Making Waves

Back in the salon days, I went to the bank nearly every day and often worked with the same teller. Out shopping earlier, I ran into M.

She'd been fired.

Someone brought in a $4300 check, deposited $300 and took $4000 back in cash. M asked for two forms of ID, but did not demand that one of those IDs be a debit card from that bank. They fired her for it.

She's been out of work for five months and had one interview despite sending out hundreds of applications. She's 57 years old—hardly prime time for job hunting. She's divorced and her folks are long gone. In six more weeks, her unemployment and COBRA will run out. She has no idea what she'll do then. Even now, most of her unemployment check goes to the COBRA payments.

I should be working but can't shake my outrage—at the bank, the person who passed the bad check, the system that leaves a 57-year-old woman so vulnerable and terrified of losing her health coverage.

Passing that bad check didn't cause ripples: It created a tidal wave that swamped a simple woman who worked hard at a demanding job for little pay or appreciation.

Something has got to be did, I tell you. Got. to. Be. Did.