Sunday, January 25, 2004
The First American Bank of Dave
None of what I'm about to discuss is a complaint: I just find it interesting.
For some reason, starting around college, I've functioned as a bank for a lot of my friends. Before you think this is similar to the comment that parents make when their children ask for money, it's not: In reality, banks don't give you money that isn't yours. They may loan it to you, but you have to give it back. Maybe parents should say, "What, do I look like the lawyer presenting you with your inheritance?", but that would be silly.
Nevertheless, banks, for the most part, provide loans, and manage cash flow. I seem to do both. I don't know why, necessarily, it usually falls on me - many of my friends make plenty of money. It might be because I tend to keep track of money better than most, but I think it's really just momentum - people know I like being responsible, and I haven't screwed things up with their money before, so if someone's gotta handle stuff, why not me? Fair enough, I guess.
To be honest, I usually don't mind it. I like being able to help my friends if they need loans, but usually, that's not the case. There was, however, one time in college, where my fraternity owed me about 5000 dollars. It's not like I'm loaded - that was a large amount. However, like I said, usually, that doesn't happen.
What happens more often, is that I make hotel reservations for a bunch of us, or I pay for a gift, and people pay me back. There are benefits and deficits to this. One nice thing is that I can charge whatever we're paying for, and this gets my Sony Points on my credit card! Snazzy! An annoyance is having to remind my friend that they owe me money - I'm sure they don't like it, and neither do I. Usually, they're pretty good about it all.
However, if there was a complaint, it's actually more of a superficial one - illustrated nicely by what happened this weekend. This weekend, I went to Boston for my fraternity's annual Alumni Hockey Game. (For those of you that are wondering why I haven't posted in a while, there's your answer. All two of you that might actually be wondering.) Typically, the alums give a donation to the active chapter to thank them for holding this event. Instead of all giving individual donations, we like to present one lump sum from the group of us. I volunteer to collect the money and write the check - this doesn't cost me anything, and I can make sure it gets done. That's fine - I don't mind, and I'm glad to help. The one annoying effect is that I write a check, and inevitably, everyone gives me cash.
Cash ain't so bad - unless you are carrying too much of it. I'm in Boston, so there's no easy way to deposit it. Instead, I've been walking around with about 1000 bucks in my wallet. Not a good idea. I especially wary of this since I was being stupid a month ago and lost my wallet while I was carrying 500 bucks around. And I didn't even have a good excuse for that. At this point, my wallet can't close. I think I'm going to develop back problems from sitting lopsided. Fortunately, I'm big and scary-looking, so no one would ever thing about mugging me.
For some reason, starting around college, I've functioned as a bank for a lot of my friends. Before you think this is similar to the comment that parents make when their children ask for money, it's not: In reality, banks don't give you money that isn't yours. They may loan it to you, but you have to give it back. Maybe parents should say, "What, do I look like the lawyer presenting you with your inheritance?", but that would be silly.
Nevertheless, banks, for the most part, provide loans, and manage cash flow. I seem to do both. I don't know why, necessarily, it usually falls on me - many of my friends make plenty of money. It might be because I tend to keep track of money better than most, but I think it's really just momentum - people know I like being responsible, and I haven't screwed things up with their money before, so if someone's gotta handle stuff, why not me? Fair enough, I guess.
To be honest, I usually don't mind it. I like being able to help my friends if they need loans, but usually, that's not the case. There was, however, one time in college, where my fraternity owed me about 5000 dollars. It's not like I'm loaded - that was a large amount. However, like I said, usually, that doesn't happen.
What happens more often, is that I make hotel reservations for a bunch of us, or I pay for a gift, and people pay me back. There are benefits and deficits to this. One nice thing is that I can charge whatever we're paying for, and this gets my Sony Points on my credit card! Snazzy! An annoyance is having to remind my friend that they owe me money - I'm sure they don't like it, and neither do I. Usually, they're pretty good about it all.
However, if there was a complaint, it's actually more of a superficial one - illustrated nicely by what happened this weekend. This weekend, I went to Boston for my fraternity's annual Alumni Hockey Game. (For those of you that are wondering why I haven't posted in a while, there's your answer. All two of you that might actually be wondering.) Typically, the alums give a donation to the active chapter to thank them for holding this event. Instead of all giving individual donations, we like to present one lump sum from the group of us. I volunteer to collect the money and write the check - this doesn't cost me anything, and I can make sure it gets done. That's fine - I don't mind, and I'm glad to help. The one annoying effect is that I write a check, and inevitably, everyone gives me cash.
Cash ain't so bad - unless you are carrying too much of it. I'm in Boston, so there's no easy way to deposit it. Instead, I've been walking around with about 1000 bucks in my wallet. Not a good idea. I especially wary of this since I was being stupid a month ago and lost my wallet while I was carrying 500 bucks around. And I didn't even have a good excuse for that. At this point, my wallet can't close. I think I'm going to develop back problems from sitting lopsided. Fortunately, I'm big and scary-looking, so no one would ever thing about mugging me.
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