You Look Great

Yay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It finally happened.

At least I think finally. To be sure I'd have to go back and read through all my posts on this blog.

Hmm!

I think we'll go with:

Yay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It finally happened.





Last week I had the pleasant surprise of receiving a cheque in the post from the bank. At the end of last year I put in a claim concerning being missold card protection. I had the nice little Christmas present of a cheque from the company concerned.


Surprisingly my bank decided to refund me the money that I'd paid for it as well.

Result!!!!

That is until I looked at the cheque and realised it was in my deadname.

For those of you who haven't come across the term its the name that a transgender person was given at birth and which they may, if they have decided to change it, no longer use.

Of course cheques can only normally be paid into the account of the person named on the cheque and so it was, with the expectation that I'd have to explain things to the person serving me at the bank, that I toddled along to my local branch on Saturday morning.

Queuing up I picked up the walking stick belonging the chap in front of me when he dropped it. Receiving a thank you from him I was in a good mood.

Patiently waiting, as we Brits tend to do I was waiting for one of the assistants to come free, hoping it wouldn't be the one in the prominent middle position. No such luck. Not for me one of the ones at the end.

Going up to her I handed over the cheque and said I wanted to pay it in but that it was in my old name.

Glancing at the cheque, she paused. Since my deadname is most definitely a male one I was expecting some comment, what I got was "It says mister".  She then looked at me. Cogs whirred and then she spoke once again. "Oh I see. Sorry. I just need to check if there is a note on your account and then I can pay it in."

For the next couple of minutes she looked back through my account history and asked when I'd changed my name. Once I'd given her the date she was able to find a note and everything was OK.

Cheque paid in successfully.

After she'd checked that I didn't need anything else doing she bade me goodbye with the comment "you look great".

That has to be the first time that someone other than people I definitely know are aware I'm transgender have said that to me. I'm sure that there are people that would have been offended by something like that, I'm sure that some people might have asked why she said that, or if she said that to every woman she served. I just couldn't.

Throughout our exchange she'd been helpful and polite. She probably never says something like that to a cis female. I could have said something but what the heck. She most likely get difficult customers coming in on a regular basis. It gave me a chuckle, and something to write about, so I hope it brightened her day somewhat.

It certainly did mine. And the next time I go into the bank and she serves me I'll aim to remember to compliment her back.