Dubious Quality

Eli 20.4 had friends who all chipped in a dish (he made pie), and they had a nice Thanksgiving dinner at Oxford, which made me very happy. That was the good part. 

I had to go back to the bank today. I have a list of other things I'd like to write about today, but every day is an octopus right now, and I've temporarily lost control of my own life. 

After I'm done editing the book, that is. Until noon, I'm able to work. Then everything turns into a dumpster fire. 

I returned to the bank because I needed them to do something simple: move the money from Gloria's bank accounts into an estate account. This is a standard thing to do when someone passes, and I had the court order appointing me Eli's special representative for the estate. 

The bank, for some bizarre reason, couldn't get it approved internally. I was annoyed. "I'm not applying for a loan, you guys. This is a court order. There's no refusal here." 

Blah blah blah blah blah blah.

Basically, there legal department wouldn't approve it because the scanner in the local branch couldn't pick up the gold notary seal on the court documents. "Does this sound like anything that should be my problem?" I asked. 

Finally, I had to resort to The Glare. 

I inherited this from Mom 91.8, who has wielded it with awesome power at necessary times during her life. Like her, I only use it for good, and only when I'm pushed into a corner, but today, with the bank being ridiculous, I applied its fearsome power. 

I was also fully masked, which focused The Glare even more fully. 

I never raised my voice. I just pointed out how their internal problems were not my problems, that I had a court order (and six days was more than enough time to execute it), and that somebody needed to get something done. Immediately.

Mr. Perfect had stopped using "perfect" by this point. He really lost his fastball for a while there. 

With a careful application of The Glare, the bank manager was suddenly making phone calls. Twenty minutes later, problem solved. 

Well, solved to the point of opening an estate account and giving me printouts of the last year of statements for Gloria's accounts. Now I have to review all her bank transactions for the last year and make a list of everyone she paid. Every single one, because it all has to be transferred or cancelled. 

Octopus.