Thursday, February 08, 2007

The land of the check...

When I moved here I had probably written... hm... three checks in my whole life and that was, what, 10 years earlier.

I started using online internet banking the second it was available (1995). So it took awhile to get used to this love of checks in this country. And at least I had done a university year here in the early 90s and knew the basics and didn't get as terrified as the husband the first time he got all the checks he had written in return (thinking they had all bounced and he'll get arrested for checking fraud or something, not knowing that this is standard procedure here and somewhere in this country someone is sorting checks non-stop).

After a year we here we finally could do online banking and pay most of our bills online. But still we have to write checks now and then. And I carry one loose check in my wallet in case a "checking moment" should occur.

I had reason to write a lot of checks recently. Maybe I'll order special checks to "spice" this administrative task up a bit??

How about this "Boutique checks" from Image Checks? According to their website these checks will help me, quote "Capture the wonderful feeling you get from taking in the sights and sounds at your favorite shopping spot." Hm.

7 comments:

Annika said...

Fewer and fewer checks these days...It used to be a time when I paid everything with checks. And the sells-people always used to ask for your ID! They still do, I guess. With the debit och credit card you are never asked to show your ID (strange). I don't miss the checks at all. The one you have posted here is very cute, though...

Anne-Marie said...

Detta är checkens förlovade land. Jag skrev en del checkar i Sverige men inte alls som här. Alla olika typer av checkar är "big business" här. En del är faktiskt riktigt snygga.

JaCal said...

Annika - here in CA they always check your id, no matter what means of payment you use (well, not cash...) so I'm used to show it all the time. We have a combined checking account and the husband refuses to get customized checks, so I just have plain boring ones...

Anne-Marie - ja, visst är det, jag blir galen när jag handlar om hamnar bakom folk som står och pillar med sina checkblock! Känns så ålderdomligt!

Anonymous said...

Stavas det "check" i USA? Här stavas det "cheque".

Berit said...

Girls, girls! Don't you have plastic?

JaCal said...

Matilda - ja... hm... ser "check" överallt - men "cheque" ser ju inte så konstigt ut det heller - kanske skriver man båda - nu blir jag osäker?

Berit - yes, plastic rules (I hardly ever have cash either, I'm so bad at passing by an ATM (always have cash in the car for "emergencies" however). I only wish all the state departments I'm dealing with right now would take plastic... they keep wanting old fashioned checks...

Anonymous said...

In the US it is written check. I Canada and the rest of the English speaking world, I guess, it is cheque.