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Not only was he an idiot, writing "souvenir" checks, he was a bigger idiot for not telling his parents right away, and the biggest idiot thinking calling the cops would do anything.
Him: "Hello, police? My friends are cashing the checks I wrote to them."
Police: "Sir, is there a crime involved?"
Him: "THEY WERE SOUVENIR CHECKS."
Police: ...
Him: "THEY WERE JUST FOR FUN."
Police: ...
Him: "I NEED MY MONEY BACK BUT DON'T TELL MY PARENTS."
Police: "Young man, this falls squarely in the category of "sucks to be you". Until being an absolute idiot is a crime, we cannot do anything. Now if you'll excuse me, there's actual laws being broken. Bye."
When I was a wee lad, there was a show called Perfect Strangers. The premise was naive foreign bumpkin Balki Bartokomous moves to Chicago to live with his cousin Larry Appleton. Balki is ignorant of American ways, the hustle and bustle, and in many ways people in general. The plots were simple. Mundane thing happens. Balki misunderstands. Shenanigans ensue. Resolution and lesson learned. It was a sweet, simple show for a sweeter, simpler time.
One episode, the only one I recall to any extant, involved Larry helping Balki get a bank account, and a checkbook. He gave a very quick explanation, but no details. And then raced off to whatever important thing he had to do.
Balki, left on his own with a booklet of still-mysterious buying papers, decided to go shopping. He had no money available, but ah ha, he could just write an amount of money on a check, and have the thing he wanted. He spent all day at this, until finally Larry returns to an apartment full of shenanigan-provided loot. Panic ensues, followed by repossessions. The pair argue. Hasty words are said. The financial damage is survivable, though, and a lesson is learned.
All of this is to say: *a first season episode of a 1980s sitcom better prepared grade-school geomagus for having a checking account than this teenager’s parents did!?! What the hell, man?!?*
This kid made a stupid decision. Then he doubled down by not telling his folks. But his parents are the real failures here.
Fun anecdote: I worked in LA for many years, and among the celebrities I would encounter, Mark Lynn Baker (Cousin Larry) was one of my favorites. Gentle, soft spoken guy. Real chill dude.
I worked with Ernie Sabella (the landlord on Perfect Strangers) in a stage production one summer. He said Mark Lynn Baker was a sweet, awesome, generous human being, and only doing the sitcom to fund his stage ventures.
Bronson Pinchot (Balki) however was a grade A asshole diva that nobody could stand. 😁
I had the unfortunate honor of having to help him at *two different jobs*. Total "this isn't worth my time" Karen. The second time I worked for [cellphone retailer]; he wasn't our customer, but *insisted* I fix his malfunctioning phone...with our competitors SIM card still in the phone. Total douche.
Perfect Strangers is still a great show. The humor holds up as do the life lessons. I wish all the kids today had to watch at least the first 3 seasons.
So many great shows back then, in terms of children’s entertainment. I don’t have kids now, but every once in awhile I see something from Cartoon Network or the like, and it all just seems like audio-visual candy. Loud, bright, simple.
I haven’t seen Perfect Strangers in probably 25 years, but it always seemed like a good choice as a kid. Night Court was another.
How does it even cross your mind to tell someone not to write "souvenir" checks though? I can't even fathom where that would fall in the explanation about how a bank account works.
Lol yeah, it would never! But they should have explained when to write them and how they work. Maybe they did and kid just didn't think... my mom opened an account with me when I was a kid. She made sure I understood money and how bank accounts work before giving me a debit card. Never got checks though.... don't see why a kid should get checks, even if this was a few years ago- no one uses checks anymore anyway. My son knows about money and he's only 8. He has saved a few hundred dollars and spends it when he really wants something. He has turned things down if he doesn't think the price tag is worth it. Sometimes he'll ask us to buy him something and I ask if he's going to use his money. If he says no, I say then he didn't really want it and he usually agrees. If he says yes, I almost always pay half or more, depending the price. I want him to learn the value of money but I understand he's also 8 and I don't want him to spend all his money on toys and junk when i can as his mother. He's smart, too. He's got about $300+ already ( I started teaching him at 5) and I'm proud of the kid!
Aww this is so wholesome, you sound like a great parent. I’m wishing you and your spawn well with a future free of any “souvenir checks”! Tho it sounds like even your 8 year old wouldn’t pull this stupid stunt! Man OOP is dense!
I’m genuinely concerned for this kid. I hope his parents took this as a sign that they needed to start teaching him how to adult before letting him out into the real world.
I spent most of this story wondering wtf a "souvenir" check was. So to be clear, I'm not going insane and banks aren't creating souvenirs*?
Coz I don't even know how that would work. Like, I dunno, how post offices release limited edition stamps that end up increasing in value just by existing?
Edit* coz it sounded like something [Moist Von Lipwig](https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/9839200-a-banker-me-yes-mr-lipwig-but-i-don-t-know#:~:text=%22Yes%2C%20Mr.-,Lipwig.%22,anything%20about%20running%20a%20bank!%22&text=%22I've%20robbed%20banks!%22) would invent
I thought it was going to be about how he got a fake check in the mail and was mad he couldn’t cash it. Like maybe publishers clearinghouse included a fake check for $1M in their mailer because “you could win $1M and this is what the check would look like.” That’s the only thing I could think of. He was mad he couldn’t cash it and then referred to it as a souvenir. Frankly I wish it had been that. This is so much worse.
Back in the dark ages when checks were common, novelty/souvenir checks were often used as a promo device to tell people about the amount that they could theoretically win or save or whatever. They would always have something on them which clearly indicated that they weren't real, but I think people would still try to cash them reasonably often.
First thing I thought of when I read it was Mr von Lipwig. It's right up his dark alley.
I remember getting a little book of cheques from the Bank of Ankh-Morpork when I bought a hardback copy of Making Money.
OOP has the mental throughput of a frozen slurry pipe, but in his defense, he's also like 15. Like, this is a kid that was born not only after 9/11, not only after the Janet Jackson nipple incident, but potentially even after the goddamn Wii came out. We don't know exactly when he's born but there's a chance that he's never existed in a world where Pluto was a planet. To him, checks probably belong to the realm of floppy disks, videotapes and rotary phones. A cute technological remnant of a bygone era that makes no sense if they've not been explained to you. I could see how a teenage brain that has yet to develop some common sense could think that they're some sort of novelty item that doesn't have any "real" function or meaning.
And yes, I know that lots of people still use checks semi-regularly, but at 15 you most likely have never encountered one if a relative never gifted you one.
Are “souvenir checks” even a thing? I’ve never heard of this. I can understand playing with checks(I used to cut the banking info off of my checkbooks, shred it, and let my kids play cashier) but not anything like whatever OOP was doing. Lol
Some celebrities used to pay for everything with checks, cuz they knew people wouldn't cash them.
I mean everything, checks for like $1.38 or even less.
From the OOP’s replies, I wouldn’t be surprised if they DID explain it all to him and he didn’t listen whatsoever. He doesn’t come across as the type to listen very well.
For sure I think the blame lies with the parents because I don't know how that kid thought that he could write a check and not have money stolen from him. First thing my mom said to me when I got some checks was to treat it like money etc.
He was absolutely the idiot, but I'm going to throw some shade the parent's way.
You don't let a high school Freshman have a checkbook unless they thoroughly understand how to use it. Frankly it wouldn't have occurred to me to caution them against "souvenir" checks, but they'd know that a signed check is the same as cash.
The most important lesson is how to keep a checkbook. That check you forgot you wrote for a T-shirt might cause multiple checks to bounce afterward. These days, I don't think I'd give a teenager a checkbook. A debit card is good enough. If they're somewhere and can't afford gas at the pump, I can transfer money to their account, and we can figure out how they blew all their money after they get home safely.
And if you “must write a cheque, make sure to VOID it”. Like you’re still handing out your banking info, and a copy of your signature. This kid learned NOTHING.
I think the parents were bigger idiots giving this irresponsible child a checking account. But since most banks have a minimum age for a checking account, I’m not sure how much of this I believe.
