15.   Daddy the Joker

One of my mail order purchases required a $10.00 money order, so I went to the bank and bought it.  The clerk who helped me was a lady I knew from church, so we were chatting about the choir, and other things when she printed out the money order.

At home, as I prepared an envelope to send for the mail order, I noticed the money order didn’t look quite right – too many zeros. So, I called out to Mom and Daddy, asking if they always put so many zeros on money orders.  It read, $1,000,000.00.

Oops, the lady at the bank had misplaced the decimal point! 

I said, “Wow, we better take this back to the bank and get a correct one.  Daddy said, “No, let me have it, I want to have some fun first.”  That night, Daddy reported going into the diner he frequented and ordering a cup of coffee.  Then he asked the owner if he could cash a money order for him. “Sure,” the man said.  He took the money order check and headed for the cash register, suddenly stopped and came back to Daddy.  “Hey Bob, this is for a million dollars!”  Daddy was laughing, and quipped, “You don’t have that much in your cash register?”  He explained the mistake I am sure.

Next, Daddy took the money order to the post office and asked for a roll of stamps. The clerk was the husband of the lady at the bank who gave me the million dollar money order.  When Daddy explained where the money order came from, he was just a little concerned that his wife would get in trouble.  I’m sure Daddy reassured him we would not make a fuss.

Finally, Daddy took the money order back to the lady at the bank, who was aghast at her mistake, and relieved to make the exchange.  Enough fun for one day, Daddy brought me the $10.00 money order so I could finish my purchase order.