should I sleep with my bank manager?

Even though the last few months haven't been my most lucrative, I had been keeping track of my wealth (NOT) every week to avoid the dreaded Overdraft Charges. This all blew up over the last few days.

A few days ago, I'd written out a check for $300, payable to my mechanic, and left it on my kitchen table so I wouldn't forget to deliver it to him October 30. This was an arrangement I'd made a couple of weeks ago when he worked on my car - he was cool to take some of the money up-front, and some two weeks later. I had also told him I would pay off Rachel's outstanding debts if she didn't come up with it soon, since he is planning to retire in the next couple of months.

To make a long story short, Rachel came in my house one day to pick up something she'd forgotten. She saw the check and, in a rare show of efficiency, mailed it to the mechanic (she used to work for him, and initially referred me to him - otherwise she'd have been clueless.) It's payback for my leaving stamps in clear view of visitors, I guess; I buy commemoratives and keep them on a bulletin board in the kitchen.

Since the check cleared, I've run up so many overdraft charges that I'm already short for next month's mortgage payment, even after I get paid on the 30th. (Getalife pays twice a month.) When I first saw the neat little row of $38.00 debits on my computer screen, I almost burst into tears. It was a fitting end to a day with a quarterly performance review that sucked as badly as the previous ones, except that PD* had no help from TD* this time.

Chase kicks back one OD charge each year as a show of goodwill, but I am absolutely buggered as to how I'm going to convince them to negotiate on the outstanding charges. Which, at $38 a pop, have already made Jamie Dimon's board a little happier. All I can think of is to go to the branch tomorrow and throw myself at the manager's feet. Too bad I've never laid eyes on the manager before. With my luck, I'll probably end up kowtowing to the new trainee.

* See key to characters at right.