I was working as a bank clerk
that day as usual. Sometimes I served
some strange customers and that day I could see a cool gentleman
approaching. 'What can I do for you?' I asked him.
And he said to me, 'I'd like to open an account with this bank.'
'Thank you very much, sir. Would you fill in this form: your name,
address, office?'
'Sure.' He smoothly filled it in, and handed it to me.
'Thank you, and could you give me some money to deposit, and your
identification card? For example: a passport or driving licence.
'Of course. Here you are.' And he me them.
'Thank you. I'll make sure everything is correct. Please wait a
minute.'
I checked them, and I noticed
something a bit strange on his driving
licence - another picture was stuck over the base picture.
'Excuse me, sir. Did you stick another picture on this? May I tear off
the picture?'
And he said to me, 'Why? No problem. You think it to much? I obtained
this licence from the police like always. This is not particularly
strange; this is real,' he insisted.
'I see. Please, just a moment. I stared at it again. I thought that I
smelled something fishy. He must be a phony, he must have committed a
crime!
I asked my boss some proper
advice. He inspected it and said, 'This is strange. It might
be a fake. Explain to him it is necessary to tear off the picture.'
'cetainly.' He was doubtful as I expected.
I went back to my position and
i tried to explain. Excuse me, sir. I'm sorry but could I tear it off?'
At first, he firmly refused, but then he accepted. 'Okay, please...' he
replied with downcast eyes.
I tore it off with all my strength. What I found made me surprised. The
original picture was a bald gentleman!
'Oh! I'm sorry,' I said falteringly.
I clearly understood the reason why he wanted to cover it, and I calmly
compared the face in the picture with the man with a wig. I could
identitfy him.
'I'll open your account now. Wait a moment, please.'
He looked very depressed. Did my actions hurt him?
I gave him his new bankbook and he left safely. After that, I laughed
to myself. I could stop a laugh from gradually welling up in me. After
work, of course, it goes without saying that he was the talk of our
bank ladies!
