Imagine having several bank accounts but only one account that’s a joint account with your spouse. If you had a check in your spouse’s name, you wouldn’t be able to deposit the check in any account except the joint account. That makes sense, right?

In this story, one woman didn’t seem to understand that simple concept. The story is told from the perspective of the bank teller who had to deal with her drama, and yes, it was quite a bit of drama.

To be fair, I think the customer simply didn’t understand how things work at a bank and was stressed out about paying bills, but she was still really annoying.

Keep reading for all the details.

Do you want me to think you’re stealing your husband’s money? [Long rant]

Woman in the drive-thru wanted to cash her husband’s pay cheque.

That’s fine, did you sign the back of it also?

She said no, so I send it back out (I didn’t even take it out of the tube at this point), and then carry on when she sent it back.

Cheque is made out to John, but only Jane has signed that back of it. Go back over, ask if John is in the car, and then the attitude starts.

It wasn’t that easy.

J: “No, he’s out of town, at work.”

Me: “Ok, well I can’t cash this without his signature also, so-”

J: “I’m his WIFE!”

Me: “I understand, but he has to sign it also to cash it. I can-”

J: “Well, just deposit it then. We have a joint account.”

But it wasn’t that simple.

Ok, I was going to suggest that. So, using her debit card, I look her up. The accounts on her debit card are only in her name, but they have a second set of accounts in both. I deposit the cheque, send the receipt, and carry on.

Fast forward to an hour later. I call the next customer to my window, and guess who it is?

J: “You waited on me in the drive-up, and you put the money in the wrong account!”

Me: “I’m sorry?”

She double checked.

J: “I told you to deposit the money into my debit card account, and you didn’t! I have bills coming out, and now because of YOU, I can’t pay them!”

I look up her account, and..

Me: “I deposited it into your joint account?”

J: “NO! You put it in the wrong one. I TOLD you to put it on my debit card. You can’t just change the account without notifying me.”

The customer was wrong.

Me: “The account for your card isn’t a joint account.”

J: “YES IT IS. I GOT HIS NAME ADDED.”

Me: “Legal title: Jane Doe.”

J: “Yes, that’s me! And John Doe is on there too!”

Me: “No he isn’t.”

She explains the situation.

We went back and forth a bit before I finally convinced her that, no, he hadn’t been added to the account.

J: “Well, I’m still his wife. You should’ve just put it in the account I told you. Now I’m going to be overdrawn when my bill hits this evening! What are YOU going to do about it?”

Me: “Well, since it was a cheque, it wouldn’t be available until tomorrow anyway. Any bill removed tonight would overdraw your account any way. I can’t reverse it anymore, since you waited an hour to come in, and I can’t withdraw it since the money isn’t in your account yet.”

J: “WE COULD’VE AVOIDED ALL THIS IF YOU JUST PUT IT IN MY ACCOUNT.”

She laid it all out.

By now, I’m irritated, and a line is forming.

Me: “You’re right; I could have. Then your bills would’ve come out, probably leaving you with a few hundred in the account. Then maybe you would’ve used your debit card for groceries and shopping. So, now you have about a hundred or so in your account. Then, the back room would’ve looked at the transaction, and noticed that John Doe’s cheque never went into an account for John Doe. They don’t know if you’re his wife, or if you’re a relative who stole his cheque. So they’re going to say “this was never Jane’s money, we need to return a copy of the cheque so John can have his money.” And the money for that cheque will be taken from your account. And they won’t call you, and they won’t care you’re now overdrawn. And it’ll be a week or more before that cheque is delivered.”

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At this point she’s kind of shrunk a little in size.

Me: “SO! Since I deposited the money into an account with his name on it, you can just go ahead tomorrow and transfer it over into your billing account. And we won’t have to worry about you losing all this money a few weeks from now, when the back room decides you have no right to it.”

The lady finally understood.

End of the long story, she is suddenly as nice as pie, thanks me for explaining it to her, and tells me if she has any issue with the transfer, she’ll get help at the branch before she goes to work.

Should I have said I couldn’t deposit it into the linked account? In hindsight, yes, I should have. But when you tell me to put it into the JOINT account, and there’s only ONE?

Bonus financial advice: if you have an ACH payment that evening, don’t have only $3 in your account. A cheque won’t be available immediately.

That sounds like a really frustrating situation for the employee and for the customer who clearly was stressed about money and didn’t understand the rules.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a barista whose keen eye uncovered a customer scheme for free coffee.

Let’s see how Reddit responded to this story.

One person thinks she shouldn’t have deposited the check.

A woman shares what happened with her joint account.

This sounds frustrating for both people involved. For the bank teller, obviously it’s frustrating when the customer seems to argue with you and not understand the bank rules. Clearly, she can’t do something she’s not allowed to do. Then for the customer, who doesn’t understand the rules, she’s frustrated because she’s holding a check and needs to pay her bills.

I’m glad the customer finally understood the situation and relented. That was the real win, but it took a lot of drama to get there.

They both had a very frustrating day!

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a waitress who refused to return a tip after a party returned to the restaurant with a complaint.