Kenny and the $35.29 Big Gulps

Kenny, like half of the office, was a Canuck. Some things just plain escaped him. Debit cards were one of those things.

As mentioned in other stories, Kenny always had a Big Gulp. Every time I saw him he had a Big Gulp with him. Once, I saw him get into the van without one and I was shocked. Then he got a worried look on his face as he jumped out of the van. He scrambled around outside until he found his Big Gulp sitting on the curb. Every day Kenny would buy his Big Gulp, sometimes two or three of them a day. Without fail.

Firstline didn’t have the best track record when it came to paying employees. The first few weeks of the summer only a couple people got paid the right amount at the right time. We all opened up accounts at US Bank because it was right across the street from our office. Every payday the bank was a madhouse in the morning with everyone showing up to deposit checks and such.

Kenny knew how much he was suppose to be getting paid. But he didn’t keep very good track of how much he was actually getting paid. One payday Kenny deposited his check and the teller handed him his deposit slip and Kenny’s jaw dropped open in disbelief.

“$238?!” Kenny exclaimed. “How can I be negative $238?!” Kenny proceeded to argue with the teller who clearly didn’t care what kind of predicament this put Kenny in. Kenny picked up on the fact that the girl didn’t care and he got louder and louder.

Finally a senior teller stepped in and pulled Kenny over to her desk. “What seems to be the problem?” she asked in a soft, grandmotherly sort of tone.

Kenny quieted down some but was still visibly angered. He told the lady that it was impossible that he could be $238 in the hole. “All I buy is Big Gulps,” he said.

The lady patiently explained that Kenny had been buying all of his big gulps for the past week when he didn’t have any real money in his account. Each time he bought a $1.29 Big Gulp he was also incurring an additional overdraft fee of $34.00.

Kenny was irate. He was so mad he could barely talk. The only thing he could say is, “But, that’s not how debit cards work in Canada!” His argument got louder and more incoherent. The lady calmed him down once again and told him she would wave one or two of the fees but he would still have to pay off the rest.

Kenny realized he had nothing left to argue and left. He decided to open another account at a different bank and leave his debt here when he went back to Canada at the end of the summer. Kenny still bought Big Gulps on a daily basis.