A couple of weeks ago we had Big Pest Control Company out here patching holes in floorboards, cleaning out bird nests and otherwise practicing what it calls “Exclusion Services.” They wanted to get paid ahead of time, and without thinking much about it we wrote them a check for a fairly good-sized (4-digit) amount. That was sometime toward the end of March.

On Monday we got a bill from BPCC for the full amount.

We got on the phone with the guy who brought the contracts around and he was surprised, as were we. He promised to “do something about it.” Yesterday the “something” was have the Controller, Chief Accountant, Head Money Launderer or somebody like him call us to say in a very embarrassed way “Can you put a stop payment on the check you wrote? We’ll pay the fee. We can’t find that check anywhere.”

Politely we didn’t say “have you checked your man’s clothes hamper for it?”

Anyway, this morning I had to call the bank to put a stop on the check. I don’t think I’ve done that in thirty years, even on a business check. The fee has gone up quite a bit, hasn’t it? Thirty bucks!