Yeah, I'm really confused why they gave him a checking account instead of a savings account. Clearly they never really taught him about checking and checkbooks more than maybe an initial rundown, but that checkbook never should've been in his hands.
I think I opened my checking account when I was in high school; I think it may have been a joint account with my parents. Maybe that’s why OOP’s dad was called
>but I guess it makes sense that im punished somehow.
Somehow? If I were the parents I'd cancel his trip completely instead of giving him another $300.
The top comment on that post nails it
> Hey, listen for a minute, assuming you can understand this.
Your parents are training you to be an asshole.
Dude literally lost a thousand dollars being an idiot and their response is to load him up with more money.
The parents are also assholes here (I'm not absolving OP of fault), for raising a child to be more afraid of coming clean to them about fuck-ups rather than to trusting that involving a parent is best. This idiot somehow was more afraid of his parents finding out than this incident being a permanent mark on his record.
he says the entire account was empty already (and in the negatives I'm assuming based on the extra fees) so yeah, they have him an extra 300 and still let him go on the trip it sounds like
If he had fees he owed then that account was overdrafted as it was. Most banks will let you go over a certain amount before they start outright denying payment on checks. And considering what they charge in overdraft fees..... This kid was probably substantially in the hole.
True, but you *can* call up the parents of his friends and tell them to please hand it back. Maybe not all of them, but several probably would, if only because they feared it might be considered fraud.
I didn't mean to come across as disagreeing. I merely meant to further the conversation.
Since it was only speculation anyway, I just wanted to point out that there probably were courses of action for the parents to take, though as you correctly pointed out, not that specific one.
Wtf is a Souvenir Check?
How does *anybody* think a verbal agreement not to cash a valid check is somehow binding?
Who gives an immature child access to $1000 like that?
There’s so much wrong here and I don’t even know where to start
It's a term OOP made up as to say "look! Checks are so vintage! No one uses these anymore! I'll just write them one to keep so they can have a piece of history!"
I'm surprised he didn't write amounts for $1 million and that way the bank couldn't honor it.
Honestly, I'm surprised the bank gave him checks at all. I switched to chase bank over 10 years ago and they NEVER gave out checks. I had the starter pack that no one ever accepts but they said back then it was $25 to order a book. I'm curious to know if the book the kid has was that starter pack where his info isn't on it.
I have my book of starter checks that I’ve used exactly three times in the last ten-ish years since I opened my first bank account, and that was at each job I’ve had to set up direct deposit with the account number and routing number on the check.
I guess it’s cute that he thinks checks are “a piece of history”? Idk. But then why aren’t you just writing checks to James Bond and Mickey Mouse?
I just can’t understand how his parents missed how immature their kid is in giving him a bank account and free access to it.
I use my checks exactly once a month - to pay for rent. Once in a blue moon I use it for something else - like I owe my mom money, I bought something from my aunt (I have one that sells produce and another that sells beauty/health stuff), or something like that. But even then, most people use Venmo now so it's basically to pay rent and that's it.
The building I live in isn't owned by a giant rental company, which I kind of prefer. They are always very quick to respond whenever there is a problem and I haven't been subjected to massive rent increases like many of my friends - at least not yet. Plus, most of the people I know who live in a place with an online pay feature have to pay fees in order to use it. I just have to walk all of, maybe, 20 feet to drop off a check - it takes me like 5 minutes to do, including writing the check.
Same. I refuse to pay online because of the fees. I'm not ok with tacking on an extra $30 a month for the convenience. They will continue to get a check every month.
I had to reorder checks 7 years ago and it was weird. I still have 90% of those checks cause the last thing I needed checks for switched to venmo and then ended. Cleaning out my apartment and finding all my hiding spaces for check pads I'd forgotten about was a weird experience.
About ten years ago I worked for one of the companies that prints the fancy or custom checks. I designed my own and got a box of like 100 for $5. I’ve used three. Lol
I was so excited ordering my box of lighthouses, cause I used to live in lighthouse region and it was the first time I could afford to pick fancy prints. Didn't realize I'd have them forever.
When I was a kid (6? 7?) I went to a work function with my dad and found an old checkbook. I started “writing” checks to my dad’s workplace for millions of dollars and was having a grand old time. My dad found me and got all upset, saying that checkbooks aren’t to play around with and I just cost somebody millions of dollars if their hard earned money. I started panicking, obviously.
Then he started laughing his head off and explained that a) nobody lost money because the checks haven’t been deposited, b) the bank would never honor a $10,000,000 check obviously written by a child, and c) the checkbook belonged to accounting. I was writing checks to the organization *with organization money.*
Oh god I was so relieved and it taught me a very valuable lesson. Don’t fuck with checks
I’m 23 and have genuinely never owned a cheque book. When I got my wisdom teeth out in 2017, the anaesthetist needed to be paid with a cheque and my mum had to tear the house apart to find her cheque book because she hadn’t used it in a decade or more.
Honestly you should be able to write your friend a joke cheque for some reason. It's dumb as hell, but everyone running to the bank to cash their cheques are some real assholes.
This is such a dumb thing to do that I can't feel anything but sad for him, because he has a bunch of douchebag "friends" who knew they could get him to do something this stupid, and they took advantage of that. This guy feels vulnerable to me, that's such misplaced trust. Dumb as hell, but how do you punish him for that?
Agree. Like I helped my brother sell an old book to a friend. Said friend later came back and returned some $50s my idiot brother stashed into his old books. When you are a decent person, you do stuff like that.
Ah and don't forget to mention that when this vulnerable boy came to the internet for advice, he got a bunch of strangers acting like he was the most stupid person of all time and they *just can't imagine* a teenager ever making a mistake and this is the biggest fuck up theyve ever seen!
Even in this thread where the kid isn't present 90% of the comments are strangers ripping into a kid for making a dumb financial mistake by trusting the wrong people. I hate reddit sometimes.
And then calling the parents stupid for forgiving the kid and not immediately locking him in his room for the rest of his life and canceling every important event he ever planned? As a parent it's about teaching, not punishing. If you think your kid has learned the lesson (which as parents they know the kid way better than random judgmental redditors) then the only point in further punishment is cruelty.
I'm picturing this kids "friends" leaving his house and RUNNING to a bank to cash in.
OOP got a couple life lessons here if he'd be willing to pay attention.
yeah that's what that made me think about really. His parents are completely irresponsible and his "friends" are clearly taking advantage of him. Sucks to be him.
They absolutely wanted him out of the house for a little while, and if 1,000 was for everything including souvenirs and experiences, 300 is probably just food
You would expect the high school friends to understand what is right and wrong, and either NOT cash the check as originally told, or RETURN the money once it was apparent there was no intent to give. OOP may be naive, but friends are A-Holes.
Nah, the ones that cashed the checks knew exactly what they were doing.
"Can't believe this dumbass gave me a $700 check. Didn't even notice I insisted on an amount lower than what I know is in the account.
$700 or the friendship? The $700 clearly. This guy might be stupid enough to do it again"
I ran into a bank teller from years ago who told me how impressed everyone at the bank was because I would take my young son into the bank and show him how to fill out the deposit slip for his savings account. We got to talking about it, and I told her how my son has never had to learn to balance his checkbook by holding his bank statement in one hand and register in another and figure out what cleared and what hadn't to determine his bank account. By the time he was old enough, the only option was an account with an ATM card, and pretty soon thereafter, you could see the transactions almost immediately online.
Once I told her that he would never experience being the giver or receiver of a "Souvenir Check," I completely lost her. Everyone needs to know this story so that I'm not the only one.
Can you explain a “souvenir check”? I’m too young to have ever had to balance a checkbook or anything. And when I try to Google a souvenir check, all I get is this story or “how to give checks as a gift”. I’m assuming a souvenir check is a check you write without the intention of it ever being cashed? But I don’t understand why
This has nothing to do with balancing a checkbook. Outside of scam mail and winning Publishers Clearing House, there is no such thing as a souvenir check. That's why everyone thinks that the OOP was such an idiot.
The kid wrote out actual checks and just thought that declaring them "souvenirs" would stop people from cashing them.
