Today Is Going Down The Tubes

I work at a credit union. We use a pneumatic tube system to pass money, etc., between us and the member. The system is not very sturdy, as it’s meant to hold things like checks, receipts, and dollar bills — very light stuff.

We have stickers on each of the tubes that has two cylinders: one that has “25¢” on it and “10¢” on the other, both encircled with a red circle and a line through it in the universal “no” symbol, meant to communicate, “Don’t send rolls of coins up the tube.”

One day, the tube comes up thunderously, and we hear the telltale rattle and thunk of a broken roll of coins in the tube. My coworker sighs, and after greeting the member, kindly informs her:

Coworker: “In the future, please come inside with rolled coins and don’t send rolls of coins in the tube, as the roll could break open or the weight of them could break the tube system.”

Member: “Oh, I saw the sticker that looked like a roll of quarters with a red line through it, but I didn’t know if that meant I couldn’t send quarters up.”