As I signed the slips to receive two checkbooks in front of the bullet-proof glass-enclosed teller at our bank this morning, I leaned in to ask him a question. There was no one else in the tiny bank to hear me, but since I was going directly against Laurent's advice on this, I thought it was better to whisper in case he could hear me from New York.
"Um, could I order more than two checkbooks this next time? Every time we run out we have to drive forty minutes round-trip to pick more up, and it would just be easier to get a whole bunch of them instead of coming to see you every few weeks." Inevitably*, the teller shook his head "no". I moved to phase two of my plea.
"I had to pay my son's lunchroom bill in cash yesterday. And since the town hall wouldn't take cash, I had to drive to the next town over to pay it to the Tresor Public. Which took half the morning. Which I wouldn't have had to do if we hadn't run out of checks. So you see, it just makes sense..." I trailed off as I saw I wasn't making any headway. The man just stared.
Then he cleared his throat. "I must strongly advise against it, Madame," he said, not actually giving me the option of taking his advice or not. "A check is like money. What if someone were to break into your house and steal your checkbooks? You wouldn't leave large piles of cash just lying around." I glared at him. Because that is exactly what Laurent had told me when I had asked why we couldn't just order a whole boxful this time. It's not that I don't respect Laurent's opinion, especially since we're living in his country. It's just that I set the risk of checkbook theft as about as high as the gypsies breaking in and stealing everything we have, which is a constant refrain of my FIL's.
So first of all, let's say someone actually breaks into your home and steals your checkbooks. Can't you just phone the bank to stop the checks? And secondly, the checkout lady at Hyper-U has never asked me for ID when I handed her a fifty euro bill, so no, checks AREN'T just like cash. And thirdly, just because of this weird French checkbook-theft paranoia, I had come up with a perfect hiding place for the checkbooks, from which I was planning on doling them out one by one to Laurent. I was even going to offer to take them back to the bank for safekeeping if he could actually find where I had hidden them.
And, last but not least, if I want to be reckless with my payment methods, isn't that for me to decide and not the bank teller?
I try so hard to avoid being the Ugly American. I try to keep my mouth shut. But, sometimes, when things just don't make sense to me, I can't help myself. "In America they give checks by the box, and I've never had a problem. I don't see why..." I actually had to bring my hand up to my mouth to stop the word-flow. I began backing up as I saw him do that annoying shrug thing that is included in basic training for anyone who sits behind a desk in France.
I reminded myself that this one guy was the person I would have to deal with for anything I wanted bank-wise in the foreseeable future. "But, of course, America might not be the best example to use right now...since our economy is in ruins and yours soon will be too, and it's probably all our fault," I said lightly. His brows became furrowed as he wondered what I was getting to. "What I mean to say is...I mean...what I didn't mean to say was that our way is the right way, especially in light of the current state of the world."
He began scratching his chin and looking around. "You know, two checkbooks will do me just fine this time." He nodded at the inevitability of my statement, and as I let Ella out through the door in front of me he yelled, "Give my greetings to your husband!" Although I could swear I heard him whisper under his breath as the door shut, "Poor guy".
*I say "inevitably" because it seems all official
answers to any questions are "no" the first time.
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14 comments:
can't you just go back in 2 weeks and get 2 more?
and don't they use debit cards over there?
I only write a check for rent. everyone else takes debit or direct debit from the checking account.
Elgin, I could...but it's in a town where we don't have anything else to do that is 20 minutes away.
And I think the check thing is a countryside thing, not a French thing. A friend who moved to Minnesota from New York said she noticed the same thing. Doctors, taxes, school stuff...we pay it all with checks. But regular bills are direct debit. In any case - we never have enough!
It's funny isn't it? Checks are treated so preciously here.
I've never understood it and I'm glad I'm not the only one!
Checks seem so last-century to me, but then I see all these people using them to pay for their groceries in the stores. I can't even remember how to write one from one time to the next, so seldom do I have the occasion.
I think it's true that you cannot stop payment on a check in France once you have signed it. But you can faire opposition to any checks you have lost before they are signed. So I don't know why they are guarded so jealously and doled out with such miserliness.
And I agree with you, the first answer to any question is always non, with a sort of sad, resigned shake of the head on the part of the official you've asked, as if you are hopelessly out of touch with reality. It makes you want to strangle people sometimes. (Thus the bullet-proof glass, I guess.)
