Rensselaer Journal, Volume 10, Number 42, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 March 1901 — Left and Right. [ARTICLE]

Left and Right.

Bank clerks are so often called upon for information that they fall into the habit of giving it in a hurried, mechanical way. A Philadelphia exchange cites an instance which was followed by unexpected and amusing results. The usual formula when a stranger is called upon to sign his name is “Sign here, pen and ink, left hand.” One morning a stranger entered a New York savings bank and asked for a certificate of deposit for a considerable sum of money, and was directed as above. It took him a long time to sign his name. A month later the same man appeared and presented the certificate. He signed his name, but when the clerk looked at it he saw that it was vastly different from the first signature. “This is not the signature of the man to whom I issued this certificate,” he said, severely. “Well,” said the stranger, “when I was here a month ago you told me to write my name with my left hand, and I can’t write very well that way.” A light dawned upon the clerk, and he asked the man to write his name again with his left hand. This he did, producing a fac-simlle of his first signature, and the money was paid.— Youth’s Companion.