When It's On
Read Topic
Watch Now
See Now
I went to the grocery store this weekend to buy some sundries, and something horrific happened. I got caught in line behind a woman who paid with a check. That's pure torture. I thought I was on "Punk'd." Who pays with a check anymore? I never do. I only use my American Express card. (wink) Writing out a check could not take longer. First of all, they don't even get the checkbook out until everything's bagged. Then they have to look at the driver's license, get a manager's approval, stamp it, put it in the special drawer... sacrifice a goat. It takes forever. Then they take out their register and balance their checkbook before they leave. "Let's see, carry the one, take away the nine, add the four..." Even when I used checks, I didn't record them. I just waited for them to bounce and then I knew how much I spent. And if you make a mistake, then you have to void it and start over, or put your initials on it to make it "legal." Is that really legal? How do they know who wrote the initials? It's just two capital letters. Unless you're Prince. Then it's just the one; "P." Maybe that's why he changed his name to that symbol for a while. Harder to forge. I'll bet he has purple checks... with rain on them. Purple Rain checks. Some people take the time to write in the "memo" line. That's so when they get their canceled checks back, they can remember what they were for. "To the LAPD. LAPD? What's this for? (look down to memo line) Ah, yes... bail. Lucky there's that memo line. I thought it was a reminder section. Like, if you write a check to your plumber. In the memo section you can put, "Remember to wear a belt next time you fix my sink."
 |
 |
||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
More Videos |
||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
|
The Ellen DeGeneres Show on Facebook
|
||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
Ellen's Thoughts
| Wednesday, May 28, 2008 | 11:00 AM
Checks and Balances
Share
Share Your Comments:
Hi, Ellen! I have an American Express card, but only use that for major purchases. I just couldn't enjoy my food if I knew it hadn't been paid for yet! I still write checks, but I make out the check ahead of time (all except for the amount, of course!) so it takes no more time than to use a credit card. Perhaps I'm still in the middle ages with that, but so be it. I'm "hip" in every other way. I don't look my age (55) I still listen to the latest songs and even download them from Itunes to my IPod, and then I burn CD's for my 24-year-old daughter! Take care and keep us laughing!
Oh my Ellen i am still laughing...Sacrifice a goat... seriously you rock my socks!!!
Kurtis Barton, Ontario Canada
DEAR ELLEN;
SEE HOW IT IS FOR US LIVING IN BUFFALO NEW YORK. I HAVE TO PUT UP WITH THIS EVER TIME I HIT THE STORE.SO I SHOP AFTER HOURS,AND USE MY DEBIT CARD FROM MY BANK IT'S GREAT.AND FOR OTHER'S THEY TAKE FROM PETER TO PAY PAUL .I BELIEVE IF YOU DO NOT HAVE THE CASH DO NOT BUY IT!!!!!
ALWAYS JUBY-DU
BUFFALO N.Y.
Hi Ellen, thank you sooo much for the cool IPod Nano. I was at your show Friday - well actually the riff raff room - but it was still fun. We got to play some games in the RRR - Carlos is great fun - and we watched you on the big screens. We look forward to seeing you in person next season. Have a great summer and good luck with all your plans. Wishing you all the best - you deserve it. ;) MC
Ellen when I read this on check writing I had to chuckle out loud because my mom who is 67 still writes checks for EVERYTHING. She doesn't have an atm card nor a check card nor any kind of card except maybe her social security card!!! She still believes that check writing is the way of the world although I have tried to educate her on ATM CHECK CARDS. I too "feel the pain" (and embarassment) when I go with her to the grocery store and she has to search through her big gigantic purse (which I call a suitcase) and find her checkbook, aha, located it, now to find the drivers license, well that takes another 10 minutes, then the pen. OH MY, OH MY!!!! .. now that everyone in line is po'd off she now has to write the check, then record it. WOW... even as her daughter I stand there anxious to just swipe my check card for her and let her write me the check at home!!!!! Sometimes its hard for elders to change but come on mom, let me take you to the bank and show you how easy it is to get a check card!!! But the thing is she wouldn't remember the pin number and would have to search her purse for that!!!!!! lol... I love my mom and patience is definately a virtue when we go to the grocery store, but we have to have respect for our elders so we quietly swear to ourselves as they take the time to write their checks!!!! Now the women who posted about her not having money in her bank and thats why she wrote the checks, come on now don't you know all these stores now have what they call virtual check verification and it calls your bank to verify funds on a check written, just use your atm credit line and that takes days to post and doesn't check the system!!!!!! (wink) and they don't come after you for a bounced check, there is no debtors prison for credit line overage just nasty phone calls from your credit card company!!!! lol.. just an fyi!!!!
Hi Ellen,
I didn't know that people still carries checks, I use cash a lot and usually end up behind the guy trying to complete a hostile take-over at the ATM.
I just heard a good joke:
A thief in Paris planned to steal some paintings from the Louvre.
After careful planning, he got past security,
stole the paintings, and made it safely to his van.
However, he was captured only two blocks away
when his van ran out of gas.
When asked how he could mastermind such a crime
and then make such an obvious error, he replied,
'Monsieur, that is the reason I stole the paintings.'
I had no Monet
to buy Degas
to make the Van Gogh.'
See if you have De Gaulle to send
this on to someone else.
I sent it to you because I figured
I had nothing Toulouse.
Love ya!
I have had to write checks lately, only because I didn't have any money and there was no money in my checking account. I couldn't use my check card (no money in there). It takes a day or two for a check to go through, so I was able to get money in there before it cleared the bank.
Ellen: Please feel my pain! I had to write a check at the Wal-Mart yesterday, because my cash was gone. I asked the cashier for a pen, having left mine in the laundrymat, and that young man looked art me as if I had asked him to lend me his liver!
Please have sympathy for us lonely check-writers, and understand that we too, have feelings, if not cash or credit :)
Home | Be a Part of the Show | Show Info | Giveaways | Games | Addictionary | Photos | Videos | Shop | Newsletter | Ellen's Life | Tickets
Email Ellen | FAQs | RSS | Site Map | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Advertise with Us
© 2009 WAD Productions, Inc. | In partnership with 
Ellen,
I have come to realize that I spend more on stuff I do not need when I pay with any card. When you have to look at your balance then write a check, you think twice about what you want to buy. Now as thing are going up I am going back to only taking out the amount of cash I can afford to spend at the store and that's it. Time for all of us to tighten our belts in more ways than one.
Posted by Maryann Molina | May 28, 2008 8:07 PM