Apparently I Needed Another Lesson on Why I Should Not Write Anymore Checks

(Warning: the first part of this post may reveal a future tendancy to yell “Get off my lawn” to children, or perhaps just how my frugality will supercede even the cutest of children)…(and there’s a PSA in this post too)..…

A couple of weeks ago it was a typical Tuesday evening in which Hubs was already at the ballfield with one son and I was home with two others, having thrown dinner on plates from the crockpot and was now about to drive the boys to one of their own games.

There was a knock at the front door and since the Jehovah’s Witness walkers usually are out on the weekend we didn’t do our usual hide away from the front door which has glass for easy viewing. Well, I saw a couple of little kid bodies, so I opened the door to be greeted by two little Cub Scouts and their dad…..and a sales brochure. The boys were very young and had a clipboard and told me they were selling popcorn and I looked at the order form and Holy Toledo!!! The least expensive item was $24.00 and was for caramel corn and I was thinking how I could buy some Fiddle Faddle for about $2.99 at the grocery store and how I don’t because that stuff is hard on teeth. So I’m flipping through this brochure and my eyeballs are reading the selections of popcorn for just $40.00 and my mind is thinking, “Why didn’t we leave this house 5 minutes ago!!!. What on earth do I say??? Do I turn this 4 and 6 year old away coldheartedly????? Do I tell them I gave at the office???”

This family lives in the n’hood on a different street. I vaguely remember them selling something else a year or so ago. The boys go to private school so not seen them at the n’hood public school.

So after my hemming and hawing about how we already have so much popcorn, the dad says that I can make a donation and it will go toward buying popcorn for the troops overseas. I say OK, but I do not have cash. He said that a check would be fine. So I write a check for $10 (Three boys at home is expensive! I spend one hour on Sundays looking at the grocery flyers and organizing my coupons and buying on sale....have spent $160 on my High Schooler’s coupon books that he needs to sell for his high school sports team, and the middle school puts together holiday boxes for the troops in which I enthusiastically give items they want like dvds and toiletries).

The six-year-old takes my check and puts it on his clipboard and they go on their way and I mumble loudly to myself as I get the boys out the door. Please don’t ever ask my kids what I am really like at home. JK.

--ALMOST TWO WEEKS LATER—

A woman I’ve never seen before parks on our street and approaches me in the driveway (I’m outside in the early evening). She introduces herself and tells me what street she lives on (it’s nearby but not in our ‘hood). She has a folded-up check in her hand.

She says, “I am having work done on our house and the contractor working on my house, saw this in the street in front of my house and brought it to me. Here is the contractor’s name and number if you want to ask him any questions.”

She hands me the check, and I see that it’s my check that I made out to the Boy Scout Troop and it is roughed up a bit from being in the street for who knows how long, and that is how she knew my address (since it’s printed on it, along with the bank info and my checking account numbers, HELLO, haven’t I already learned that people can print their own checks and copy my signature????).

Me: “Thank you so much for bringing this to me. I wrote this check for a Cub Scout at my door and seems they lost it in their door-to-door n’hood selling. That was so nice of you to bring it over.”

Holy Crap—I have really learned now to not write anymore checks. Unless I accompany the recipient of my check to the bank. Now I’m on the daily lookout for anymore funky checks on our checking account online (and BTW the online check paying for the past six months on our new checking acct has been great).

I wonder if this dad/neighbor one block away from me even knows that my check is missing. Maybe he gave the clipboard to the wife and her job is to submit everything but she is not aware of my check? Since I didn’t buy anything there will not be a delivery to my house so they won’t be back to my house……….unless to fess up.