These people are Check Writers.
Personal checks.
For absolutely everything.
Young, old, in-between, male, female... doesn't matter. They all do it. Gas, groceries, gum - there is no purchase too small that it won't be paid for with a personal check.
Pack of smokes? Lemme write a check.
Cup of coffee? Lemme write a check.
It just reinforces the feeling you're living back in the 70's, before the age of the ATM. Why don't they use a card? Beats the hell out of me. I chalk it up to rank stupidity. The few people who attempt it seem mystified by the process. They swipe their cards with grand sweeping gestures like they're performing a magic trick. Followed by much gobsmacked staring at the machine, helpful pleading hints from the checker, mis-punched keys and usually at least one do-over.
The absolute worst is the supermarket. You choose your checkout line not by the number of people in it, but by the size of the purses ahead of you. Rest assured, while you stand there waiting, someone is going on the Expedition of the Lost Checkbook. The size of the purse helps determine whether it's going to be a short Search and Rescue mission, or a major archeological dig, with hairbrushes, make-up and the Lindbergh baby piled high on the counter.
With or without a search, once the checkbook is in hand, everyone reverts to Third Grade, when you first learned cursive. Ever so slowly the check is written out, silently mouthing each letter as it's written. When you finally hear the rrrrrip of the check and see it handed to the checker you think you're out of the woods, but no.
"Can I see some ID?"
So it's back into the mines, now in search of a driver's license.
Rinse and repeat.
I swear to God for everyone's sanity these people should just go back to trading with beads.
