How long does it take to withdraw $2.03 from Wells Fargo?

Mom's Blurb:

Once upon a time, we had a checking account at Norwest Bank. A short time before we moved to Kansas, they were bought by Wells Fargo. Since there aren't any Wells Fargos in Kansas, we decided to leave the account open until all the checks cleared. Soon this became a low priority. A few years ago, we decided to call to have the account closed. The "phone banker" suggested that we go to a local branch to close the account. When we explained the closest "local branch" was 3 hours away in Nebraska, they offered to send us the paperwork. We never received the paperwork but the statement showed a $2.00 fee for calling them. So when I realized that Wells Fargo was in St Paul, I brought one of the statements and figured that I would be able to get the account closed.

Today, I had decided to take pictures of the ice sculptures and the Wells Fargo wasn't far away. Entering the branch, I was quite surprised about not only the size but the "feel" of being insignificant. I approached the counter and could not locate any type of withdrawal slips so I stood in the teller line. After a few minutes, a young man approached with a clip board asking if anyone needed a withdrawal slip. When I stated that I did, he said "okay, let me start to fill it out for you. How much do you need to withdraw?" When I said $2.03, I got a strange look but okay, here's the slip.

After a few more minutes, I was finally at a teller window. I handed him my withdrawal slip and my ID. He pulled up the account and asked if I was planning on just withdrawing the $2.03 or closing the account. I explained that I have been getting statements for over 7 years and I think it was about time they quite wasting paper so we need to do whichever to stop the mail. He then explained that the account is dormant, he needs to get it reactivated and he'll be right back. After another few minutes, he came back and explained that I'll need to see a personal banker to close out the account and to see the guy with the clipboard. He added my name to the list and said "there are a few people ahead of you but it shouldn't be long as there are plenty of personal bankers today."

Once again I found myself waiting. After awhile, I was escorted to an available "personal banker". I handed him my withdrawal slip and he looked up the account. He then asked for 2 forms of ID (apparently my driver's licence isn't enough). After a little more typing he called his "backoffice" to activate the account. Once he was off the phone, he started typing again. Soon he stated the account is now closed, handed me my withdrawal slip and said that I can have my money. OK, so are you going to give me my money? Apparently not, he doesn't have money and I'll need to see a teller (gone are the days that they actually get out of their chairs I guess).

Now the line is longer for the tellers and it appears that everyone in front of me must be asking the teller to accomplish an impossible task because someone need to come over to the teller to assist. Finally, a teller is available and it's the same one I saw the first time. After asking for my ID again, he looks up the account and says that it looks like we got the account taken care of and it's now closed. "So, I can have my $2.03 now?"

I would estimate that it took over 30 minutes to get my $2.03 and probably cost Wells Fargo significantly more to give me the $2.03 (plus all the years of printing and mailing statement).

After all that hard work, I was hungry so I strolled over to the famous Mickey's Dining Car for lunch. When I arrived, there was a group standing near the door/register. I was trying to locate a seat at the counter but was having a difficult time seeing around them. The waitress asked me how many and I replied 1. She said "you'll have to sit at the counter" as she walked away. The group finally left and I could see that I actually had a couple of choices and selected the seat at the end. As another couple leaves, the cook yells, sorry for burning your food. The waitress turns to him and says they only had coffee to which he replied I know, I was just giving them a hard time. It was fun to watch the bantering between the staff and the regulars - kinda like family.

On the way back to the hotel, I walked thru the travelling exhibit for the Figure Skating Museum at the Landmark Center. Afterwards, I walked across the street to watch the ice carving. It's just amazing what beautiful sculptures they create with chainsaws. I can't wait to see them when they are finished!

I stopped at the Xcel Center and watched the Jr men's before heading back to the hotel. Later in the evening, I returned to watch the Sr Men's short program... more on that later... it's late

Things I've learned so far...

