Saturday, July 22, 2006

Idiot Tax: Revenge of the Savings Account

Idiot Tax: Revenge of the Savings Account

So I’m not feeling particularly funny today. This happens time to time. Like I wrote another e-mail and talked on IM for a while and I just wasn’t feeling it. It’s a lot like it is with sports. Some days the jumper is just falling and some days… it’s not (see, told you I wasn’t funny). But I need to tell you this story because it’s true and probably funny enough on its own that I can’t fuck it up with my mood.


I have my checking account linked to my savings account for overdraft protection purposes. This is nothing earth-shatteringly revolutionary by any means. I just do this should I accidentally lose track of exactly how much money I don’t have and take out more than I have in my checking. I also have my account set up to transfer a few bucks from checking to savings every 2 weeks. That way, I can earn up to 17 cents a month in interest (see, the funny isn’t working – I’ll just get to the story). Anyway, I checked my account today just to see how much money I don’t have. Turns out, it’s most of it. Some automatic transfer took more money out of my checking account than I had. So my savings account stepped up to the plate and saved the day (maybe that’s how it got the name “savings account”). It sacrificed some of its own money for the better of the team. And the bank only charged me $7 for this act of kindness. So I went to look at which transfer put me over the top. Car insurance? iTunes? Girls Gone Wild: Semester Abroad? Nope. It was the automatic debit that my savings account takes out every two weeks! (Say what?!)

To recap, my savings account tried to take more money from my checking account than was in there. When my checking account is threatened like that, my savings account deposits money in there to help out at a cost of $7 per transaction. So my savings account took too much out of my checking account so the same savings account had to put money into my checking account for it to take out. And my bank apparently charges my bank accounts $7 to play this fucked-up fiscal version of hot potato. The left hand didn’t take from the right hand, the left hand saw that the right hand didn’t have what it wanted, so it gave the right hand some of what it wanted, then took some of it back and threw some of it down the toilet. This is another example of idiot tax. But somehow I don’t feel like I’m the idiot this go-around.

Our camp was at Hueston Woods last week and I was taking pictures of the kids and counselors in the kayaks and out of the kayaks and stuff (man, I'm just really not hitting my stride today) and I pointed the camera at one of the counselors to try to get a shot of her with her towel folded up on her head to keep the sun off her face. She shoved her hand into the camera and said…


Quote of the Day 7/22/06


Jen: "No swimsuit shots."
Me: "What if I promise to only get you from the head up?"
Jen: "No, I don't really like my face either."

OK, how about the forehead up?


Bankless in Ohio,

Fishman.


Still Standing Right Here…

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