Hungry Jacks And The Bank Mistake (Part 3)

Same Elevator As Najla

Skipping forward to the day at hand, figuring that I would be later than Najla to work, I was surprised that the both of us turned up at the elevators around the same time. As we greeted and I made my way to get the mail she held the elevator doors open for me and jumping inside, off we went to level two. Everyone is entitled to being tardy once in a while but lets just hope we don’t make a routine of it.

With the mail being complete within the hour, I headed out on an errand of my own, having to deliver a brief to a barrister who was going away for a week on holiday. Knowing that Jana needed me to head out to obtain the petty cash for the day, I headed over to her desk and uttered “If you want to send me out on an errand, now would be the best time”.

Sounding sorry, she replied “I’m so busy today, sorry” which didn’t phase me the slightest as I like running errands. Like a source told me today, when you’re out there in the open sun running errands, the day goes quicker than being in the office and it holds much truth to the fact that I love running around. The errand didn’t take more than half an hour of my time as I headed up to Phillip Street, dropped off the brief and then made my way back to work.

David’s Birthday Plans

The word was mustering around the legal department of David’s birthday party for the night. From what whispers I could hear, the party was beginning at 3:30 p.m. and we were supposedly heading to Bridie O Riley’s but instead, we headed to another hotel where the little part at Wynyard station is. As David’s birthday card was being passed around, we heard of his being a fishing fanatic and how with our money, they had bought him a fishing reel. From what whispers I also do hear, the ladies of legal consulted Gawain who now has that red hair look going on.

Apparently, David and Gawain have struck up some sort of chord in fishing and Gawain looked the best man to suit up for the job of choosing the right fishing reel. When David’s card made the rounds to my hands I was trying to be unique in what I wrote instead of just following the trend like on the last card. Therefore, I wrote ‘Hope you have a happy birthday, celebrate to the fullest and as always, keep it reel’, the last word being a pun on his fishing reel. Considering David’s field of expertise and his zany antics, I figure he’ll understand the pun once read.

Lunch In Circles

Cutting now to lunch at midday, I headed out with Linh, Rafferty and that big tall guy whose name I don’t yet know, he’s been out with us before. Being without leadership that Matthias expediently shows, the four of us were trying to come to terms with where we were headed. Undecided on where we wanted to head I noted “I don’t care, as long as I have something meaty to eat”. That sprung the call for hamburgers but yet, we were just walking around in circles, chatting to each other and feeling dazed to reality.

To give you an example of how out of it the four of us were feeling (Probably by all the exhaust fumes and toxic air), we crossed a road when the lights had just turned green and stood in the middle with the cars constantly beeping at us. Frozen, we were uncertain whether to make a dash across the rest of the street or retreat back to the other side and finally, after Linh clicked and then shouted “Fuck” whilst laughing we all trekked across the street.

Slapping ourselves in the head for not being with it, we finally decided that we would head for Hungry Jacks in Wynyard. However, Linh had an idea of heading to a restaurant just across the street for some pasta and even though I knew it wouldn’t fill my desires up, we headed across the street. “Are we going to make sure we don’t just walk across the street” Rafferty noted cynically and with those words, we watched ourselves carefully, making no oblivious mistakes.

Journeying inquisitively into this restaurant, all except for Linh were let down at the tiny selection of food available. Thinking that this was a joke, we didn’t want to pay a heap of money for food that would partially fill us up but as we looked over towards the tables Linh assured us that they had to prepare the food and it was totally different. Nevertheless, everyone had made up their mind that Hungry Jacks was the go and therefore, we headed there, bought our food in line and then waited for some tables to clear up.

Let me just take this time to note that Rafferty looked very intrigued when it came to me chatting. You could see in his eyes that he wanted to make friends and somehow, I felt like I was looked up to slightly because Matthias wasn’t there to lead. Earlier in our little adventure I started cussing in Lebanese from a subconscious whim and as he turned to me curiously asking “What did you say just then”, I realized he was Lebanese. “I thought you were Italian” I noted to him as he doesn’t look Lebanese at all.

Nevertheless, we were on a higher plateau now as he told me about his Leb friends and I advised him how I used to hang out with a bunch of Lebs but as you know, we had a scuffle. When we finally found ourselves four seats together, we sat down and started scoffing down our meals. Well, considering that I was the last to finish eating, sacrificing some chips for the sake of spare time, I figure I was the most moderate eater there.

Who Is Better Looking

However, I did join most of the conversation as we talked about the train prices going up, how they thought Delphi from our section was hot and how I thought Zenia was hot. What seems to surprise me is their taste in women compared to mine. Sure Delphi is great looking but along with her morbid tendencies, I would much prefer Zenia. However, the three of them thought that Zenia wasn’t that good looking and as I dropped the bombshell that Delphi was 21, they dropped one on me, allowing me to ponder over the truth that Zenia was only 21.