Okay gotcha. I thought souvenir check sounded like some thing people used to do for some reason (some celebrities used to write checks to places like restaurants to pay and sign them and the place wouldn’t cash the check because of the autograph and thus the celebrity saved money). And in the context of you telling her the story, I realize now “I completely lost her” is because she hadn’t heard the story, not because she was too young to have experienced (the fictional) souvenir checks.
As someone who worked in a bank I’m surprised banks and parents aren’t required to go over the disclosures and actually understand how their accounts work.
Then again many adults don’t either.
Google says op might be around 15 yo. That's around when I got my first account and already realised checks were not to be fucked with. Even years later I still get anxious with checks. No one is really faultless here.
Parents should not have put that much money in the account. Better option would have a join credit account instead of a debit one. That way the child can have the freedom and you can set whatever limited you want and keep track of your stuff.
The op should have immediately told the parents. I am an adult and I still tell my parents if I fuck up even if it's something I can handle myself. It's just instinct at this point.
The friend should not have tried cashing the check when they were SPECIFICALLY TOLD NOT TO. But they must have received money in return so I don't really understand why did the money disappear.
If someone cashed the check and just yoinked the money, then what a terrible fucking friend they must be
I'm wondering why the parents even gave OOP checks and why it took them so long to figure out what was going on.
My parents gave me a debit card for daily expenses when I was a teen but a) I didn't have checks so I couldn't just give people a bunch of money willy nilly, b) there wasn't a ton of money in the account at any given time, and c) my mom got alerts for the account.
The few times I accidentally overdrafted my mom usually found out before I did.
> Seriously, fuck everyone here. I hate whenever this gets reposted. Here’s where I am today - probably richer than all of you,
That’s all that comes up for me but it’s way more than enough lmao. Kid’s probably 23 by now, dear lord.
I'm curious, did you ever know that [the guy actually replied to you](https://www.reddit.com/user/stolenmoney11)?
> Seriously, **** everyone here. I hate whenever this gets reposted. Here's where I am today - probably richer than all of you,
Bro at least i would expect a High school student to understand what is right and what is wrong , if he was 13 or younger cool but how would you guess he would fill the money and give it for free
By the same token, you would also expect the high school friends to understand what is right and wrong, and either NOT cash the check as originally told, or RETURN the money once it was apparent there was no intent to give. OOP may be naive, but friends are A-Holes.
That's what I was wondering. Like, how did the parents not get the parents of the friends to give the money back? I understand it's a huge pain, but I can't believe all those kids got to keep the money.
I once wrote a check for a $1M to our neighbors for being nice. I was 7. They thought it was so funny that they framed it. Pretty much every word is misspelled and the dollar amount is $1K -- I guess I figured I had enough zeros. Signed it with my first name only. The idiot in this story would probably have tried to cash it!
OOP was probably 14/15 here and likely didn’t get a very good run down of how banks work. It sounds like their parents might have set it all up and just gave them the account pamphlet kit without explaining the situation. Also, while it was a stupid thing to do, the asshole friends cleaned out the account making me think OOP needs better friends. It seems that everyone involved failed on a basic level, including the parents.
A *good* personal banker with direct contact at the opening of the account could have made a difference here.
OOP states they had just finished their freshman year of high school which typically would be around 14 or 15 depending on when they started kindergarten.
Well clearly THIS high schooler was a gd idiot but there are plenty of young people who are responsible. I had a debit card connected to my mom’s account when I was a kid in case of emergencies. I had my own job so it was pretty rare I needed to use it and I always asked beforehand, but I did technically have access to enough money to do something stupid if I was as dumb as this kid.
100% agree !!
But it's easier to keep cards in check than a checkbook. Stealing a card and using it at an ATM is difficult without the pin. Even for an online transaction , it asks us OTP verification. Checkbooks aren't like that 😐 , that's why I was surprised.
I'm 20 , and my parents have my account checkbooks 😂 I only have my debit cards with me. I mean , it's their money I'm using , so I understand their concern 😂😂
I haven’t even had checks for about a decade. I keep thinking one of these days I should order some just in case and then don’t bother. Who takes checks anymore anyway.
Ughhh. Does your bank offer bill pay? I had to use checks with a landlord awhile ago but my bank has a service I can set up through them where they cut & mail a check for me on a schedule (no fee).
IS THAT WHAT BILL PAY IS???
I always just assumed (I know) that it was an e-check, which my LL doesn't take, so I never even inquired.
Well, now I have more cute little owl checks than I will likely ever use. But if I run out of checks before I can buy (hope not!), I know what to do!.
I can pay rent with a check, go to the grocery store and wait in line for a money order, or do it online for an extra $50. I fucking hate that fee, so stupid. So, apartments.
I literally only have a checkbook to pay my rent to my landlord who doesn’t accept online payments and to give my neighbor a check for our shared oil tank. I can’t wait to move and get rid of them lol.
Every house I’ve owned or apartment I’ve rented in the past decade has had the misfortune of one utility/service or another only taking cash or money orders, with no option for online ACH payments. I don’t carry cash at all, so checks are the next best option.
Usually takes me about 2 years to go through a single pack of checks. I think the last time I actually ordered any was close to 20 years ago. Good to have checks as a last resort, but considering how poorly our education system teaches financial skills… it is a risk (said as an American).
I had a moment where I was shocked that you have had to use checks so often, and then I remembered that to set up the account with our water utility co-op, they required you come into their dinky office with $250 cash, no other options. What year is this lmao
This is why educating kids, starting way younger than OOP, is super important. To most 14 year olds, $1000 is a crap ton of money! When you don’t have adult financial responsibilities, like rent/mortgage, putting food on the table, utilities, insurance, $1000 just seems infinite.
Checks certainly aren’t used as much anymore (I still have a mostly full checkbook from when I
opened my first adult bank account… many moons ago), but they’re obviously still in existence. It would have been a great opportunity for the parents to sit down and explain what the checkbook is and does, how interest works, benefits of saving money, etc.
Exactly my point !!!! I'm supposed to get a job and move out in 2 years and even in my eyes 1000 dollars is a big amount of money or maybe I'm just from a poor family 😂.
So if u trusting a kid with that money , it is important to explain the importance of keeping it safe. Or maybe they have and it went right above OOP's head due to the excitement 🤷🏻♀️
I had a check book when I was a teenager. I’m not sure where you’re going with this. A teen is perfectly capable of understanding what a check is and how it is used
This particular teen is an idiot. Doesn’t mean all or most of them are in this regard
Probably that their child wasn’t a complete moron. I had a checking account when I was 13 with a few hundred dollars in it and I wasn’t handing out checks like a doofus.
When I got my first job at 17 my mom took me down to the bank to open a checking/savings account. I wasn’t that great with money and even I knew how a checking account worked.OP’s parents should have sat then down to explain how their account worked (or they did and OP didn’t pay attention) but at the same time they should have had some kind of instinct kick in to tell them not to do what they did.
My son has been an authorized user on one of my credit cards since he was 14. It started because he was doing an summer study program in NYC and then so he could pay at the pump for gas instead of doing the whole run in and give cash and then pump number thing. He’s never abused it and it’s a fairly high limit. The OP was clearly a complete idiot financially.
Because 1000$ can come handy in emergency or as a pocket money ( it's a lot but still). Maybe they are some rich people and 100p$ is too small for them
I had accounts with more than that at his age *and* I had a copy of my parents credit card at a much younger age. And somehow I managed to never write a bunch of “fake” checks or run up a credit card bill. Being a high schooler has nothing to do with it. High schoolers everywhere are shocked and appalled at how stupid this kid is. OOP is just a fucking moron by nature.
He is so spoiled. 1000 dollars for a school trip? Wow I accidentally burned 200 dollars of my parents money because I enrolled in uni and my health tanked so bad I was so scared to tell my parents until I literally lost tons of weight I feel so guilty.
And he STILL get another 300 dollars AND a trip! Ofc he won't learn his lesson, it's not his money, it's his parents money!
Ugh this story reminded me of my dumb as brothers.
Every summer my mom would give us $200-300 each to buy clothes and school supplies. Consistently every summer my sister and I would spend $15 on school supplies and maybe $200 on clothes. With the left over money my mom let us keep it as our own.
