Reply #7: checks are tough, always

[hfojvt]

especially large ones. A business is taking a chance accepting a large check and needs to have some way of reducing that risk. No system is gonna be perfect and, yes, sometimes they do lose good business by not taking checks.

One night, because I could not get a ride, I took a 70 mile bicycle trip. From about 11 p.m. until 7 a.m. the next morning. I was trying to get Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's autograph for a birthday present for my brother. I didn't own a car, and of course, there is no mass transit in this country. Nor could I find a friend to drive me, and I actually called about a dozen people, including some strangers, trying to swing a ride.

Anyway, so I am kinda bone tired, seventy miles from home by bicycle, and without enough cash to pay for a hotel. I didn't own a credit card at the time either. I cannot get a hold of my cousins who live in town, and the hotel will not take a check. A mere $50 or so, and they will not take a check. So I am forced to bicycle home. Actually, my legs had plenty of energy but I could not stay awake. Finally I checked another hotel about halfway home and they, bless them, took a check.

Although, there is another part of the story that I kick myself over. There was a Star Trek convention in town that day and Marina Sirtis was there. If I'd know that, I would have biked another ten or fifteen miles across town. Not sure how I would have found a place to sleep, but I regret not making that convention.