Well, I had a checkbook stolen once, and I can tell you this was a very painful moment!
I had to "faire opposition" at my bank of course (and it cost me 16 euros).
The thief had used about half of my checkbook and since the checks were rejected at the bank I kept receiving very mean letters from the store owners where my checkbook had been used, asking me to pay them immediately what I owed them (and of course, it wasn't little amounts of money). So I had to go to the police station to declare the theft, they gave me a paper saying my checbook had been stolen, and I had to send a copy of the "déclaration de vol" to every single person that was complaining about my checks being rejected by my bank!
Needless say it was a big waste of time and money :(
The check thing is French, Amy, not just countryside, I'm afraid. I'm constantly told places don't take "carte bleue", such as hospitals, doctors,etc. Seems mad to me. BTW, am reading "French or Foe" by Polly Platt and she advises taking the damsel in distress approach, with a bit of flirting and you should get what you want. I can't say I've tried it, cos it goes against everything I stand for, but I'm working myself up to it!
(not a check remark)
Amy,why don't you get your picture taken at the Halte Garderie?They are lovely.
OK - this is interesting Isabelle. How was the thief able to spend all of those checks - didn't the store owners ask him/her for ID? Had they stolen your ID along with the checks? And if the store owners didn't verify that the check was yours, isn't it their responsibility for being suckers?
Also, just for Laurent's edification, was the checkbook stolen from your home or your purse?
Thanks!
Hi Amy,
My bank (which is an online bank) used to send my checkbooks through the mail (in an anonymous envelope, by looking at the envelope you couldn't tell it was from a bank).
So my checkbook was stolen between the bank and my place of residence.
Luckily for me, I check my banck account almost everyday on the internet and realized there were big amounts being spent from check numbers I didn't have...
Some of the store owners had asked for a ID and made a copy of it. After knowing my "plainte" at the police station they did send the copy of the ID to the police station, and I was asked to go there and recognize (or not) the ID.
It turns out it was an old style "carte d'identité" (not the new plastic little one, but a bigger one in paper), with my husband's name on it and the picture was of a black guy!
My husband is white, he doesn't have the French citizenship, and only owns a "carte de résident".
Anyway, just to let you know that there are some very well organised rings (réseaux in French), who still checkbooks, IDs etc. and they can make your life miserable...
OK - so that's a warning to all of us on French soil not to have our checkbooks sent through the mail (no matter how inconspicuous the envelope). I've heard the same about the DVD-delivery companies like Netflix in France. The DVDs keep getting stolen in the mail. What's up with mail theft here?
BUT...people ransacking your home to steal your well-hidden checkbooks? I'm still not buying it.
Thanks for sharing your traumatic story with us, Isabelle!
(And Etienne - I do not possess one current photo that actually looks like me in real life. But I'm not quite prepared to go to the halte garderie to get it done. Why don't you drop by on your next trip to do the job?)
Deal!But I did not know you had a real life...and I'll need help.Lulu as make up assistant,Max as prop master and Laurent for catering.
A lot of things may happen from the time you get check books to the time they are placed in a "safe place".What if you loose your purse or it gets stolen,what if your car gets broken into.In addition red flags are raised when checks are not used in their numerical order which has more chance to happen when you have a bunch of them at home.
20 years ago I was working in a camera video store and we were using a service that would certify big payments by check for a fee.A customer had to show two pieces of ID,mainly the National ID card and a driver's licence that we would describe in detail to the person at the other end of the phone.We would always take our time explaining what we were doing while observing the reaction of the customer.Still there was nothing to guard against theft by well organized professionals,Isabelle is dead on.
LMAo, so true. Only in france. only two. and it took two years for them to add et madame to our checks.
my husband does the gaulic shrug to me too and drives me mad. luckily our bank is about 50 feet from our house and we rarely write checks, but STILL! grrrrrr
The check thing is soooo archaic. I closed an account a few years ago and the bank lady worked herself into a tizzy because I didn't give the checkbook back for them to officially "destroy".
She never bought my logic that the account was closed and there was no money on it, so I could perfectly well chop them up at home.
I changed banks after that and never brought the checkbook back. The sleepless nights this woman must have had...
La Mom
An American Mom in Paris
Hah! I'm laughing about the gypsies breaking in because that actually happened to my grandparents in Provence. They broke into their house and stole all of the furniture that wasn't from IKEA.
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