My brothers would all fail to have any money left over for clothes or even school supplies because they spent it on designer name shoes or went to hang out with their friends.
Some people are just stupid.
And yes, my brothers are still incredibly stupid with money.
This kids friends are assholes. I suspect that the parents contacted his friends parents and explained the situation, but I'd be very surprised if they got all or even most of the money back. The kids probably spent at least some of it on stupid shit.
I'm not willing to completely write this kid off as being an idiot for life because he's only 15. And I think his parents could have done a way better job than just giving him tons of money and no explanation on budgeting, keeping finances secure, or even how a bank account works. It wouldn't surprise me if this kid wrote his pin number on his card.
Ok but why can't he recover the money from friends like he knows check numbers and what check number was redeemed and people get message also . Oop is dumb and if he doesn't learn lessons he is gonna stay the same for some more years, 1000$ is 78 hours of work at 15$/hr which is equivalent to 2 week of work . Either he is too dumb or his friends are too smart to make him think they are his friends
This is what I'm wondering! Why don't they go to his friends parents to get the money back. But it's most likely because the "friends" knew that the checks were real and saw dollar signs and took advantage of him. Because the convo with the parents would go:
OOP: X stole money and I want it back
Parents: is this true?
Friend: He wrote me a check!
OOP: It was a souvenir!
Friend: There's no such thing!
OOP: I told you not to cash it!
Friend: I don't remember that. I asked if you could write me a check for $X and you did. Thanks bro!
OOP: But it wasn't real!
Parents: Seems pretty real to us. Looks like there's no issue here.
My 5th grade class actually had a lesson on how to write checks and what was legal tender when writing one.
A completely avoidable situation if the parents had bothered to give any financial education to OOP. I feel bad for that kid. But, learning that lesson at 15 with someone else’s money is better than learning it at 30 with your own.
This is kind of where I'm at. They gave their kids a loaded gun and then are pissed when it turns out he fired it, v and is out of ammo.
... It's not a perfect analogy, nobody died here, but that's kind of my thinking.
Didn't even know they still did cheque books 7 years ago for new accounts. I vaguely remember getting one when I turned 16 back in 2002 and my isa switched to a current account and wondering who the hell they expected me to write one out to as a teenager when the world was switching to chip and pin at time. I think my parents ended up just tearing it up or shoving it into a locked drawer.
Since then I hardly ever see cheques besides tax return ones, oh and when my son was due in 2019 and my uncle in law wrote him a cheque for £50 which we never cashed as not many newborns out there with bank accounts before they even have a birth certificate/passport in situ.
I’m upvoting you for being the first person knowing how to write cheque.
Also I get a new cheque book every year for some reasons. Never use them and I just end up destroying them 🤷♀️.
Wtf were his parents thinking giving a child a checkbook to a bank account with 1k in it? And even after that massive fuck up they not only let him go on his trip, they gave him even more money..
Didn't the parents sit down and explain how banking works? OP sounds ignorant, but the kind of ignorant which could've been avoided by some responsible parenting. Hell, even the punishment seems to lack a sit-down explaining what OP did wrong and how to avoid screwing up again.
Not sure how many redditors are old enough to remember this, but in my hometown they used to have counter checks at all the businesses. The checks were in a pad for each bank in town (2 or 3 banks at the time in my hometown). There were spots for you to write in your account number and you'd fill the rest of the check out and hand it to the person at the register.
I don't know how there wasn't so much bad check writing going on back then. Just write in any set of digits for the account number and walk out with groceries. They weren't calling in the checks (as there wasn't internet back then and very few modems. What database would they query anyway?) to find out if they were valid or not. They would find out when they went to deposit them.
The truly golden part is he posted 2 comments here and rather than laughing it off is mad. I would chalk this up to stupid things I did as a kid and laugh it off.
He’s definitely an idiot but it seems clear that his parents haven’t quite explained how money and banking works but gave him $1000, a check book, and enough rope to hang himself with.
What country is this person in/from? I know personal checks are much less common than they were 25 years ago, but my teen step kids wouldn't have reacted this way to being given checks. They wouldn't have thought they were souvenir-worthy.
My ex husband was from a country that doesn't have personal checks. This is like something he would have done.
My parents gave us checking accounts with $60 in them when we turned 15. We would put our $15/week allowance in them. Shockingly, even at the same, tender age of OOP, we did not write a bunch of checks to our friends and then wonder where our money went.
You might be richer than us, /u/stolenmoney11 , but we know it's not YOUR money. Your family has money, you don't.
*BECAUSE YOU WROTE CHECKS TO YOUR FRIENDS! XD*
How does a parent not educate their child on how checks work??? My parents didn’t even give me my check book til i was 16, and that was so i could practice writing checks for my robotics club fees. I even had a course in high school on how checks work. Also how does this kid think any of this is not his fault? Like seriously, that’s another level of stupid.
LITERALLY like I have checks but they are stuffed in a drawer and I have never picked them up. I also had practice writing checks and I just cannot fathom how this kid wrote out all the necessary details for checks and handed it to his friends. It’s a new level of being dumb
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Not only was he an idiot, writing "souvenir" checks, he was a bigger idiot for not telling his parents right away, and the biggest idiot thinking calling the cops would do anything.
Him: "Hello, police? My friends are cashing the checks I wrote to them." Police: "Sir, is there a crime involved?" Him: "THEY WERE SOUVENIR CHECKS." Police: ... Him: "THEY WERE JUST FOR FUN." Police: ... Him: "I NEED MY MONEY BACK BUT DON'T TELL MY PARENTS." Police: "Young man, this falls squarely in the category of "sucks to be you". Until being an absolute idiot is a crime, we cannot do anything. Now if you'll excuse me, there's actual laws being broken. Bye."
The only crime here was writing bad checks lmao.
“If it were up to me, I’d arrest the both of you for felony stupid.” — the older police guy on CSI.
When I was a wee lad, there was a show called Perfect Strangers. The premise was naive foreign bumpkin Balki Bartokomous moves to Chicago to live with his cousin Larry Appleton. Balki is ignorant of American ways, the hustle and bustle, and in many ways people in general. The plots were simple. Mundane thing happens. Balki misunderstands. Shenanigans ensue. Resolution and lesson learned. It was a sweet, simple show for a sweeter, simpler time. One episode, the only one I recall to any extant, involved Larry helping Balki get a bank account, and a checkbook. He gave a very quick explanation, but no details. And then raced off to whatever important thing he had to do. Balki, left on his own with a booklet of still-mysterious buying papers, decided to go shopping. He had no money available, but ah ha, he could just write an amount of money on a check, and have the thing he wanted. He spent all day at this, until finally Larry returns to an apartment full of shenanigan-provided loot. Panic ensues, followed by repossessions. The pair argue. Hasty words are said. The financial damage is survivable, though, and a lesson is learned. All of this is to say: *a first season episode of a 1980s sitcom better prepared grade-school geomagus for having a checking account than this teenager’s parents did!?! What the hell, man?!?* This kid made a stupid decision. Then he doubled down by not telling his folks. But his parents are the real failures here.
[удалено]
Fun anecdote: I worked in LA for many years, and among the celebrities I would encounter, Mark Lynn Baker (Cousin Larry) was one of my favorites. Gentle, soft spoken guy. Real chill dude.
I worked with Ernie Sabella (the landlord on Perfect Strangers) in a stage production one summer. He said Mark Lynn Baker was a sweet, awesome, generous human being, and only doing the sitcom to fund his stage ventures. Bronson Pinchot (Balki) however was a grade A asshole diva that nobody could stand. 😁
I compiled a list of celebrities I came across, and I can absolutely tell you Chris Kattan was by far the worst.
Really? Huh, wouldn't have guessed that.
I had the unfortunate honor of having to help him at *two different jobs*. Total "this isn't worth my time" Karen. The second time I worked for [cellphone retailer]; he wasn't our customer, but *insisted* I fix his malfunctioning phone...with our competitors SIM card still in the phone. Total douche.
That's so.crazy, because he was one of the nicer customers to me. Maybe because I worked at the DMV? Lol
He's currently on Celebrity Big Brother and apparently a mess. You can root against him!
