I just went to the bank to talk about loans, primarily to see if I had any chance at all of getting a mortgage, or if I’d have to rent a substantially more expensive, less-nice apartment. The guy spent about 10 minutes trying to remember his password to access mortgage information, before finally giving up and handing me his business card instead. I noticed that it had his title as an assistant manager.

He then asked if I had any other questions, so I mentioned that I was wondering whether I had a chance at getting a mortgage or not. He told me that he wouldn’t know, because they just enter the information and a third party handles them. I could tell he was trying to be helpful, so I asked about FHA loans versus a conventional mortgage. To try to fill the awkward pause while he looked frantically at his computer screen, I jokingly asked, “I mean, is FHA even around anymore after all that’s happened?”

It was when he replied, “I’m not sure, let me check” that I began to wonder whether the real assistant manager was chained up in the vault or something.