Yesterday I received my biweekly unemployment check as usual. I opened it up, signed the back, put it in my purse, and threw the rest of the things away, as I file my biweekly claims online. Today I went to deposit the check in the bank. When the ATM showed half of the balance I usually deposit, I panicked. I clicked “view check” and there it was, the same amount it was showing before. How could that happen?
I admit, I didn’t even look at my check. I turned it over, signed it, and threw the receipt away without looking at it. How stupid could I get? I’ve never done that before. I guess it had become such a routine, I wouldn’t expect anything else to be wrong. I immediately called my mom praying she didn’t take the trash out. Thank God she didn’t; the receipt was still in the trash. She read the top; the first week’s pay was normal. She read the second week’s pay. $7. WHAT?! For a week? There’s got to be a mistake, especially without an explanation. She gave me the numbers on the paper for reference.
So I called the automated system, waiting anxiously to speak to a human representative. Come to find out, so many people were calling, the system prompted me to call back later. How frustrating. I don’t know if it was human error (whether mine for filling the form out incorrectly online or a worker’s mistake) or computer error, but $7 is alarming. I’m not being ungrateful so I hope none of my readers see it as that. I just want to know if this is not an error why this happened.
This goes to show that keeping receipts is something that’s absolutely important. Thankfully my mom didn’t take the trash out, otherwise I may have been just insanely clueless. I am usually a receipt hoarder; I keep receipts for up to 6 months, even when most return policies are within 30 days. Who knows why I acted out of the ordinary yesterday, but my carelessness may have cost me.
Have you ever got rid of a receipt that you later needed? What was it for? Were you able to solve the problem?
By the way, I may have the most ridiculous sense of humor but the Whitney Houston gif was not only appropriate but one of the most hilarious gifs ever IMHO.
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My first bank account was a custodial savings account with my older sister when I was in middle school. There were supposed to be no monthly fees associated with the account, but every month I saw a $5 maintenance fee deducted on the statements. My 12 years old self saw nothing wrong with tossing my monthly statements in the trash so that’s exactly what I did. This went on for over a year until the monthly fees came up randomly in a conversation with my older sister. She was irate and said that the bank should not have been taking out the fee and that she wished I had informed her earlier. When I contacted the bank they said that if I could provide them with bank statements showing that the monthly fee had been deducted then they would reimburse me for each instance. Of course, the bank statements were long gone. I’ve never thrown out a bank statement since then.
Yikes Ugo, that has to hurt. Sometimes you have to buy your learning. Curious, did you have online banking? That’s 1 thing I do like about my bank, is that my statements are available online.
Lol what is that video from?? And I try to keep receipts from shopping for awhile. Until I can’t return the items anymore. But I think there is a great App that takes pictures of the receipts and store them for you. I think it’s called shoebox.
I think it was from an interview she did a few years ago, hilarious! Yes, I’ve heard about Shoeboxed and think it’s a great concept! I wonder if stores would take print out copies though.
Yes, this happened to me recently. I paid the electricity bill (it’s pay as you go meter) but then I could not find it for my accounts and I couldn’t remember the amount. This is why I need a good filing system.
I need a new filing system, since hubby always asks me where his papers are and, well, I simply don’t know! So we’re going to work on that ASAP.