Dumpster Squirrels - A Conversation at The Bank

INT. The Bank - Teller Line

The teller line of the bank is separated into two halves (lobby and drive-through) and connected by a wide arch. JARED swivels with soft oscillations at his drive-through station. He's watching dumpster squirrels diving into an adjacent business' back lot dumpster.

Today's squirrel trapezes across the ledge of the dumpster. It makes its way from one of the front corners, to the other, and back again and repeats. The lid of the dumpster is down, denying the squirrel any sunken treasure. The squirrel scratches at each corner and its paw falls become more erratic from corner to corner.

Jared is content to once again be at his drive-through station after a week-long lobby-conditioning assignment. He's happy to be away from lobby customers' relentless, wandering prattle. This is the way it should be: Jared watching dumpster squirrels and the snow clouds brooding and the wind quaking the property's saplings.

A fellow teller, STEVE, is helping one such CUSTOMER at his lobby-side station. He's been "helping" this customer for quite some time--rather, he's been trapped into one such conversation of wandering prattle.

STEVE
(to customer)
Huh. I guess I wouldn't know
that too well. Lemme ask Jared.

Steve swivels 180 in his chair to look at Jared in the drive-through. Steve's swiveling is an action that Jared can see--nay, feel--in the corner of his eye, an action that he knows will lead to an interruption of his happy dumpster squirrel watching.

STEVE
Jared? What's PayPal all about?
I know a little, but not enough
to answer questions.

Jared matches Steve's swivel, nods, slides out of his chair, and heads lobby-side. The woman Steve had been talking to looks frazzled, confused, and incapable, like a line-backer asked to do a chimneysweep's job or vice versa.

JARED
(to customer)
What do you need to know?

CUSTOMER
Well... What is it?

JARED
PayPal is an electronic funds transferring
service. You could use it to pay for things
on, say, eBay or gambling websites--stuff
like that.

CUSTOMER
Medication?

Jared cringes at the concept of buying medication from the internet, a place that is made up of %99.69 porn. The customer jots something down on a bank receipt from an earlier transaction with Steve.

JARED
I don't know. I guess I wouldn't
buy medication from the internet.

CUSTOMER
(jots another item)
So... You buy stuff on the internet
with PayPal?

JARED
Yes. It's kinda like an internet
credit line you set up and put money
into so you can buy things on the
internet. It's quicker than mailing
a check and safer than using your
credit card online--if you're worried
about that sort of thing.

And she does look worried about that sort of thing.

CUSTOMER
Huh. So how do I get a hold of them?

JARED
(blinks)
Umm... How 'bout PayPal.com.

The customer jots down "PayPal.com." The list of other items includes: "internet," "eBay," and "maybe buy meds."

CUSTOMER
PayPal.com. OK.

JARED
That'd be a good start.

The customer thanks Jared. He smiles, nods, and walks back to his drive-through station. The squirrel has since given up and is gone, but the clouds are still rolling and the saplings quaking.