Mentally Quicker

That's on my list of wishes when the genie pops out of the bottle/lamp to grant me three wishes.

I'm more of a methodical, plodding sort of thinker who can win debates an hour after they're over.

Earlier this week I had someone come in needing help with their power bill.  As is my policy, I wrote a check for a basic amount to the power company and gave it to the person to either mail or take to one of the several area pay stations.

About 30 minutes later, I got a call from some woman at some store (really . . . I can't remember the woman's name or where she was calling from) who said she had a gal there trying to cash a check, but it didn't look right, so she called me.

Turns out that the gal wrote her name over that of the power company and wanted to cash the check.

Had I had the gift of quick thinking, I would have told her to tear up the check.  Instead, I stupidly said, "That's not who it was made out to -- don't honor it."

Thirty seconds after I hung up I realized what I should have done.

Dammit.

So a few things will happen:

1.  When I told the lady not to honor the check, she kept it and destroyed it (she was quick-thinking enough to call me, after all).
2.  The lady who was playing the scam trashed the check, figuring that she's not going to get it cashed.
3.  The scam lady gets it cashed somewhere, and I'm out the little bit of money I would have been out of in the first place.
4.  I now know what my response will be should this happen again.
5.  Scam lady had best be smart enough to not show up in my office again.

And life in the big city goes on.