Tara's New Adventure

I hate to make fun of people.

It’s truly not in my nature.

But today, Tara Arness said the funniest thing I can remember hearing from anyone in recent history. I don’t want to believe that me retelling the story is making fun of her. Maybe it is. However, sometimes, things are just too good to pass up.

I preface this story by telling you that Tara knows I am posting this blog. After the laughter died down, and I was able to get my breath, I asked Tara for permission to share the story with you.

She said I could as long as I then asked my loyal blog readers to pipe in. You’ll have to read through the whole blog to ascertain what it is Tara needs piping for, but the picture that started this blog revealed a clue. However, don't worry. No more trivia. It will become quickly obvious. I beg of you to be honest and don’t let me sway you whatsoever.

Okay. The scene.

We are on our way to Deorah. (We did end up going to Decorah. I’ll blog about our trip and provide some pictures later. But for now … I must stick to important points.) We are on the road in the middle of some farmland. JB and I are in the front seat of the car. Tara is in the backseat with Cole and Hunter.

“Oh,” Tara said. “I had an interesting experience yesterday at my bank.” She pauses. We wait for her to go on. “My bank has a drive thru!"

JB and I look at each other. Of course they have a drive thru. What is she talking about?

Tara goes on. "And they had these interesting tubes that they use to shoot things back and forth.”

At this point, JB and I begin studying each other, searching for what we should say. Surely Tara isn’t talking about the tubes that carry your money and checks from your car to the banker. Surely she is about to make some sort of joke.

But we were wrong. Tara goes on. “These tubes are the coolest things. Have you guys seen how these things work? I had no idea what to do. So the woman explained that I just put my check inside, hit the button, and the check would zip right to her.”

Tara, twenty-four-year-old Tara, had never used a drive-thru at a bank. Twenty-four-year-old Tara had also never used a tube system at a bank. Scratch that. She had never even seen a tube system at a bank.

Now I must pause briefly for a quick moment of digression. I understand that some of you have never met Tara so I feel it important to pause to make one point clear. Tara is NOT an airhead. The girl is an accomplished pianist and flute player who got in to Mayo Clinic. She is, honestly, brilliant. And I don't care if she is mad that I posted that. And no, Tara, you don't have to tell everyone that it is not true.

John and I couldn’t help it. We started laughing so hard. Cole and Hunter then started laughing just as loud. Not only had all four of used (or watched our parents use in the case of Cole and Hunter) the tubes at the bank more times than we could remember, we can remember using these when we were very young.

Tara couldn’t believe it. “You mean,” she started. “These are not a new invention?”

We explained that they were so un-not-new that John could recall when he was a kid, having a lollipop come back in the chute when he was in the passenger seat with his mom. (At this point Tara made a joke about how old JB and I are, however, I will skip that in order to save time.)

“Well,” said Tara, in order to defend herself. “You guys grew up in Fort Lauderdale. I must just be a small town girl.”

It was at this moment that we passed a tiny bank in the tiny town of Decorah complete with its own tube system. It was at this moment that JB and I reflected in our three years in the tiny town of Franklin (population 8,000). Our bank there? Tube system.

We tried to think of other reasons. “Were the banks you used in downtown areas?” John asked. Our downtown bank does not have a drive-thru. Surely this was the reason for her lack of experience in this area.

No, they weren’t.

“Did you never drive around the back of your bank?”

Yes, Tara said. She had. Her previous banks had never had a tube system. (We aren’t going to even comment on the fact that Tara has been using the same bank in Rochester for three years and this was still the first time that she has ever put anything in a tube.)

Okay, so here’s where you come in. Tara says that surely, she cannot be the only person in the world who did not know about tube systems at drive-thru’s at banks. So please. Post a comment. I am not telling you which side to pick. However, I must admit, the fact that I am posting this blog makes me feel quite confident in which side you will pick.

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The "cash carrier" invention sent money in little tubes traveling by air compression from location to location in a department store so that change could be made. The first device was patented (patent # 165,473) by D. Brown. The date? July 13, 1875.

The first documented genuine pneumatic tube (like we know today) was officially issued to Samuel Clegg and Jacob Selvan. In 1940!