I hate being right

I can see the future. Not perfectly, not completely, not about all things. I can be surprised by the unexpected. But a lot of the time, I can see the future, in the same way you can.

I tend to be a pessimist. I assume things will work out for the worst, that when things "happen for a reason" that reason usually involves greed, or stupidity, or the gain of one individual or group over another. When I look at a situation I will try to sort out the family of probable outcomes based on these pessimistic assumptions and try to prepare for each one. Usually the actual outcome is not a "worst-case", but it is something I have prepared for.

I stopped at the local PNC Bank last Saturday to order currency for my upcoming trip to Ireland. I don't like using traveller's checks (or "cheques", as American Express likes to call them) because they tend to be cumbersome to use, are not universally accepted, and whipping one out usually is the best way to announce that you are a tourist. I much prefer credit cards, which give good exchange rates, a record of purchases, and are almost universally accepted. Almost, but not quite. For some situations - bars, tips, corner shops - you simply need cash, in the local currency.

I am travelling to two different countries next month: Ireland, which uses the euro, and England, which uses the British pound. I will spend most of my time in Ireland, with just three days in London. My friend has made arrangements for flights to and from London and for our hotel stay, and has charged these things to her credit card. I need British pounds for walking-around-money in London, and euros for my time in Ireland, and to reimburse my friend for the expenses she's already charged to her credit card.

In the past I've gotten $500 in euros to take with me on my somewhat-less-than-two-week trips. These trips were in 2002 and 2003, when the dollar was stronger against the euro. This time my visit will be somewhat longer, nearly three weeks. But aside from the London side-trip, I expect to be doing less "touristy" things, so I don't think my cash needs will be as great. Plus I am trying to save for a house, and a new car, and a new computer. I decided to bump up my euros to $600 worth, and also order $150 in British pounds.

As I said, I stopped at my local PNC Bank branch to order my currency last week. My mom used to work for a bank that was bought by a bank that was bought by PNC, so she ended up working for PNC for a few years. My accounts wound up being held by PNC, and even though I've transferred most of my savings into a credit union, I still do some of my banking at PNC. Also, they have the largest presence of any bank in Northeastern PA , and own most of the ATM's, and are one of the only banks open on weekends. So if you have a day job and need to do face-to-face banking once in a while, PNC is pretty much your only choice.

So I went into PNC and ordered my currency: $600 in euros, $150 dollars in British pounds. I watched the teller write this on a slip of paper:

600 EUROS

150 POUNDS

(It was, of course, upside-down, but I can read upside-down almost as easily and quickly as right-side-up.)

"That's six hundred dollars in euros, and one hundred and fifty dollars in pounds," I stressed.

"Yes, yes, I know," she said peevishly.

She's gonna screw it up, I thought to myself. But after several more assurances that what I had ordered would be what I got, I left the bank, unconvinced.

When I went to the bank to pick up my currency this morning, I was greeted with the sort of consternation that usually occurs at a local branch when someone tries to do anything more complicated than make a deposit or a withdrawal. One of the tellers volunteered that she knew about the currency that had come in, and asked me to stand aside so the other dozen or so customers could be waited on while she was retrieving my money from their vault.

She came out with a UPS envelope. She opened it to reveal two envelopes stapled together, each with a receipt on the top. Reading upside-down again, I saw

BANKNOTE Sale 600 European Union Euros @ a rate of 1.2791

So, not only did I get the crappy rate I expected (XE.com currently lists the Euro at 1.19395, so I basically got slapped with a 7% conversion fee), but also they made the mistake I had specifically warned them not to make.

We checked the other envelope, and it said

BANKNOTE Sale 150 English Pounds @ a rate of 1.8711

(XE.com lists the current exchange rate at 1.74031, so again, I am paying a 7.5% conversion fee.)

Well, I was as pissed off as you can get in a bank without getting the police involved. The money has already been debited from my account, so there's no recourse other than to essentially trade back the extra money - at, no doubt, rates favorable to the bank. Oh, I can complain to the manager. I can complain to the president of PNC Bank. I can write about this on my blog. In the end, it won't make a bit of difference.

So in eleven days I will be boarding an airplane with my pockets bulging with nearly $1050 in currency. That makes me a little uncomfortable. On the plus side, I'll be using my credit cards less, assuming the cash doesn't get lost or stolen somewhere along the way. And my friend probably won't need to get any cash converted for our trip to London - 150 pounds should be enough walking-around money for the three of us. Maybe.

I guess I can always hope that the dollar plummets while I'm over there. Then I'll hold onto any excess currency, convert it back into dollars on my return, and live like a king .