Money Karma

Since I finally found the apartment that I wanted to move in, it was time for logistics, transferring money to the owner and signing the lease. I did not have enough Thai Baht with me, so I went to the nearest bank, Siam Commercial Bank (SCB). This was only my third visit to the bank in three days! The first time was when I wanted to open a bank account only to find out that they did not allow consultants to open an account at their branch and that I would have to go to the UN branch to do it. The second time was when I wanted to cash my check for reimbursement of the visa fees from my office and now, the third time, to exchange some dollars into Thai Baht to pay my landlord.

Since the message about the money transfer was given to me only before lunch, I went to the bank to find a big crowd of people waiting for different services. The bank had been closed for three consecutive days due to some public holiday, hence, everyone seemed to be anxious to get their transactions done. After inquiring at the counter, I was given a card with no. 7 written on it, meaning I was the 7th person in the line to be given the service. So I sat by a Thai looking woman who had a similar colored name tag as I did, assuming that she worked for the UN. I found out that she was working for the ADB, which is our neighboring office building. In a moment, it was her turn and she went to the counter. Then a man came from the back row and sat by my side. Noticing that he had already submitted his document, I asked him if it always takes so long to get money exchange service at the bank. He replied that he needed to send some money back home so his transaction was taking longer. I asked him where he was from and he replied Nepal. So I laughed and introduced myself to him. We talked for a while and he left after his work was done, leaving me with his contact details so that I could contact him in case I needed any help.

After waiting for about another ten minutes, the bank announced that it has run out of American dollars and hence many people waiting in front of me left the bank to come back the next day. So it was finally my turn and I went to the counter with $700. Since they probably did not have enough money at the counter, the middle man went downstairs to get Thai Baht and came back with 21,000 Baht.

The middleman gave me the money which I took with my right hand and I had the American dollars on my left hand that I tried to give him but he insisted that I count the money first. I checked and the money was 21,000 Bhat. Then he called over a younger looking guy to assist me with depositing the money to the apartment owner’s account. So the young man took me to the ATM, which was outside the bank. After helping me with the deposit, he said that I was done and started walking back into the bank. To my surprise, even he didn't take the $700 from me. I was free to leave but I followed the younger guy inside the bank.

After waiting for about 5 minutes, the older guy finally showed up and I told that he had forgotten to take my money. He was greatly relieved and he mentioned that he has been looking for the money all over the counter and could not remember where he had misplaced it. Feeling satisfied at his relief, I handed the money to him and thanked him for helping me with my transaction.

I am not sure if Nature was trying to test my honesty this way but it was surely an amusing morning for me and I left the bank with a grin on my face.