My day has seriously just gone downhill.

Original post: July 19, 2007

After work, I had planned to go down to the only Beneficial Bank in New Jersey (until the merger takes effect) and open a checking account. You work in a bank, I hear you thinking. Why would you open an account elsewhere?

Because Sterling sucks, that's why. Cash deposits aren't available until the next business day. CASH!! Since Beneficial is soon to be right around the corner from my house, I figured that'd be a safe bet.

I looked up the hours on the 'net. Thursday and Friday: 9-7. I'll go after work. But, what do I find when I get there? Locked doors. Hours: 9-4.

Mother humpers! Fine, I'll double back, deposit the money into my Sterling account, and see if I can open a Beneficial one online.

Through an extraordinary stroke of luck, I got caught in a humongous line waiting at the train tracks. Where this train was, nobody could tell, but most of us did a K-turn and went back to Route 38. From there, I managed to get in the wrong lane and wound up on I-295 South. During rush hour.

Finally, I ended up by Don Pablo's, so I took the way home through Moorestown. All together, it took me an hour to get back to my work, roundtrip. I put the money in, quickly explained myself, and came home.

Beneficial's online account application was a breeze! I finished it in two minutes. At the end, it informs me to print out my signature card and mail it within ten days. I'm humped. I don't have a printer on my computer. They gave me an access code to check in on the progress, so I figured I could go to Zach's computer and do the old printout there.

That would've been all well and good, if you could access the page to sign in. Online banking is not the same as this code they gave me. In the meantime, I ended up stumbling onto the fact that CASH ISN'T AVAILABLE UNTIL THE NEXT BUSINESS DAY! Goddammit! What the hell is wrong with banks these days?! I had to fill out a form on the FAQ page to see if they could cancel the process. I'd need that money to go to Commerce and open one of their Cash-available-immediately accounts.

I seriously hate this country. Canada, anyone?