Mom's blurb:
I know I haven't brought you current as I said I would but let me summarize with the things I've learned so far:
1. I am really glad that my hotel is right across the street from the Xcel Center as it's really, really, really cold outside
2. It may look like slush but there's ice under there
3. If the lady walking in front of you slips and catches herself, it just might be slippery
4. When you land in the street, you need to get up and get the snow and ice off of yourself before your clothes get wet and you get even colder.
5. Make sure you remove all snow/ice and get the soles dry before you sit down and kick the seat of the person in front of you (and learn it the first time). Sorry
6. When travelling with a teenager, book a separate room for yourself, if at all possible.
7. Some of the nicest, friendliest people work at the Xcel Center.
8. The families of skaters are terrific people and are surprisingly pleasant when you ask if you can climb over them to get autographs (Thanks again!).
9. When purchasing a soda from the concession stand, make sure you drink some of it first so you don't end up wearing some of it and your hands don't get sticky (lids would be really nice).
10. Some interesting conversation start with saying "hi" in the elevator (or by kicking the seat in front of you) .
11. When you need to do laundry, check with the front desk as they may give you laundry detergent for free.
12. A birthday fruit plate with a candle in the whipped cream is a pretty nifty idea (even if she thinks it's corny)
13. When the announcer directs everyones attention to the scoreboard for an important birthday message and then your daughter looks at you like you're crazy is worth the small donation to the memorial fund.
14. Even though you have the same birthday as your child, your child will never remember how old you are
15. It may be scary when you kid crashes into another skater during freestyle but seeing Senior level skaters crash into each other is really scary (and you can hear the whole audience take a deep breath)

Is it really Tuesday?

Mom's Blurb:
The days and nights seem to be running together and I'll bring you up to speed on the adventures so far. I'm beginning to dream, hope and beg for more than 4 hours of sleep in a bed. I'm going to try to catch you up to speed.

Saturday:
The hotel's fire alarm woke me around 2:30 am at the hotel ruin any chance of a good night's sleep. Believe it or not, Jacque slept through it. In the morning we checked out of the hotel and headed to pick up her skates at the Winning Edge. As usual, we bought more stuff while we were there including a skirt and tights. I asked Deb about how long it takes to get to Sidner Ice Arena in Fremont, she replied about 40 minutes. Om my gosh, I'm behind already as we are suppose to be at the rink in 30 minutes. We followed the directions from Streets and Trips (and yes, Jacque did give me another play by play). We arrived safely (and on time!) to our destination despite 'Street and Trips' announcing we were off route and showing us driving through farmland several times.

We were amazed that the rink had a freestyle session on Saturday and that it was nearly empty! The freestyle session was only $7. From what I've heard, the rink was a gift and now the struggle is keeping it running. http://www.fremonticearena.com/ After a few laps, Jacque let me know that she was happy with the sharpening. The practice session on the other hand, I'll let Jacque write about if she chooses.

Afterward we had lunch and camped out at one of our family's favorite places, Borders, for a few hours in Omaha since we had lots time to kill before the test session. We didn't have an exact time for the test session so we arrived at the MottoMclean about 6:30. This gave Jacque time to hang out with Anna Blair before Anna's syncro team completed. After the test session, Jacque waited for the results, reviewed the videos (many times) and discussed it with her coach.

It was nearly 10 pm by the time we left the rink. We grabbed some food at Wendy's before hitting the road. The Wendy's experience supported our theory that the further north we went, the worse the food was. Soon after getting on I-80, the temperature was fluctuating between -3 and -7. Jacque fell asleep so I was spared the play by play for several hours and was able to find I-35 without it :-)

A few hours into the trip, I needed a refresher so I stopped in Story City, IA at a Kum n Go. The clerk was friendly, wished me well, and reminded me to stop when I got too tired. After 2 am, I was too tired to continue so I decided to take a nap at the Super 8 in Clear Lake IA. The hotel clerk was really friendly, giving me lots of options for the room including which floor I'd like for the room to be one. I also arranged for a wake up call for 6 am.

Sunday:
We were on the road by 6:30 am and Jacque fell asleep again. I stopped at a rest area about 45 miles south of St Paul and was greeted by a real friendly attendant who reminded me to be careful and stay warm. I began to think that as long as we didn't eat out, we'd meet lots of great folks. We were able to find the Xcel Center and the ramp parking without any issues. We easily located our seats and was able to call Marc and Mom to let them know we arrived safely prior to the start of Novice Compulsory Dance event.

After the event, we drove to the hotel. It took a few laps around the block to find the actual entrance drive to the hotel. We checked in and took our first load up to the room. Although the room isn't as nice as the room in Omaha, it will be our home for the next week. We decided to let things thaw a bit and wen to the hotel restaurant for lunch. After lunch, we took another load to the room and began to unpack.

