What Is Wrong with These People?

It really doesn't surprise me that my hometown doesn't have a bank that has an ATM with deposit capabilities. The town is tiny and most of them are run by locals who've never lived anywhere else in the last few decades. It does surprise me, however, that the surrounding larger towns similarly lack this service. It wouldn't be such a big deal except the fact that I often have problems getting to the bank before closing and we've had issues with night deposit (K not leaving enough information on the envelope when she deposited a check for me, taking four business days to process). We've just never had that problem when depositing by ATM.

We drove over to a much larger town today to deposit our checks, pick up a new larger-sized car seat for E and visit my grandfather in the assisted living home. This town is big enough to have a mall (although the three department stores inside are JC Penney, Belk, and Goody's and not a lot else) and is home to the hospital that serves much of the region for medical services not available in many of the smaller towns (regional cancer center, low-risk surgeries, etc.), so you'd think this place would have a Wachovia with an ATM that accepts deposits. Not so much. They had a Wachovia with an ATM and this one even had a slot labeled deposit, but when I inserted my card, deposit wasn't even an option. Apparently, this bank (the ATM didn't have the drawer for deposit envelopes either) had an ATM that was capable of accepting deposits, but was too backward to make use of it. I was a little pissed.

After visiting my grandfather for a bit, K and I headed out to look for Sears to get the car seat she wants. She has a gift card to Sears that would have made this a pretty cheap prospect, but when we arrived, it turned out that their Sears isn't the full store, but one of those home appliance satellite stores that they have in small towns. No car seats.

In other words, the trip was almost entirely a waste. Sure, we visited my grandfather, which is something we probably don't do enough considering the fact that he's just 60 miles away, but I'm selfish and it didn't make me feel any less like I was wasting a day I could have been home finishing up the laundry and relaxing after having been busy all day Saturday and on the road all day today.

I'm a little angry about the whole thing and really hating small town life right now. I just need to spend a long weekend holed up in a hotel in Decatur with nothing planned. Hang out at Twain's and Brick Store in the evenings. Wander around some of the more interesting parts of town. Eat Bangladeshi, Ethiopian, and Thai food. Maybe finally see if that Cuban place on Ponce de Leon is any good. Check out a few shows at the little pseudo-dive bars the cool bands always play in. Get soft tacos from Taqueria del Sol for lunch. Go everywhere by MARTA and foot. Hit up the High Museum of Art for their current installment of the Louvre collection. Go shopping at Harry's before heading home.

I think after a few days of that and a trunk full of gourmet ingredients and produce that doesn't suck, I could come back home and be happy again. At least until the next payday when I'm reminded that my school doesn't offer direct deposit and I can't find a bank with an ATM that accepts deposits or need some not-so-obscure ingredient that can't be found within 90 miles of my house.