Tellers With Tact

When you adopt a baby from Eastern Europe you have to take over a wad of cash to pay for the in-country orphanage fee, lodging, translators, drivers, train tickets, etc. The Kazakhs prefer their cash in US Dollars; $50s or $100s; crisp and clean, no marks, tears of creases. So I contacted our bank to go about getting the perfect cash for our trip. It was a harder job than I thought it would be.

I specifically told them that I needed new bills. Upon arriving at the bank on Friday I was informed that they can't get new bills, they generally 'recycle' what they get from their customers and would pick out the best bills for us. So I left the bank with a bunch of money, 80% of which would not pass Kazakh muster. Thankfully, our bank has lobby hours on Saturday mornings. I arrived at my usual branch at 9 and went to the teller who had given me the money the day before to see if he had any other newer bills to swap with me. He said he didn't and couldn't. I asked if they had any cash and he said they didn't. Yes, AT THE BANK! No cash. It was more a matter of unwillingness than inability. So I went on to Branch Number Two.

At Branch Number Two I explained to the teller that we were going to adopt, I had to carry major bucks in US cash and I wanted to exchange my 'subpar' bills for crisp new ones. This teller reluctantly riffled through the money in her cash drawer to pull out a few decent 50s and 100s. While we were doing this she asked why I had to carry so much on me so I explained a little bit about how it worked, paying the in-country adoption fee, etc. And Ms. Tact blurts out, "You're going to buy a baby with cash?!?!" Then CPS broke through the doors and carted me off. No, seriously, I realized this wasn't going to work.

At Branch Number Three I walked up to Jessica Aguilera's window and explained the situation. I was amazed when she not only started going through all her cash but also got the other two tellers on duty to do the same! She was able to set me up with about 1/2 the money we'll need and was so awesome to work with. I'll be going there this week to get the rest of the money. Woohooooo! Persistence pays off and you sometimes are able to find a diamond in the rough. Thanks, Jessica! Now I'll be able to buy a baby with cash :)

UPDATE: More brand new cash was located at Chase Bank. Also, big thanks to John and Grand Bank for arranging the balance of the cash I needed to take with me!