Jacque and I started to discuss when we were going to call my aunt Dee when the phone began to ring, it was Dee. We made plans for her to join us at the hotel and then go to the Mall of America. We arrive a little over an hour before closing so we wandered around some of the lower level stores looking at prom type dress look for a deal on modifying into a ice dance dress but no luck. When the stores began to close, we went to Tony Roma's for dinner and then back to the hotel. Jacque shared her test videos, some of her art on Deviant Art and other pictures. About 11 pm, we finally gave into to exhaustion and went to bed after setting the alarm for 6:30 am.

I'll need to finish catching you up later as Jacque isn't waking up and we plan on watching the Sr Dance practice in half and hour.

Test Videos!

Pictures!

(Click to Enlarge)

We were in misery (Missouri) and now we're in pain (Payne, Iowa) :P

Jac's blurb,
Today we started our drive to Omaha and arrived at our destination very exhausted. I slept most of the car ride, but that's alright. Around St. Joseph, we had stopped at Starbucks(c) Coffee where I had gotten a Peppermint Mocha and Mom got a Hot Chocolate, like always. We had also bought two fudge brownies, both were disgusting! Mom's Hot Chocolate was bland and my Peppermint Mocha tasted off, as well. After we got back into the car we meaninglessly talked about the trip and starting a blog and such, well here we are! Later, we had stopped at McDonald's for a pee break and get something to eat...which sadly, also tasted disgusting. I was beginning to think that the further North we got, the worst it tasted. While taking our detours, the GPS device was complaining that we were off route, every 5 seconds. Mom thought it was annoying to have the voice on...I just thought it was hilarious. I also tried to chat a little before we got there, answering my friend's replies and to read e-mail. I had also tried to find a good template for the blog but none seemed to work.

Once we arrived in Omaha, we started lugging items up to the hotel. We received hot Chocolate Chip Cookies although my stomach refused to think about eating them. I sat down and thought, "Hey...we should take some pictures for our blog!" I rushed for my camera, hoping to be ready to leave and...what do you know! My camera is dead. So I opened up Microsoft Streets and Trips to find the closest grocery store, there were a few that didn't look so convincing so I went with a name I knew, Hy-vee. We navigated our way to Hy-vee and took a while to find Lithium batteries but we did. Now our clerk was a rude one! I was complaining that the sides of the boxes weren't even because it annoyed me. The old lady in front of us was complaining about her $90.13 bill and it was kinda like..."Get over it, Lady!" But I wasn't going to be rude. But apparently he had charged her for something extra so she was pretty annoyed. We finally checked out and continued our venture back to the hotel. It was pretty cold outside and Mom complained about someone taking her parking spot.

We're back at the hotel and I took pictures. Now I'm writing this blog. Now for Mother Dearest. :)



Mom's blurb,
Well, I'm glad to be at the hotel and not hearing Jacque's play by play of our "current location, speed and time of arrival" using the GPS or the "I think I have to pee, maybe not" ;-) Shortly after arriving, my mom called about the news today about Sprint Nextel's layoff/voluntary separation. For now, I'm not worried and will try to find time for some thinking about it or may not.

After letting Marc know we arrived safely, we headed to the Hy-Vee. As Jacque mentioned the cashier was rude and seemed more concerned with the time and closing his line even though the line was long. When the lady in front of us didn't think the total was correct -he basically replied, well, that's what it says it is and I can't print it until you've paid for it. The lady reviewed her receipt and noticed that he charged her too many times for an item, he looked at the receipt and said - well, you need to take it to customer service over there (which by the way, nobody was there).

Now, we're waiting for Phil from the Winning Edge to come by the hotel to get Jacque's skates (it's almost 10 pm). He is going to sharpen them for her and have them ready for us in the morning. She'll be able to skate on them some in the afternoon before the test session in the evening. Although, I'm a bit scared about getting her skates sharpened right before the test, Phil has been wonderful and will adjust the sharpening so it won't be too dramatic. It's not often that you get experience house calls and I've always had great service from the Winning Edge!

It seems to be a year of "firsts" for me - a few weeks ago I experienced my first taxi ride in Vegas and now I've written my very first blog!

I'm hoping to sleep well (with a little help from a friend - Ambien). It's going to be a long, long day tomorrow.


Pictures to come, promise!

Goodnite :)