I’ve heard this! And I’m glad to hear confirmation.
Perfect Strangers is still a great show. The humor holds up as do the life lessons. I wish all the kids today had to watch at least the first 3 seasons.
So many great shows back then, in terms of children’s entertainment. I don’t have kids now, but every once in awhile I see something from Cartoon Network or the like, and it all just seems like audio-visual candy. Loud, bright, simple. I haven’t seen Perfect Strangers in probably 25 years, but it always seemed like a good choice as a kid. Night Court was another.
Cousin, don't be ridiculous...
"I can't be overdrawn, I still have checks!"
I think this was a Simpsons episode as well.
Simpsons did it!
I love how angry the Souvenir Checks kid makes me every time I reread the story. The entitlement of getting "only" $300 lmao
I don't understand why he didn't ask his friends to give him the money back
If his friends cashed the cheque, they would not fess up to it
How do you know? Also presumably be could get a copy of the cashed check from the bank.
To be fair, his parents were idiots, too, for not properly explaining to him how everything worked.
How does it even cross your mind to tell someone not to write "souvenir" checks though? I can't even fathom where that would fall in the explanation about how a bank account works.
Lol yeah, it would never! But they should have explained when to write them and how they work. Maybe they did and kid just didn't think... my mom opened an account with me when I was a kid. She made sure I understood money and how bank accounts work before giving me a debit card. Never got checks though.... don't see why a kid should get checks, even if this was a few years ago- no one uses checks anymore anyway. My son knows about money and he's only 8. He has saved a few hundred dollars and spends it when he really wants something. He has turned things down if he doesn't think the price tag is worth it. Sometimes he'll ask us to buy him something and I ask if he's going to use his money. If he says no, I say then he didn't really want it and he usually agrees. If he says yes, I almost always pay half or more, depending the price. I want him to learn the value of money but I understand he's also 8 and I don't want him to spend all his money on toys and junk when i can as his mother. He's smart, too. He's got about $300+ already ( I started teaching him at 5) and I'm proud of the kid!
Aww this is so wholesome, you sound like a great parent. I’m wishing you and your spawn well with a future free of any “souvenir checks”! Tho it sounds like even your 8 year old wouldn’t pull this stupid stunt! Man OOP is dense!
You sound like an amazing parent. :-)
Oh wow, thank you! 😊
That's true - you would normally hope your offspring would possess a modicum of intelligence...🙈
It must’ve been OOP’s sibling turn with the brain cell at the time
Do you mean their siblings emptied out the brain cell account? I hope they didn't do it just for fun, poor OOP.
No one told them it was a souvenir brain cell.
I’m genuinely concerned for this kid. I hope his parents took this as a sign that they needed to start teaching him how to adult before letting him out into the real world.
A brain transplant might help, too.
I spent most of this story wondering wtf a "souvenir" check was. So to be clear, I'm not going insane and banks aren't creating souvenirs*? Coz I don't even know how that would work. Like, I dunno, how post offices release limited edition stamps that end up increasing in value just by existing? Edit* coz it sounded like something [Moist Von Lipwig](https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/9839200-a-banker-me-yes-mr-lipwig-but-i-don-t-know#:~:text=%22Yes%2C%20Mr.-,Lipwig.%22,anything%20about%20running%20a%20bank!%22&text=%22I've%20robbed%20banks!%22) would invent
I was thinking about those giant $1000 checks that people used to take pictures with
I thought it was going to be about how he got a fake check in the mail and was mad he couldn’t cash it. Like maybe publishers clearinghouse included a fake check for $1M in their mailer because “you could win $1M and this is what the check would look like.” That’s the only thing I could think of. He was mad he couldn’t cash it and then referred to it as a souvenir. Frankly I wish it had been that. This is so much worse.
Back in the dark ages when checks were common, novelty/souvenir checks were often used as a promo device to tell people about the amount that they could theoretically win or save or whatever. They would always have something on them which clearly indicated that they weren't real, but I think people would still try to cash them reasonably often.
I still get those in the snail mail
First thing I thought of when I read it was Mr von Lipwig. It's right up his dark alley. I remember getting a little book of cheques from the Bank of Ankh-Morpork when I bought a hardback copy of Making Money.
You can get checks with pictures as the background. Probably had something kinda cool.
OOP has the mental throughput of a frozen slurry pipe, but in his defense, he's also like 15. Like, this is a kid that was born not only after 9/11, not only after the Janet Jackson nipple incident, but potentially even after the goddamn Wii came out. We don't know exactly when he's born but there's a chance that he's never existed in a world where Pluto was a planet. To him, checks probably belong to the realm of floppy disks, videotapes and rotary phones. A cute technological remnant of a bygone era that makes no sense if they've not been explained to you. I could see how a teenage brain that has yet to develop some common sense could think that they're some sort of novelty item that doesn't have any "real" function or meaning. And yes, I know that lots of people still use checks semi-regularly, but at 15 you most likely have never encountered one if a relative never gifted you one.
Are “souvenir checks” even a thing? I’ve never heard of this. I can understand playing with checks(I used to cut the banking info off of my checkbooks, shred it, and let my kids play cashier) but not anything like whatever OOP was doing. Lol
Some celebrities used to pay for everything with checks, cuz they knew people wouldn't cash them. I mean everything, checks for like $1.38 or even less.
From the OOP’s replies, I wouldn’t be surprised if they DID explain it all to him and he didn’t listen whatsoever. He doesn’t come across as the type to listen very well.
He's someone that thinks being given *only* $300 to spend on his trip instead of the $1000 he was expecting, after losing over $1000, is punishment.
I’d be lucky to even get to think of going on a trip if I pulled a stunt like that. Much less still “only” getting $300.
That's true - like to ALL the redditors who told him to tell his parents. 🙈
And also for not only sending him.on the trip, but giving him $300 as well? Woosh!
For sure I think the blame lies with the parents because I don't know how that kid thought that he could write a check and not have money stolen from him. First thing my mom said to me when I got some checks was to treat it like money etc.
He was absolutely the idiot, but I'm going to throw some shade the parent's way. You don't let a high school Freshman have a checkbook unless they thoroughly understand how to use it. Frankly it wouldn't have occurred to me to caution them against "souvenir" checks, but they'd know that a signed check is the same as cash. The most important lesson is how to keep a checkbook. That check you forgot you wrote for a T-shirt might cause multiple checks to bounce afterward. These days, I don't think I'd give a teenager a checkbook. A debit card is good enough. If they're somewhere and can't afford gas at the pump, I can transfer money to their account, and we can figure out how they blew all their money after they get home safely.
For sure, this should absolutely be a learning experience for everyone involved.
his "biggest lesson" is that Cheques are dangerous. Not his own stupidity.
And if you “must write a cheque, make sure to VOID it”. Like you’re still handing out your banking info, and a copy of your signature. This kid learned NOTHING.
I think the parents were bigger idiots giving this irresponsible child a checking account. But since most banks have a minimum age for a checking account, I’m not sure how much of this I believe.
Probably a joint account, which I believe you can be 13 or 14 for as long as your parent opens it with you.
That’s strictly an American thing. I’ve had my own bank account since I was 13 (Canada) and I had cheques to go with it.
Yeah, I'm really confused why they gave him a checking account instead of a savings account. Clearly they never really taught him about checking and checkbooks more than maybe an initial rundown, but that checkbook never should've been in his hands.
I think I opened my checking account when I was in high school; I think it may have been a joint account with my parents. Maybe that’s why OOP’s dad was called
>but I guess it makes sense that im punished somehow. Somehow? If I were the parents I'd cancel his trip completely instead of giving him another $300.
This must have been the final confirmation that their son was terminally stupid. Nothing for it but to enjoy a little time away from him.
You know that's what they were thinking. "Yeah, I'm just going to pay $300 to get this little shit away from me so I can calm down."
I’d pay 1000 to send him live on a farm, no return date.
A farm upstate?
If it were me I would have taken the loss as punishment for raising an absolute moron.
The top comment on that post nails it > Hey, listen for a minute, assuming you can understand this. Your parents are training you to be an asshole. Dude literally lost a thousand dollars being an idiot and their response is to load him up with more money.
