it was just going to blow away anyhow

Dad was never rich. But he did work hard for his money. When I was little, he worked rotating shift work at a cement plant in southwest Arkansas (see this earlier post). This meant that he worked the day/evening/graveyard shift every third week.

Paychecks were distributed on Friday mornings. When he worked the day shift or the graveyard shift his supervisor would hand him his paycheck. But on those Friday mornings when he worked the evening shift he would have to make the 8-mile trip to pick up his paycheck in the morning if he wanted it to be in the bank before Monday. Frequently he'd take one of us kids with him on the special trip. On this particular Friday morning, I accompanied him.

Inside the office building at the plant, there was an old-fashioned teller's window with a slot through which the office staff passed the paycheck to the employee. Just as Dad was reaching down for his, quite by happenstance, both the front and back doors of the office building were opened at the same time creating an amazing draft through the small slot in the teller's window. The wind blew his check through the slot and out the front door. Dad said something to the effect of "Oh well, it was just going to blow away anyhow" and turned around and walked out.

I think I chased the check down for him.