That's a lotta scratch

Yep, tried taking ~$25k out and they said they could only give me $10k. I understand that they don't keep millions on hand, but seriously, you don't have $25k?

 

Focus: I used to work at my church, a big catholic church in Santa Monica. Loads of rich people, celebrities (Arnie and the Kennedys were regulars) who would often come splash out big cash when we went around with the collection plate (Alec Baldwin gave the biggest contribution I ever saw when he dropped a roll of hundreds in there).

Well Easter and Christmas we got the biggest crowds, and Easter was our single biggest day for collections as people tended to be tapped out at Christmas. My buddy and I were asked to work the two biggest masses one Easter, absolutely packed to the tits even in our overflow areas.

We only did one money transfer so as to not have anyone see what was up. Our standard MO was to dump it all into a black garbage bag and take it to the drop box after mass (basically like an after hours library book return) That Easter we filled an entire large black garbage bag, then donned work gloves like we were taking out rotting communion wafers or something, and put it in the drop box.

The next week we learned that the church had hauled in a bit over 60k those two masses, and they had just let my friend and I, a couple of random 16 year old guys with no sort of vetting process just walk around unsupervised with a garbage bag full of cash and checks.

Alt focus: get half of it in smaller bills, lay it on a bed and fuck on it.

 

Is this just a thing with the Catholic Church? My hometown had a whole scandal where they thought someone was stealing from the collection plate, but it turns out the old priest had just told the bill counters that they could take their payment directly in cash from the bills they were counting, so it wasn't actually stealing, it was just terrible, unaccountable bookkeeping. A really beloved church employee got fired for getting a little too spicy in his criticism of the church's lack of transparency, and then the parishioners started dropping notes criticizing the firing into the collection plate instead of money.

 

Sounds like somebody needs a lesson on where their money is.

 

I dunno. Maybe it was some kind of insurance policy for them in a way, as though they thought ”those two have been around the church a lot since they were young, so a priest probably raped them at some point. If they run off with the money they probably won’t come back for an even more costly settlement later”.

 

If Father Geoghan trusts them to keep quiet, surely we can trust them with the count.

 

Always call before to make sure they have it. My friend did before the plane purchase and they said it was good that he did, they may or may not have had the amount.

 

I used to work at a pharmacy and the owner would cram that green canvas purse full of cash and I would walk about half a mile to the bank with it. Maybe 10-15k at a clip. Like you I’m astounded I was never robbed.

 

I was sitting in a parking lot and I saw two unarmed, unguarded women come out with the cartridges to reload the ATM that was outside at the drive thru lanes. Always thought if things got bad enough I could wear a disguise and stake out a bank until that happened again. Think a big ammo can filled with crisp, neatly stacked twenties. It'd be right much cash for very little risk.

 

Within the last couple of years a friend moved some of her own money (100% legitimately earned, but I wouldn't have done this for more than $10K because wire fraud laws can make anyone a criminal) into my account to get access to. I walked out of the bank with $6100 cash. Yes, I was strapped.

 

Because he swallowed?

 

Around 1995, I was an assistant manager of a convenience store. As an 18 year old, I would regularly make deposits of 10-15k in cash and thought nothing of it at the time. The store was on the path for two different beaches, so it made a ton of money during the summer and spring break. The most I ever deposited was around $35k.