Checks

[J.Wondergem]

I got a dozing job one time smoothing out the whole yard. Took a few days to do it. I lady came out and asked when I be done. I said Saturday about noon. She said Ok Ill pay you then. Come Saturday I finished up , loaded the dozer up and nobody was home, so I took time to clean the dozer grease it up , still nobody came home so I left and went back Sunday morning, rang the door bell until she finally came out, said she didn't have the money. I had a paper wrote up and said sign here, she did. 9 months later after I sent 9 reminders to her I sent a notice that I was taking her to court. The court sent a sheriff to her house and served her, The day before we were to have court, I got a check in the mail from her credit union. I called the court and told them and they said did she pay you 25 bucks to have it served? I said no, I'm just glad to get my money.

 

[rrlund]

I got a dozing job one time smoothing out the whole yard. Took a few days to do it. I lady came out and asked when I be done. I said Saturday about noon. She said Ok Ill pay you then. Come Saturday I finished up , loaded the dozer up and nobody was home, so I took time to clean the dozer grease it up , still nobody came home so I left and went back Sunday morning, rang the door bell until she finally came out, said she didn't have the money. I had a paper wrote up and said sign here, she did. 9 months later after I sent 9 reminders to her I sent a notice that I was taking her to court. The court sent a sheriff to her house and served her, The day before we were to have court, I got a check in the mail from her credit union. I called the court and told them and they said did she pay you 25 bucks to have it served? I said no, I'm just glad to get my money.

I don't know if you ever knew the guy or not, he lived on 57 by the Half Way. He wanted to buy some hay. He came and got two round bales in his pickup and paid me. Less than a week later, he came back wanting more. I loaded up two more, then he said he didn't have his checkbook, he'd pay me next time. Next time, he paid me half what he owed me from the time before, but now he was down three bales. This went on until he was down over $400. I told him no more until he got caught up. He stopped showing up. Kim went over there, said she saw him pull back the curtain, but he wouldn't come to the door.

She tried a couple of more times and I was getting tired of playing games with him. I filed a claim in small claims court here in Montcalm County just for the principle of it. They told me we'd either have to serve him ourselves or pay the Kent County Sheriffs Department to serve him. He wouldn't come to the door of course. He didn't know our younger son and he finally got him to come to the door and served him.

Well, then he didn't show up for court. The judge said you win, he owes you the money. I said what good does that do? I already knew he owned it to me. He said well, you can garnshee his wages. I garnshed his milk check, but Michigan Milk told me that his check wasn't big enough to cover the assignments that he already had against it. I waited until things greened up in the spring, figuring maybe he'd be shipping more milk and I finally got my money, but what a royal pain that was.

 

[Not db4600]

I remember them and even knowing thry existed and having written a few myself, it still bends my mind that we were that stupid at one time.

In small town settings where owners and patrons knew each other it was a sensible experiment. Me being too young to write checks in that era never directly experienced it. It was a handy option for Ma to grab a pack of pork chops after writing her last one for your school clothes or maybe Pa grab a pack of sickles at the dealer, but I would venture to guess that the percentage of counter checks used at the bakery was far less than the percentage used at the tavern in most small towns.

 

[NDIHC]

In small town settings where owners and patrons knew each other it was a sensible experiment. Me being too young to write checks in that era never directly experienced it. It was a handy option for Ma to grab a pack of pork chops after writing her last one for your school clothes or maybe Pa grab a pack of sickles at the dealer, but I would venture to guess that the percentage of counter checks used at the bakery was far less than the percentage used at the tavern in most small towns.

And chances are that the business and the patron banked at the same small town bank back then. Way back in history, like in the early to mid 1900s, our small town had several banks. But from probably the 1960s and on there was only one bank in town and pretty much everyone had an account there.

 

[GeneMO]

Kinda a local low life, my dad knew him, ran out of gas right in front of our farm house. We were all asleep, but he banged on the door. My dad went out, got him a couple of gallon out the farm tank. My dad was trying to give him the gas, but the guy insisted on giving him a check. It was probably for a dollar, maybe $1.25. Anyway, the check bounced. Now, why did he do that?

