A Kid Learns about Banks

A Kid Learns about Banks
a short story by Wolf Larsen

Once upon a time a kid named Johnny helped his father around the house painting walls and other things like that. Johnny learned some useful things, and even better yet his father gave him a little money for his work!

His father asked Johnny, "What are you going to do with all that money?"
Johnny responded, "I don't know."
His father said, "Why don't you have fun with some of the money, and put the rest of it in a savings account at the bank?"

Johnny thought about it a moment. Having fun sounded good! And putting the rest of it in the bank sounded good too! Putting money in the bank seemed really neat, like something all grown up and whatnot.

So the kid and his father went to the bank. They sat down at a desk together with a man in a suit & tie. There were a bunch of forms. His father had to sign some papers. The little kid had to sign some papers too. And then the little kid handed over his money to the man in the suit & tie.

The kid then forgot about the money in the bank for a while. He was busy going to school, studying, playing baseball, etc.

Then one day a friend got a new bicycle for his birthday.
"What are you going to do with the old bicycle?" asked Johnny.
The other kid didn't know.
Johnny said, "Why don't you sell it to me? I've got money in the bank!"
And both kids thought this was a great idea.

So Johnny went to the bank to withdraw some of his money to buy the bicycle. At the bank the teller told him there was no more money in his savings account, and in fact the teller informed Johnny that he owed the bank money!

"But how could that be?" asked Johnny. "I deposited my money and I never took anything out! In fact, I thought I was supposed to get interest!"
The lady informed Johnny about something called bank fees. And that since he had less than $10,000 in his savings account the bank automatically deducted fees every month.
Johnny was confused as the bank teller explained to Johnny that he owed the bank money.

Copyright 2012 by Wolf Larsen