There was never an excuse not to return a shout other than saying that you had run out of money, but even that didn't work in Papua New Guinea where every bartender kept an ample supply of blank cheque forms behind the bar.
You just told him which bank you were with and he would give you one of their cheque forms which you filled out and signed with a drunken florish. By month-end you would receive your bank statement which showed a succession of five and ten dollar debits (remember that in those days a WHOLE CARTON of beer was around seven dollars!) which left you with just enough money for the groceries, if you were lucky.
Woe betide you if you had written a cheque for an amount in excess of whatever was left in your account. In the absence of prior arrangements with the bank, such as an overdraft facility, that cheque was "bounced".
Before going to New Guinea, it was my job as ledger examiner with the ANZ Bank to spot such "dishonoured cheques" and decide what to do with them. It was the bank's duty not to embarrass its customers and so a cheque was first examined for 'technical irregularities' for which it could be "dishonoured" before a lack of funds was finally admitted.
If there was a difference between the amounts written in words and figures, it was returned with the answer "Amounts Differ". If it had not been endorsed by the stated payee, it was likely to be sent back with "Endorsement Required". If the cheque was signed, perhaps in an alcoholic stupor, in an illegible hand, the bank would refuse to accept it with the words "Signature unlike specimen held". A cheque dated twelve months ahead of time was always marked as a "Post-Dated Cheque"; likewise, a cheque dated more than twelve months past was refused as "Stale Cheque". Those who knew that they had insufficient funds left in their account, often abused this by 'accidentally' in- or decreasing the cheque's date by one year, from (say) 2026 to 2027 or 2026 to 2025.
Only when all those irregularities had been exhausted, would the bank concede that a cheque had been issued with insufficient funds in the account. The answer could be a mild "Present Again" if the bank was expecting to receive a deposit soon and was happy to allow the unauthorised overdraft for the time it took for the cheque to be represented, or it was "bounced" with a loud thud by immediately returning it with the words "Refer to Drawer" or "Insufficient Funds".
Then there were those rare occasions when a customer would 'fly a kite' between two bank accounts, each at a different branch or even a different bank from the other. He would then draw a cheque on the first bank account which he would deposit into the second account, while at the same time drawing a cheque on the second account which he would deposit into the first account. In this manner, he constantly maintained an artificially increased balance of "uncleared funds" as cheques still had to be physically presented at each bank, which could take days.
Such 'kite-flying' resulted in certain patterns which had to be spotted before any cheques could be dishonoured because of "Uncleared Funds", after which the customer was called in and given a stiff reprimand. If he continued the practice, he would be ask to take his business elsewhere.
(Never mind that to this day when all transactions are electronically and instantly processed, it still takes three working days from the time you deposit a cheque until the proceeds are available as cleared funds in your account, while the account of the person who drew the cheque is immediately debited. This "float" earns the banks millions of dollars.)
And all this, balancing the books - still done manually in those day - and returning dishonoured cheques to the presenting bank, had to be done before the close of business each day. It was a race against time five days a week, fifty-two weeks a year, on a paltry salary of $200 a month.
Luckily, I left the ANZ Bank fifty-six years ago or I would be out of job now because from 30 June 2028 no cheques of any kind will be issued, and any cheques after that date will no longer be accepted, and no payment will be made. Finally, I have an excuse not to return a shout!