Gene

 

[da.bees]

Kinda a local low life, my dad knew him, ran out of gas right in front of our farm house. We were all asleep, but he banged on the door. My dad went out, got him a couple of gallon out the farm tank. My dad was trying to give him the gas, but the guy insisted on giving him a check. It was probably for a dollar, maybe $1.25. Anyway, the check bounced. Now, why did he do that?

Gene

I ran out of gas and borrowed a gallon from a homeowner nearby. I put the gas in and went to station to buy gas and refill borrowed can. When I returned the can the guy had a bag of peaches and a bag of vegetables waiting for me.

 

[paul]

A brother of a classmate stiffed me for 350 bu of oats. Long ago. He was a horse person.

If you don’t get paid by check, is it all cash, or what?

Everyone wants cash on Craig’s List and I understand why, but for a bigger item there is no way I’m driving into a strange yard with $4000 cash in my pocket either, for exact same reason.

Bad deal on society, really, we have gone downhill so much.

I just bought a combine off Craig’s, the lady took a check but we had a nice conversation first, I offered any other arrangement if she wanted, and I didn’t pick the combine up for a week…. Very nice family enjoyed working with her.

Paul

 

[37chief]

I ran out of gas and borrowed a gallon from a homeowner nearby. I put the gas in and went to station to buy gas and refill borrowed can. When I returned the can the guy had a bag of peaches and a bag of vegetables waiting for me.

I don't think many people would do what you did, now days. A guy ran out of gas next to my place. I always have a can of gas in my truck. The guy asked if it was for people who run out of gas, no I said it was for when I run out of gas. Then he got in his car and left. He didn't even ask if He could pay me for the gas. stan

 

[Wdj]

Had a hay customer that got to paying for the last pickup load when he got the next one. Kinda knew what was eventually gonna happen. Had to take the check to his bank first week of the month for it to be any good. Sure enough, he stopped coming back, never got paid for the last one he got. But, saw him around town a few times and he always said "You're the guy I owe money". Oh well, he was a nice guy and definitely hard up.

 

[muleboss]

I remember them and even knowing thry existed and having written a few myself, it still bends my mind that we were that stupid at one time.

Why do you think we were stupid

 

[Steven Allen]

I remember them and even knowing thry existed and having written a few myself, it still bends my mind that we were that stupid at one time.

Stupid?

 

[J.Wondergem]

I don't know if you ever knew the guy or not, he lived on 57 by the Half Way. He wanted to buy some hay. He came and got two round bales in his pickup and paid me. Less than a week later, he came back wanting more. I loaded up two more, then he said he didn't have his checkbook, he'd pay me next time. Next time, he paid me half what he owed me from the time before, but now he was down three bales. This went on until he was down over $400. I told him no more until he got caught up. He stopped showing up. Kim went over there, said she saw him pull back the curtain, but he wouldn't come to the door.

She tried a couple of more times and I was getting tired of playing games with him. I filed a claim in small claims court here in Montcalm County just for the principle of it. They told me we'd either have to serve him ourselves or pay the Kent County Sheriffs Department to serve him. He wouldn't come to the door of course. He didn't know our younger son and he finally got him to come to the door and served him.

Well, then he didn't show up for court. The judge said you win, he owes you the money. I said what good does that do? I already knew he owned it to me. He said well, you can garnshee his wages. I garnshed his milk check, but Michigan Milk told me that his check wasn't big enough to cover the assignments that he already had against it. I waited until things greened up in the spring, figuring maybe he'd be shipping more milk and I finally got my money, but what a royal pain that was.

Yes. i knew that rat. skinned everyone he could including the White dealer in Greenville.

 

[showcrop]

While 90% of our customers paid by check through the mail, or it would be waiting when we got there with their next delivery, there were those few problem customers who you had to play the game with. Once a check bounced, if it bounced again, it couldn't be redeposited. Then we would get into aggressive mode. One time we called the bank every day for over two weeks checking to see if there was adequate money in the account to cover the bad check. Once there finally was enough, I jumped in my truck and drove right to the nearest branch and got the customer's check replaced with a bank check. One customer got very angry when I got my money after two weeks because he had written other checks, counting the bad check as money still in his account, causing a bunch of other checks to bounce. Like it was my fault.