Banking hijinks

    So the second part of yesterday's story was when I got to the bank with my form for the Veterans Administration. I want to stress that my bank, NBSC, bent over backwards to try to help. It's just that maybe they tried a little too hard.
    What I had was a two-page form, printed from the .pdf at the site the VA gentleman I talked to on the phone emailed me a link for. (And all English teachers reading that sentence faint dead away.) The first page of the form said that the US gubmint no longer issues paper checks and if I wanted a deposit to a checking account (and I do) that I had to send them a copy of a voided check. The second page, which was the actual form I was to send them, just asked for a lot of information on my bank (name, routing number, phone number, etc.) and had a spot where I could just check "Checking" as if no voided check was needed.
    I haven't seen a copy of a voided check in years, although they used to send them with my statement. (Well, they used to send the checks, but more recently miniaturized copies and more recently still, none.) I'm sure they have them somewhere, although given the reaction, maybe not. All I wanted was either a voided check or a copy of one, or the info about the bank for the actual form. Instead, they marshaled most of the staff and came up with a third form which turned out to be the direct deposit request form for Social Security.
    I pointed out that the VA is not the most flexible agency in the world, and asked if maybe we could just fill out the form that I had already instead. They did this with good grace and in significantly less time than generating the Social Security form had taken. The branch manager also faxed the form in for me (having no doubt NOTHING to do with the fact that the benefits payment would more than double my account balance). So all's well that ends well and everything, and I was entirely grateful. It was just all a little weird.