubt it.
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