MISERABLY COMFORTABLE

Money was extremely tight with Glenda, and through the years of working for SPOKES on a draw vs. commission base, she learned quickly about the ole hardships of managing that all-mighty dollar… even if it means overlapping her bills and income, Glenda learned how to juggle her money; she learned everything she needed to know about grace periods and such. Example, if rent is due at the first of the month, and the first falls on a Monday, yet Glenda doesn’t get paid till Friday (the fifth), she would write a check out and drop it off at the apartment office on the third (Wednesday) since most apartment complexes in the state of Texas give you a grace period till the third to drop off your rent check. The trick is, you write the check out for the 1st (Monday) but you don’t have the funds to cover the check till the 5th (Friday), which means if your check goes through before that time, you end up with a bounced check, leaving you with a penalty fee from your bank and a late payment from your apartment complex, and another charge from your apartment complex for the fee your bank charged them for the check bouncing. The key to preventing that is dropping your check off on the last day of the grace period which would be the 3rd (Wednesday.) But whatever you do you never submit the rent check till after business hours on the 3rd (Wednesday.) You never want to risk the chance of turning the check into your apartment office through business hours, reason being it gives them an opportunity to deposit your check the very same day, which means your check has the likely hood of posting on the 4th (Thursday) which leaves you “shit up a creek!” This equation is very similar to beginners Algebra… but, not really… sort of… but, not really… Let’s see how well you listened to this story, and test your math skills. POP QUIZ TIME: If Glenda Page has to pay rent on the 1st (Monday), and is given a “Grace Period” till the 3rd (Wednesday) But, Glenda won’t receive her direct deposit till the 5th (Friday.) What the fuck should Glenda do, now? A) Go on ahead and deposit the check on the 1st (Monday) and say a little prayer in hopes that the Lord Jesus will miraculously allow the check to pin till the 5th (Friday?) B) Deposit the check at any old time on the 3rd (Wednesday?) C) Do the smart and realistic thing that any normal paycheck-to-paycheck US Citizen would do, which is turn that shit in after the apartment complex has already closed on the 3rd (Wednesday) allowing yourself to have enough time for that Friday’s paycheck to hit your account before your rent check even has an opportunity to pin through? If you answered “C” you are CORRECT!!! Most likely if you turn in your rent check on the last day of the “Grace Period” you (nine times out of ten) prevent the risk of your account being overdrawn and being charged any unnecessary penalty fees from the Bank and your Leasing Office. When the office opens the next morning on the 4th (Thursday) either two things might happen! Your apartment complex had already made one trip to the bank and would rather not bother making a second trip till Friday, leaving you 100% in the clear! If your apartment complex decides to deposit your check that Thursday, you can still rest assure that it won’t even affect your account till Friday the 5th and sometimes not until the next following week, due to the weekend.