When Patrick got to the bank, it seemed that his luck was about to change. As he wiped his paws carefully before going in to the fancy lobby, Patrick looked up to see a HELP WANTED sign! He politely introduced himself to the teller, who introduced Patrick to the bank manager. "I can give you a quick interview right now," said the manager, but we are going to close the bank early today so our employees can go home.  It is starting to snow pretty heavily out there, and the roads are getting bad," he told Patrick. "We have a simple hiring test," the manager said.  "Come in to the back and you can take it right now." The manager buzzed Patrick through a special security door  and into the back room.

"This is our counting room," said the manager.  "I want you to count up all this money and tell me the exact amount.  If you get the answer right the first time, you are hired!" Sounded simple enough, thought Patrick. When they got to the back room, Patrick's jaw dropped wide open to see so much money!  "WOW!" he gasped, not even trying to hide his amazement.  "Why don't you just use a machine to count the money?" Patrick asked. "We do use a machine to count the money," said the manager.  "But this is a test to make certain you are as smart as our machines!" "Sounds like something Mr. Remington would say," thought Patrick.

When Patrick tried to count the pile of money in the counting room, he reached up as far as 320.00 before he started to get VERY mixed up.  His paws were clumsy near the money, especially the coins.  Some of the bills fell on the floor, some got mixed up in the part he had already counted.  Patrick was overwhelmed.  "This sure is a lot harder than I thought it would be," sighed Patrick.  He didn't want to admit defeat, but by now he was feeling very discouraged. When the bank manager came in to see how Patrick had done, the manager quickly added the money up.  He even did it twice. "I guess this is the wrong job for me, sir," Patrick acknowledged.  "My paws kept getting in the way."

"All of us get in our own way sometimes," said the manager.  "I want to tell you that there were two parts to this test.  The first part was to count the money correctly.  That part of the test you did not pass." "The second part of the test," he continued, "was to not TAKE any of the money.  I see you have left every cent here." "Well of course!" gasped Patrick.  "This is someone else's money.  It does not belong to me!" "Well, the second part of the test was the most important part," said the bank manager.  "Being an honest person, er, pawson in your case, is the most important test of all.  This you passed with flying colors!  Now THAT is something you can 'take to the bank' as they say!   You are a good dog Patrick, but being a bank teller does not look like the best job for you.  You better hurry home now, the snow is coming down hard."

Patrick thanked the manager for his time, but he left with his head hanging low.  If he had a tail it would have drooped between his legs, but Patrick, like most sheepdogs, didn't have a tail and so he just hung his head.  He barely noticed the snow as he walked out into the cold afternoon.  "Cricket will never marry me now," thought Patrick.  "I feel like such a failure."  He crossed the bank off his list.