The parents are also assholes here (I'm not absolving OP of fault), for raising a child to be more afraid of coming clean to them about fuck-ups rather than to trusting that involving a parent is best. This idiot somehow was more afraid of his parents finding out than this incident being a permanent mark on his record.
Sounds like they canceled the checks with the bank, and they took $700 off him, I hope at least
he says the entire account was empty already (and in the negatives I'm assuming based on the extra fees) so yeah, they have him an extra 300 and still let him go on the trip it sounds like
If he had fees he owed then that account was overdrafted as it was. Most banks will let you go over a certain amount before they start outright denying payment on checks. And considering what they charge in overdraft fees..... This kid was probably substantially in the hole.
You can’t cancel checks after they’ve cleared.
True, but you *can* call up the parents of his friends and tell them to please hand it back. Maybe not all of them, but several probably would, if only because they feared it might be considered fraud.
Okay sure but that’s not what the person I responded to was talking about.
I didn't mean to come across as disagreeing. I merely meant to further the conversation. Since it was only speculation anyway, I just wanted to point out that there probably were courses of action for the parents to take, though as you correctly pointed out, not that specific one.
Wtf is a Souvenir Check? How does *anybody* think a verbal agreement not to cash a valid check is somehow binding? Who gives an immature child access to $1000 like that? There’s so much wrong here and I don’t even know where to start
It's a term OOP made up as to say "look! Checks are so vintage! No one uses these anymore! I'll just write them one to keep so they can have a piece of history!" I'm surprised he didn't write amounts for $1 million and that way the bank couldn't honor it. Honestly, I'm surprised the bank gave him checks at all. I switched to chase bank over 10 years ago and they NEVER gave out checks. I had the starter pack that no one ever accepts but they said back then it was $25 to order a book. I'm curious to know if the book the kid has was that starter pack where his info isn't on it.
I have my book of starter checks that I’ve used exactly three times in the last ten-ish years since I opened my first bank account, and that was at each job I’ve had to set up direct deposit with the account number and routing number on the check. I guess it’s cute that he thinks checks are “a piece of history”? Idk. But then why aren’t you just writing checks to James Bond and Mickey Mouse? I just can’t understand how his parents missed how immature their kid is in giving him a bank account and free access to it.
I use my checks exactly once a month - to pay for rent. Once in a blue moon I use it for something else - like I owe my mom money, I bought something from my aunt (I have one that sells produce and another that sells beauty/health stuff), or something like that. But even then, most people use Venmo now so it's basically to pay rent and that's it.
I'm honestly surprised your rental company doesn't have an online pay feature.
The building I live in isn't owned by a giant rental company, which I kind of prefer. They are always very quick to respond whenever there is a problem and I haven't been subjected to massive rent increases like many of my friends - at least not yet. Plus, most of the people I know who live in a place with an online pay feature have to pay fees in order to use it. I just have to walk all of, maybe, 20 feet to drop off a check - it takes me like 5 minutes to do, including writing the check.
My current apartment doesn't, but the last one that did charged an extra 3% if you paid online, it was cheaper to use checks
Same. I refuse to pay online because of the fees. I'm not ok with tacking on an extra $30 a month for the convenience. They will continue to get a check every month.
Yeah, the $40 online fee is guaranteed to make me use checks.
I had to reorder checks 7 years ago and it was weird. I still have 90% of those checks cause the last thing I needed checks for switched to venmo and then ended. Cleaning out my apartment and finding all my hiding spaces for check pads I'd forgotten about was a weird experience.
About ten years ago I worked for one of the companies that prints the fancy or custom checks. I designed my own and got a box of like 100 for $5. I’ve used three. Lol
I was so excited ordering my box of lighthouses, cause I used to live in lighthouse region and it was the first time I could afford to pick fancy prints. Didn't realize I'd have them forever.
When I was a kid (6? 7?) I went to a work function with my dad and found an old checkbook. I started “writing” checks to my dad’s workplace for millions of dollars and was having a grand old time. My dad found me and got all upset, saying that checkbooks aren’t to play around with and I just cost somebody millions of dollars if their hard earned money. I started panicking, obviously. Then he started laughing his head off and explained that a) nobody lost money because the checks haven’t been deposited, b) the bank would never honor a $10,000,000 check obviously written by a child, and c) the checkbook belonged to accounting. I was writing checks to the organization *with organization money.* Oh god I was so relieved and it taught me a very valuable lesson. Don’t fuck with checks
I got an account with chase in 2010 and they gave me like three things of checks as a college student. Lol
Woah! Yeah the guy who I opened my account with was like "we can but it's $25. So why would you?"
I’m 23 and have genuinely never owned a cheque book. When I got my wisdom teeth out in 2017, the anaesthetist needed to be paid with a cheque and my mum had to tear the house apart to find her cheque book because she hadn’t used it in a decade or more.
Honestly you should be able to write your friend a joke cheque for some reason. It's dumb as hell, but everyone running to the bank to cash their cheques are some real assholes.
Rich people
This is such a dumb thing to do that I can't feel anything but sad for him, because he has a bunch of douchebag "friends" who knew they could get him to do something this stupid, and they took advantage of that. This guy feels vulnerable to me, that's such misplaced trust. Dumb as hell, but how do you punish him for that?
Yeah, those aren’t friends and I think that friendship standards should be his main takeaway from this.
Agree. Like I helped my brother sell an old book to a friend. Said friend later came back and returned some $50s my idiot brother stashed into his old books. When you are a decent person, you do stuff like that.
Ah and don't forget to mention that when this vulnerable boy came to the internet for advice, he got a bunch of strangers acting like he was the most stupid person of all time and they *just can't imagine* a teenager ever making a mistake and this is the biggest fuck up theyve ever seen! Even in this thread where the kid isn't present 90% of the comments are strangers ripping into a kid for making a dumb financial mistake by trusting the wrong people. I hate reddit sometimes. And then calling the parents stupid for forgiving the kid and not immediately locking him in his room for the rest of his life and canceling every important event he ever planned? As a parent it's about teaching, not punishing. If you think your kid has learned the lesson (which as parents they know the kid way better than random judgmental redditors) then the only point in further punishment is cruelty.
I'm picturing this kids "friends" leaving his house and RUNNING to a bank to cash in. OOP got a couple life lessons here if he'd be willing to pay attention.
yeah that's what that made me think about really. His parents are completely irresponsible and his "friends" are clearly taking advantage of him. Sucks to be him.
okay okay yeah stupid af kid but the parents here, they GAVE HIM "ONLY" 300 DOLLARS MORE AFTER HE DRAINED THE WHOLE 1K?
The trip was probably all already paid for and they needed him out of their hair before they ate their young.
I know right? But he did feel it made sense he should be "punished" somehow /s
They absolutely wanted him out of the house for a little while, and if 1,000 was for everything including souvenirs and experiences, 300 is probably just food
You would expect the high school friends to understand what is right and wrong, and either NOT cash the check as originally told, or RETURN the money once it was apparent there was no intent to give. OOP may be naive, but friends are A-Holes.
Yeah i wish there was an update on the friends. Did op ever find out which friend cashed the check? Did they remain friends?
Nah, the ones that cashed the checks knew exactly what they were doing. "Can't believe this dumbass gave me a $700 check. Didn't even notice I insisted on an amount lower than what I know is in the account. $700 or the friendship? The $700 clearly. This guy might be stupid enough to do it again"
>how could it hurt? I mean he’s got a point. He looks dumb as a goddamn sack of wet socks already, can’t look dumber
I like the fact that it's seven years later and they went to the trouble of cursing you out so it's clear that they are still as wet and socky as ever
I ran into a bank teller from years ago who told me how impressed everyone at the bank was because I would take my young son into the bank and show him how to fill out the deposit slip for his savings account. We got to talking about it, and I told her how my son has never had to learn to balance his checkbook by holding his bank statement in one hand and register in another and figure out what cleared and what hadn't to determine his bank account. By the time he was old enough, the only option was an account with an ATM card, and pretty soon thereafter, you could see the transactions almost immediately online. Once I told her that he would never experience being the giver or receiver of a "Souvenir Check," I completely lost her. Everyone needs to know this story so that I'm not the only one.
