I TRIED to do the right thing

Late last month, when I was paying bills and writing checks, I sent away for my suburban bus pass. They sent me the pass almost immediately, and returned my check. I had stupidly forgotten to make it out. AT ALL. No pay-to, no dollar amount, no signature. It was a blank check in the trueset sense of the word. "Joy" wrote VOID across the check with a post-it stuck to it, explaining what had happened.

I felt bad that I still hadn't paid for my 10-ride bus pass. So I cut another check, clipped it to the one that had been voided, and sent them both back to Joy's attention, thanking her for sending the pass and asking her to accept this check as payment.

And today, I received another pass.

I tried being honest. Now I give up.