Thoughts, feelings and emotions that hopefully provoke the purest of minds...Capturing thoughts through written words is like capturing pictures on film or digital camera.
On a Thursday afternoon, it was just routine for me to go to the bank and get cash to be disbursed for the staff and also for cash reconciliation on various petty cash expenses.
It was just one week before Pchum Ben festival and many people were already on their holiday moods and ready to say goodbye to work and head out to the provinces for family gathering and to remember those loved ones who have perished yet their spirits still roamed the Earth in forms of Asorikay--the lost souls.
It was 11:30am when I arrived at the bank. I filled out my paperworks and ready to withdraw $300,000, enough to cover salaries and other miscellaneous expenses.
It was my turn, so i proceeded to the window...the bank teller did her things. Given that I was a regular at the bank; many tellers recognized my face and I trusted them.
The phone rang and it was an overseas call; so I picked it up. I stood there whilst the money was being counted. It was quite abit of bills to be counted by hands. So, the teller used the machine. I was not worried because I knew that I can rely on the machine, but the only thing was I did not pay close attention. Meanwhile, I was on the phone the whole time talking to my Marketing Director about changes in brand guidelines for one of our key brand sold in Cambodia.
Finally, the Teller asked, 'do you want the cash in an envelope?'; and I immediately replied, 'yes, please'. I did not count the money because I trusted the Teller. Once I got the envelope, I opened my briefcase, then dropped the envelope inside; immediately closed it; left the bank.
I went straight to the office, I immediately opened my safe box; took the brown envelope with cash, slipped into the safe, then closed it. After all, the salary disbursement was not until Friday morning at 10:00am.
The day went well, meetings after meetings; from investors to government officials. Then, night came. I was having dinner with a couple of friends across the Japanese bridge when my cell phone rang. A soft spoken female on the other side of the line asking me apologetically whether I was 'Johnny Chuon'. I was actually abit surprised; yet did not know what she was after. She started to sob and I could hear her loudly on the phone. She began by saying, "I was the teller from the bank and I have made mistake by giving $7,000 more than I should have." She proceeded to tell me that she did not know who she had given the money to; but wanted to inquire whether I have seen the money?.
I was in shocked and disbelief. Who would be in the right mind to make such a mistake? I can understand, a couple of hundreds of dollars, $7,000 (Seven thousand US dollars)? Dear god, just unbelievable and I thought the lady was out of her mind or potentially a prang call? That's exactly what I said to the lady then I hung up.
The next morning, the same lady called again whilst I was having breakfast at the President's hotel on Kampuchea Krom road. I recognized the number from the previous night. This time, I thought to myself, maybe this lady was serious about the money and the miscounting.
So, I gave the Teller the chance to explain herself. The Teller told me that she had called 12 customers whom she has made contact on the day the money gone missing and all of them told her that they have not seen the money. The Bank Teller then proceeded to tell me that she was going through very serious personal experiences as a result of her divorce and was not in the right frame of mind.
The $7,000 was in a separate pile where she had counted and saved for another transaction. I was still skeptical about her story but told her that I honestly did not count the money that she had given to me the day before. I promised the Teller to look into it when I got back to the office.
After my morning breakfast, I drove quickly to my office then proceeded to opening the safe box which was sitting next to my desk in my private office. The money was wrapped in many bundles of $10,000 by rubber bands. I counted three times just to make sure that I had it right. I noticed that I had an extra bundle which was $7,000.
In the back of my mind, I was thinking why would she make this kind of serious mistake?. How long would it take her to repay $7,000 to the bank if her salary was only $350 per month?.
I knew what I could do with $7,000 because it was quite a huge sum of money. I could have spent it with my friends at a Karoake club hanging out with the girls or just chilling out on the beach at Bali when the sun shines all year round or buy a small piece of land for investment.
Frankly speaking, there were quite many temptations that went through my mind in the spur of that moment on that day.
I pulled out my cellphone and I started to search for the Bank Teller's phone number.
Immediately, she picked up the phone like she expected the good news...
The person I was and still is, I started to ask her nicely about how many temples she has been to for Pchum Ben thus far? She responded 7 already and I kind of laughed chuckled..Maybe the spirits were having mercy on her??
I told her that I have found the money and will return to her in full but she had to wait for one hour because I was busy with some guests.
Finally, the moment came. As I came walking through the Bank's gate, the Teller was waiting outside the bank inside the gate. She started crying and knelt down as she had seen some magical things on my head. Maybe, she did and I just did not know about it.
What I only knew was that: I am who I was then..who I am now...Nothing will ever be changed for the good of humanities.
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