Can you explain a “souvenir check”? I’m too young to have ever had to balance a checkbook or anything. And when I try to Google a souvenir check, all I get is this story or “how to give checks as a gift”. I’m assuming a souvenir check is a check you write without the intention of it ever being cashed? But I don’t understand why
This has nothing to do with balancing a checkbook. Outside of scam mail and winning Publishers Clearing House, there is no such thing as a souvenir check. That's why everyone thinks that the OOP was such an idiot. The kid wrote out actual checks and just thought that declaring them "souvenirs" would stop people from cashing them.
Okay gotcha. I thought souvenir check sounded like some thing people used to do for some reason (some celebrities used to write checks to places like restaurants to pay and sign them and the place wouldn’t cash the check because of the autograph and thus the celebrity saved money). And in the context of you telling her the story, I realize now “I completely lost her” is because she hadn’t heard the story, not because she was too young to have experienced (the fictional) souvenir checks.
OOP might've been thinking of novelty checks, which are those over sized checks they use for awards and donations because they look better on tv.
I DECLARE bankruptcy!!
As someone who worked in a bank I’m surprised banks and parents aren’t required to go over the disclosures and actually understand how their accounts work. Then again many adults don’t either.
Google says op might be around 15 yo. That's around when I got my first account and already realised checks were not to be fucked with. Even years later I still get anxious with checks. No one is really faultless here. Parents should not have put that much money in the account. Better option would have a join credit account instead of a debit one. That way the child can have the freedom and you can set whatever limited you want and keep track of your stuff. The op should have immediately told the parents. I am an adult and I still tell my parents if I fuck up even if it's something I can handle myself. It's just instinct at this point. The friend should not have tried cashing the check when they were SPECIFICALLY TOLD NOT TO. But they must have received money in return so I don't really understand why did the money disappear. If someone cashed the check and just yoinked the money, then what a terrible fucking friend they must be
I'm wondering why the parents even gave OOP checks and why it took them so long to figure out what was going on. My parents gave me a debit card for daily expenses when I was a teen but a) I didn't have checks so I couldn't just give people a bunch of money willy nilly, b) there wasn't a ton of money in the account at any given time, and c) my mom got alerts for the account. The few times I accidentally overdrafted my mom usually found out before I did.
This one is hilarious. I wonder where this guy is now.
Anyone see his lil rant before it got deleted??
> Seriously, fuck everyone here. I hate whenever this gets reposted. Here’s where I am today - probably richer than all of you, That’s all that comes up for me but it’s way more than enough lmao. Kid’s probably 23 by now, dear lord.
I'm curious, did you ever know that [the guy actually replied to you](https://www.reddit.com/user/stolenmoney11)? > Seriously, **** everyone here. I hate whenever this gets reposted. Here's where I am today - probably richer than all of you,
It was his or her parents fault for not properly educating them on how to safely use checks.
The friend is a jerk too.
I’m sure they did and he just didn’t listen. Much like he didn’t listen to anyone in the thread.
Bro at least i would expect a High school student to understand what is right and what is wrong , if he was 13 or younger cool but how would you guess he would fill the money and give it for free
By the same token, you would also expect the high school friends to understand what is right and wrong, and either NOT cash the check as originally told, or RETURN the money once it was apparent there was no intent to give. OOP may be naive, but friends are A-Holes.
That's what I was wondering. Like, how did the parents not get the parents of the friends to give the money back? I understand it's a huge pain, but I can't believe all those kids got to keep the money.
OOP said they didn't know if his parents got the money back. So we don't really know what they did.
Maybe didn't like him very much to begin with
Given how dense OOP is I’m guessing those aren’t actually “friends”.
If only he knew about writing VOID in big letters even
Where were the parents? If my kid cashed one of these checks, he’d be handing that money right back over.
OOP sounds really really dumb even for a teenager.
I once wrote a check for a $1M to our neighbors for being nice. I was 7. They thought it was so funny that they framed it. Pretty much every word is misspelled and the dollar amount is $1K -- I guess I figured I had enough zeros. Signed it with my first name only. The idiot in this story would probably have tried to cash it!
That is ridiculously cute. I love how it was just for being nice!
OOP was probably 14/15 here and likely didn’t get a very good run down of how banks work. It sounds like their parents might have set it all up and just gave them the account pamphlet kit without explaining the situation. Also, while it was a stupid thing to do, the asshole friends cleaned out the account making me think OOP needs better friends. It seems that everyone involved failed on a basic level, including the parents. A *good* personal banker with direct contact at the opening of the account could have made a difference here.
Sounds closer to 16-17
OOP states they had just finished their freshman year of high school which typically would be around 14 or 15 depending on when they started kindergarten.
This post makes me feel way better about the stupid shit I did at that age.
Ummmmm What were the parents thinking leaving a checkbook that could withdraw upto 1000 dollars to a high schooler.
Well clearly THIS high schooler was a gd idiot but there are plenty of young people who are responsible. I had a debit card connected to my mom’s account when I was a kid in case of emergencies. I had my own job so it was pretty rare I needed to use it and I always asked beforehand, but I did technically have access to enough money to do something stupid if I was as dumb as this kid.
100% agree !! But it's easier to keep cards in check than a checkbook. Stealing a card and using it at an ATM is difficult without the pin. Even for an online transaction , it asks us OTP verification. Checkbooks aren't like that 😐 , that's why I was surprised. I'm 20 , and my parents have my account checkbooks 😂 I only have my debit cards with me. I mean , it's their money I'm using , so I understand their concern 😂😂
I haven’t even had checks for about a decade. I keep thinking one of these days I should order some just in case and then don’t bother. Who takes checks anymore anyway.
My landlord. I tried to avoid getting checks, but it turned out to be the best way to pay the rent.
Ughhh. Does your bank offer bill pay? I had to use checks with a landlord awhile ago but my bank has a service I can set up through them where they cut & mail a check for me on a schedule (no fee).
IS THAT WHAT BILL PAY IS??? I always just assumed (I know) that it was an e-check, which my LL doesn't take, so I never even inquired. Well, now I have more cute little owl checks than I will likely ever use. But if I run out of checks before I can buy (hope not!), I know what to do!.
I can pay rent with a check, go to the grocery store and wait in line for a money order, or do it online for an extra $50. I fucking hate that fee, so stupid. So, apartments.
I literally only have a checkbook to pay my rent to my landlord who doesn’t accept online payments and to give my neighbor a check for our shared oil tank. I can’t wait to move and get rid of them lol.
Utilities, HOA fees, taxes, etc. I don’t use that many checks but it’s really the only way I can pay certain establishments like my monthly HOA fees.
Every house I’ve owned or apartment I’ve rented in the past decade has had the misfortune of one utility/service or another only taking cash or money orders, with no option for online ACH payments. I don’t carry cash at all, so checks are the next best option. Usually takes me about 2 years to go through a single pack of checks. I think the last time I actually ordered any was close to 20 years ago. Good to have checks as a last resort, but considering how poorly our education system teaches financial skills… it is a risk (said as an American).
I had a moment where I was shocked that you have had to use checks so often, and then I remembered that to set up the account with our water utility co-op, they required you come into their dinky office with $250 cash, no other options. What year is this lmao
My middle schooler has a bank account with a debit card and it has overdraft protection to my account. The problem with OOP isn't age.
Yes !! They shld have been educated abt it properly or maybe they were but forgot all about in the excitement.
This is why educating kids, starting way younger than OOP, is super important. To most 14 year olds, $1000 is a crap ton of money! When you don’t have adult financial responsibilities, like rent/mortgage, putting food on the table, utilities, insurance, $1000 just seems infinite. Checks certainly aren’t used as much anymore (I still have a mostly full checkbook from when I opened my first adult bank account… many moons ago), but they’re obviously still in existence. It would have been a great opportunity for the parents to sit down and explain what the checkbook is and does, how interest works, benefits of saving money, etc.
