All About A Cheque Book

I went to my bank to get a new cheque book this morning. The new cashier who must have just taken up the post and didn't know me at all, gave me a weird look that says " Where have you been hiding all this time? Chequebook?". Apparently, while I was not looking, chequebooks are not issued any more, at least, as I was told then, only to companies, not to any individuals. It may seem behind the times, but occasionally I do need to use a couple of cheques for certain payments, for instance, the guy who came to my house recently to put up a new heater for me, the charge of his time and labour came up to more cash than I had at the time, and he had no machine on him to accept a credit card payment. I never did find out exactly why the bank won't give me a chequebook, but a story came to mind of somebody else's account on the same subject. For years and years, whenever Carlos (now Carles or Charlie) needed a new chequebook, he would simply cross the street, open the doors of his bank, walk up to the cashier and tell him so. The cashier, known then as Manolo, later Manuel, would take out a machine the size of a toaster with a row of keys along one side, and placed it on the counter. By rotating a series of cogs with his thumb, Manolo would soon have Charlie's account number lined up. He would then place a virgin chequebook in a groove at the top of the monotype. After that he would press the keys, pull down a lever and "Voila". Manolo would hand Charlie his new chequebook. The whole operation took 2 minutes. All good things come to an end, as they say. One day, it must have been in the 80's, when Charlie crossed his street to the bank and asked Manolo for a new chequebook, he was told to leave the old one and come back in 2 days. Two days? But he needed it immediately! Manolo, an ecstatic converted to the religion of modern technology, explained that that dirty old contraption he used to keep under the counter had been replaced by a gleaming computer whose brain - now get this - was in Santander!!! Nothing short of a miracle. The above incident took place on a Thursday, the day he applied for it, nor the weekend counted, so it won't be at his disposal till the following Tuesday! As far as Charlie is concerned, the world has never been the same since. He was often left high and dry because there was a black-out or the computer went on the blink. A few years later, an enthusiastic Manuel (Manolo too belonged to the past) told him all about automatic cash dispensers and gave him his code and showed him how they worked. Not long after, Manuel was forced to accept retirement. Since then, he spends his days feeding fruit-machines with his meagre pension.    Tag:chequebook,contraption