A customer walks in who I believe I recognized: a medium-height, vaguely Asian man with the hands of a labourer. I helped this guy before and we had a pretty good conversation: he was cashing an on-us check from his boss, worked in construction, and told me he was part Korean. I made a big fuss about his on-us check back then, because I was still somewhat new and needed to take my time cashing them out. The main thing I remembered about him was that he was very friendly and patient.

A big smile appeared on my face. How great to not only see a reoccurring customer, but also one with whom I had a great connection and who I'd now be able to help out much more efficiently! I walked over to him while saying "Hey, great to see you again! Welcome in!". A smile of recognition crested his face as well, confirming that we had met before. I see him fumbling to pull out a check from his wallet as he walks over to me.

"So, on-us check?" I say with a friendly demeanor. His smile drops. "What?", he says, confused.

"You're cashing an on-us check, right? I remember helping you last month". I start to realize that maybe this isn't the same medium-height, vaguely Asian man in construction who's a regular at our branch.

"Yeah, of course my checks are honest, man, these are good checks", implores the regular. Before I can say anything else, he looks around and points out one of my coworkers. "He can vouch for me man, ay- tell him my checks are honest!"

Cue me apologizing and explaining to the customer what an on-us check is and how I didn't mean to question the integrity of his character. Somehow he just laughed it off and then got distracted by some questions he had on our CDs and ended up leaving the bank in a good mood. 😬