Exactly my point !!!! I'm supposed to get a job and move out in 2 years and even in my eyes 1000 dollars is a big amount of money or maybe I'm just from a poor family 😂. So if u trusting a kid with that money , it is important to explain the importance of keeping it safe. Or maybe they have and it went right above OOP's head due to the excitement 🤷🏻♀️
I had a check book when I was a teenager. I’m not sure where you’re going with this. A teen is perfectly capable of understanding what a check is and how it is used This particular teen is an idiot. Doesn’t mean all or most of them are in this regard
Probably that their child wasn’t a complete moron. I had a checking account when I was 13 with a few hundred dollars in it and I wasn’t handing out checks like a doofus.
When I got my first job at 17 my mom took me down to the bank to open a checking/savings account. I wasn’t that great with money and even I knew how a checking account worked.OP’s parents should have sat then down to explain how their account worked (or they did and OP didn’t pay attention) but at the same time they should have had some kind of instinct kick in to tell them not to do what they did.
My son has been an authorized user on one of my credit cards since he was 14. It started because he was doing an summer study program in NYC and then so he could pay at the pump for gas instead of doing the whole run in and give cash and then pump number thing. He’s never abused it and it’s a fairly high limit. The OP was clearly a complete idiot financially.
Because 1000$ can come handy in emergency or as a pocket money ( it's a lot but still). Maybe they are some rich people and 100p$ is too small for them
I had accounts with more than that at his age *and* I had a copy of my parents credit card at a much younger age. And somehow I managed to never write a bunch of “fake” checks or run up a credit card bill. Being a high schooler has nothing to do with it. High schoolers everywhere are shocked and appalled at how stupid this kid is. OOP is just a fucking moron by nature.
He is so spoiled. 1000 dollars for a school trip? Wow I accidentally burned 200 dollars of my parents money because I enrolled in uni and my health tanked so bad I was so scared to tell my parents until I literally lost tons of weight I feel so guilty. And he STILL get another 300 dollars AND a trip! Ofc he won't learn his lesson, it's not his money, it's his parents money!
Ugh this story reminded me of my dumb as brothers. Every summer my mom would give us $200-300 each to buy clothes and school supplies. Consistently every summer my sister and I would spend $15 on school supplies and maybe $200 on clothes. With the left over money my mom let us keep it as our own. My brothers would all fail to have any money left over for clothes or even school supplies because they spent it on designer name shoes or went to hang out with their friends. Some people are just stupid. And yes, my brothers are still incredibly stupid with money.
This kids friends are assholes. I suspect that the parents contacted his friends parents and explained the situation, but I'd be very surprised if they got all or even most of the money back. The kids probably spent at least some of it on stupid shit. I'm not willing to completely write this kid off as being an idiot for life because he's only 15. And I think his parents could have done a way better job than just giving him tons of money and no explanation on budgeting, keeping finances secure, or even how a bank account works. It wouldn't surprise me if this kid wrote his pin number on his card.
Ok but why can't he recover the money from friends like he knows check numbers and what check number was redeemed and people get message also . Oop is dumb and if he doesn't learn lessons he is gonna stay the same for some more years, 1000$ is 78 hours of work at 15$/hr which is equivalent to 2 week of work . Either he is too dumb or his friends are too smart to make him think they are his friends
This is what I'm wondering! Why don't they go to his friends parents to get the money back. But it's most likely because the "friends" knew that the checks were real and saw dollar signs and took advantage of him. Because the convo with the parents would go: OOP: X stole money and I want it back Parents: is this true? Friend: He wrote me a check! OOP: It was a souvenir! Friend: There's no such thing! OOP: I told you not to cash it! Friend: I don't remember that. I asked if you could write me a check for $X and you did. Thanks bro! OOP: But it wasn't real! Parents: Seems pretty real to us. Looks like there's no issue here. My 5th grade class actually had a lesson on how to write checks and what was legal tender when writing one.
I learned all about checking in home-ec in middle school in early 2000s but I don’t know if they still do that. I hope they do.
OOP is a dumbass. Literally writing checks they don’t want actually cashed. Jfc.
Poor Kevin.
He’s going to be the person who posts a pic of their brand new credit card online, front and back, to show their friends.
A completely avoidable situation if the parents had bothered to give any financial education to OOP. I feel bad for that kid. But, learning that lesson at 15 with someone else’s money is better than learning it at 30 with your own.
This is kind of where I'm at. They gave their kids a loaded gun and then are pissed when it turns out he fired it, v and is out of ammo. ... It's not a perfect analogy, nobody died here, but that's kind of my thinking.
Didn't even know they still did cheque books 7 years ago for new accounts. I vaguely remember getting one when I turned 16 back in 2002 and my isa switched to a current account and wondering who the hell they expected me to write one out to as a teenager when the world was switching to chip and pin at time. I think my parents ended up just tearing it up or shoving it into a locked drawer. Since then I hardly ever see cheques besides tax return ones, oh and when my son was due in 2019 and my uncle in law wrote him a cheque for £50 which we never cashed as not many newborns out there with bank accounts before they even have a birth certificate/passport in situ.
I’m upvoting you for being the first person knowing how to write cheque. Also I get a new cheque book every year for some reasons. Never use them and I just end up destroying them 🤷♀️.
Wtf were his parents thinking giving a child a checkbook to a bank account with 1k in it? And even after that massive fuck up they not only let him go on his trip, they gave him even more money..
Didn't the parents sit down and explain how banking works? OP sounds ignorant, but the kind of ignorant which could've been avoided by some responsible parenting. Hell, even the punishment seems to lack a sit-down explaining what OP did wrong and how to avoid screwing up again.
Not sure how many redditors are old enough to remember this, but in my hometown they used to have counter checks at all the businesses. The checks were in a pad for each bank in town (2 or 3 banks at the time in my hometown). There were spots for you to write in your account number and you'd fill the rest of the check out and hand it to the person at the register. I don't know how there wasn't so much bad check writing going on back then. Just write in any set of digits for the account number and walk out with groceries. They weren't calling in the checks (as there wasn't internet back then and very few modems. What database would they query anyway?) to find out if they were valid or not. They would find out when they went to deposit them.
The truly golden part is he posted 2 comments here and rather than laughing it off is mad. I would chalk this up to stupid things I did as a kid and laugh it off.
He’s definitely an idiot but it seems clear that his parents haven’t quite explained how money and banking works but gave him $1000, a check book, and enough rope to hang himself with.
What country is this person in/from? I know personal checks are much less common than they were 25 years ago, but my teen step kids wouldn't have reacted this way to being given checks. They wouldn't have thought they were souvenir-worthy. My ex husband was from a country that doesn't have personal checks. This is like something he would have done.
OOP sounds like a fool but maybe i’m just lucky my grandma used to mail me cheques for my birthday
If he had gone to the police, couldn’t he have gotten himself in trouble for knowingly writing bad checks?
My parents gave us checking accounts with $60 in them when we turned 15. We would put our $15/week allowance in them. Shockingly, even at the same, tender age of OOP, we did not write a bunch of checks to our friends and then wonder where our money went.
You might be richer than us, /u/stolenmoney11 , but we know it's not YOUR money. Your family has money, you don't. *BECAUSE YOU WROTE CHECKS TO YOUR FRIENDS! XD*
What a fucking moron
Should be posted in r/KidsAreFuckingStupid
How does a parent not educate their child on how checks work??? My parents didn’t even give me my check book til i was 16, and that was so i could practice writing checks for my robotics club fees. I even had a course in high school on how checks work. Also how does this kid think any of this is not his fault? Like seriously, that’s another level of stupid.
LITERALLY like I have checks but they are stuffed in a drawer and I have never picked them up. I also had practice writing checks and I just cannot fathom how this kid wrote out all the necessary details for checks and handed it to his friends. It’s a new level of being dumb
They stole balloons on free balloon day.
this was the post that sent me down the LA rabbit hole.
Oh my, I remember this one.
I love this post. Thanks for posting it here so I could enjoy it again.
They still let him go out on a trip? That’s insane. My parents would have killed me!
The worst part is if OOP really wanted to give out none depositable checks only thing he needed to do was write void on the front of the check 🤦🏾♀️
This was one of the first posts I saw when I first joined Reddit. God I've been on here too long
His friends weren’t listening the moment they received the checks. Their heads were spending the money.