Making Friends At Work

Heading back to work, I stopped out the front to have a little chat with Thalia who was standing alone and having a cigarette. As the others walked over to have their rudimentary cigarette break, Thalia and I chatted about the weekend coming up and how it was good of me to be finding friends at work so suddenly. When you think about it, I always thought I would be the one who would be the loner, eating in parks by myself and having no friends.

However, I have turned out to be totally opposite, thanks to Linh and his being on level with me when it comes to making friends and hanging out with them. In regards to Najla, she hasn’t found herself a friend at work yet and although she isn’t an outcast, no one’s approached her as yet, not even Thalia. Maybe that has something to do with her being a church girl but those tendencies aside, let’s hope she doesn’t start to hate work after she starts this college course.

Najla is finishing a paralegal course that is already one year completed. Having one more year to complete, Najla is going to attend night classes which could inevitably be her downfall at work. Despite that, when finishing my chat with Thalia, I excused myself to talk with the guys in their little group. Seeing that I didn’t have much change in my wallet, I asked if anyone could contribute to a packet of chewing gum and well enough, Linh and Rafferty put some dibs in.

It was all well worth the money however as when I bought the chewing gum I shared it around until there was none left. With our little gathering now at a close, we headed upstairs, said goodbye to each other and were on our way. Noting about my early departure from work for a birthday party, Linh and the others seemed a touch envious as well as surprised. They were probably thinking “What a bastard, he gets to leave work early and do all this fancy shit” and I guess this is what everyone means by the stigma between legal and claims.

Cheque To The Bank

Heading back to work after lunch, Najla headed on her lunch break and then I started on a brief as with that one day off and my lagging tendencies including Monday off, I am getting behind considerably. Regardless, at some time during the afternoon, I was approached by Jana to finally claim the petty cash. Taking the cheque in hand and stashing it in my pocket, I headed out for my brisk walk, unaware of what would lie ahead of me.

Making my brisk walk to the National Bank on George Street, I walked in with the cheque and after small patience in the line, I was served. The lady was a touch old, probably around 48 years of age and from the onset, her stuttering ways made me believe that she was a couple of months into her job or that she was one of the careless ones who could easily make a mistake. Well, whichever she was, as I handed her the cheque and the list in which I wanted the money broken down (Written on a post-it note) she began with the highest notes, counting it in front of me.

When it came down to the two dollar coins in which I was supposed to receive $50 worth, she handed me a small plastic thing holding a bunch of two dollar coins and noted that there was $50 worth in there. As I started to count it through the plastic my count seemed to fall short a couple of dollars so she counted it twice in front of me and even weighed it on the money weighing machine. This must have confused her in a way that made me feel like she shouldn’t be around money because she’s too easily confused.

Oblivion would have best described her method of paying me, she didn’t have a series of steps which worked effectively. Waiting around for some one dollar coins to come through as she had none, we got into some small talk and how the banks would be closing on Monday. Counting up all the ones, I trusted her judgment as she placed it on the weighing machine and then getting to the fifty cent coins, we finally began on the twenty cent coins.

The cheque was for $517.20 and as she handed me over $20 worth of twenty cent pieces, it just didn’t look right. Suddenly, there was too much gold and silver to carry around in my hands, causing a problem for myself on the way back to work. Asking her if she could calculate Jana’s breakdown on the post-it note, she done just as I asked and came up with the same amount. However, here is what escapes me and obviously he mind.

The Extra Twenty Dollars

It wasn’t until later that I realized when she counted the twenty cent pieces, she only added twenty cents instead of twenty dollars worth that she had handed over to me. On the post-it note, Jana asked for only one twenty cent coin and the lady behind the counter confused herself by adding up the amount right from the post-it note but forgetting so easily that she handed me $20 worth of twenty cent coins.

Figuring that the calculation was correct but knowing in the back of my mind that it was around $20 in excess, I asked her for an envelope to carry the notes and something for all the coins. After foraging around, she found me one of those bank bags that armored car guys carry their cash and money in. If this wasn’t obvious enough to wannabe robbers, when I filled up the bag with the coins and began on my trek back to work, it was open season to thieves.

However, looking stern and a terror to approach with my expressionless stroll back to work, no one touched me. Changing hands each fifty meters or so, it wasn’t until I was back at work handing over the money that we both realized, the money I had accounted for was wrong. At first sight of all the twenty cent pieces Jana remarked “God, look at all that change, it won’t fit” and as I noted it said so on her little post-it note, I bid Jana to get out her little calculator so I could prove her wrong.

Counting the amount correctly on the post-it note, we both realized that we were only supposed to get one twenty cent piece, not twenty dollars worth. Therefore, I had cheated the bank out of $19.80 and as Jana sarcastically noted “I’ll be expecting a call from the bank later” I knew, there was no way they could track it back to us. For one, the lady didn’t even write on the back of the cheque how much went through her hands to me and secondly, she didn’t bother double checking how much money she handed over.

The money was ours and as Jana asked “What am I going to do with all this money” I noted, “Why don’t we put it towards David’s birthday”. Of course, I was only joking around and the money stayed in petty cash but now that we’re floating $20 over the amount needed, I figure Jana will probably take out some piece by piece for her own use.