Mind Your Own Business

Not you, personally. I'm sure if I were having a conversation with you, it wouldn't include specific questions about how I spend my own money. Yes, I'm talking about my banks.

Is it just me, or have you noticed that going inside your bank these days is akin to walking onto a used car lot? Jeez, Louise, people! I don't need investment advice. I don't want to open an IRA. And I don't want to explain to you why I'm withdrawing my own darn money!

As I'm formerly from the finance field and worked in banking, you may call me a bit paranoid, but I do not keep all my money in one place. When I released my backlist as ebooks, it was either wait on checks for payment of give vendors account information to receive a wire transfer. Wire transfer is cool. Giving out my checking account information to a bunch of people is not. So I opened a new account at a totally different bank (so the accounts can't be linked) to receive my ebook payments. Once the payments hit at the end of every month, I withdraw the money in cash and deposit it into my regular checking to do whatever I had planned to do with it - pay off bills, home repair, new shoes (more on that later).

What I noticed is that I can't cash a check without a quiz on if I need a savings and do I want to talk to an investment counselor. Apparently, spending your own money is quite painful for banks, because you know, they're not making near enough money scamming you on NSF fees and 30% interest rates for people who've never made a late payment.

Since I knew I was going to slug someone for prying into my personal business, I started lying on my checks. Yes, that's right - lying. Now, in the memo field, I put a reason for the check. Usually, it's stuff like "kitchen remodel," "tile" and "AC repair." The teller always reads the reason and then asks if I'm doing remodeling, etc. but they don't launch into telling me how to spend (or not spend) my own money.

Of course, then there's the trip to my regular bank. I ran out of deposit slips and went inside a couple of times and it was the same thing all over again - God forbid you deposit money into an account. They simply can't stand not being able to get their hands on it. And I'd tell them "Can I just get this processed. I'm late for work." And still, they'd launch into a million questions about my job, my retirement plan, my 401k and my satisfaction with it.

So the last time I was in there, I asked for some blank deposit slips. They don't leave them sitting out any longer. The counselor says "You don't need a deposit slip. We can look up the account and make the deposit in here, no problem." Finally at my limit, I said "But I never want to come inside again. You people waste my time being nosy. I intend to use the drive-through for the rest of my life. And if they ask questions there, I'm going to crank up my car stereo and pretend I can't hear you."

Of course, the woman who'd just wasting 20 minutes of my time - yes, 20 minutes for a cash deposit - gave me a look like *I* was the bitch. sigh

In a recent shopping trip, I did spend some ebook money on new shoes. How do you like them?

In other news, I'm looking for volunteers to be members of my street team.

What is a street team, you ask? Well, a street team is essentially a core group of fans that spread word about an author's books in the hopes of gaining more readers.

Most street team members spread the word using social media, such as blogs, Twitter and Facebook, but good old-fashioned conversation is also welcome. Basically, your job would be telling as many people as possible about my new releases.

So what do you get in return? All street team members will be among the first to hear new announcements - falling only behind my husband, family and closest friends. You'll get free promo items, both for yourself and to distribute to potential readers, a private Facebook group where you can chat with other street team members, and you'll be automatically entered in regular drawings for prizes such as autographed books, gift cards and other goodies.

If you're interested in becoming part of my street team, please contact me through my website.

Have a great week, all!

Deadly DeLeon