MovieChat Forums > A Very Brady Christmas (1988) Discussion > Never Using That Travel Agent

Never Using That Travel Agent

posted 12 years ago by Videoguy7579
14 replies | jump to latest

It's the days before the internet, Travelocity, and Expedia. Carol wants to surprise Mike with a cruise to Greece for Christmas, so she goes to her local travel agent. The whole movie is ridiculous (yes, a "so-bad-I-love-to-watch-it" movie), but the scene in the travel agency just takes the cake. Carol sits at an agent's desk, hands over a check already made out, and says, "I'm planning a trip to Greece. Here's my check. I do hope it's enough." And the agent takes it! Never discussed flights, package deals, prices, or anything.

Then the agent immediately calls the bank and asks if Carol has enough money in her account to cover the check. (As if a bank would just give out all that info to some random person over the phone.) THEN when the agent finds out there is no money to cover it, she gets real snotty to Carol, and practically tells her to get out.

Holy Smokes!

[–] michaelsmith30 11 years ago

She was also in the 1995 Brady Bunch Movie

[–] Videoguy7579 11 years ago

That's right - I think she was the woman gossiping with neighbors about the Bradys and how they have a maid that works for free.

[–] jefgg 11 years ago

Do people still use travel agents? I dealt with a few back in the day and wasn't impressed.

[–] Videoguy7579 11 years ago

I used one just a few months ago, but only because I had to. It was a business trip, so arrangements had to be made through the company's contracted travel agent. It was the first time in years I had ever dealt with one.

I used them a lot "back in the day" and I found them helpful. They always got me good deals and when I traveled out of the country, they helped me get all the visas, etc., I needed.

[–] super-staff 11 years ago

Yep. What a biatch.

[–] ncih 11 years ago

Up until about eight years ago, and certainly in the late 80's, you could call a bank, give them the check information and amount, and they would tell you if the check would clear.

Get busy livin' or get busy dyin'

[–] Mark_Graisons_Moustache 10 years ago

This old bitch is practically a genuine "Brady" cast member, because the appeared in an episode of the original series called "Getting Greg's Goat" (an undisputed masterpiece of television), as well as this TV movie and then of course the 1995 "Brady Bunch Movie." Oh yeah, and random, she also popped up in, like, 50 episodes of "Melrose Place."

[–] Videoguy7579 10 years ago

Yeah, I remember in The Brady Bunch Movie, she was one of the neighbors who were talking/gossiping about the Bradys. She was the one who said, "I understand that their maid works for free. Can you understand that? I can't!"

[–] dalemidex 9 years ago

She's Selma Archerd -- one of those familiar "who IS that?" character actors who pop up now and then.

Given that she only has about 50 IMDB credits and she was nearly 50 when her credits started, she has shown up in more than a few campy and disaster classics:

The Brady Bunch
Very Brady Christmas
Brady Bunch Movie
Airport 75
Outrage! (vigilante rape victims castrate men)
The Big Bus (nuclear bus disaster movie)
Crisis in Mid Air
The Concord - Airport 79
Meteor
Melrose Place
AmericaThon (raising money to stop Native Americans from reposessing the US)
Can't Stop the Music
Mommie Dearest

And in the "now for something totally different" category, she also shows up in Die Hard and a couple of Lethal Weapon movies.

With relatively few credits it's kind of remarkable what she all shows up in.

[–] BradyBraveJoel 8 years ago

yep - remember her now from the goat episode as one of the board members..."Gregory, I think a 5,000-word essay on the dangers of goat-stealing is necessary": she does come-off as "all-that" - whatever - would never hit it

[–] ChrisCuda 9 years ago

You can still verify funds....but the funny part is that the bank gave the travel agent her balance!

[–] TVholic 8 years ago

Even worse is that the bank told her when the money was withdrawn and by whom. Confidentiality? What's that?

And why did Mike withdraw cash? He hadn't booked the trip yet. Why wasn't he writing a check like Carol did? That way, one of the checks would have bounced, but there wouldn't have been any problem at the travel agency.

[–] 8 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Costumer (1822) 6 years ago

This is old, but... I worked in retail. In the day, meaning through the eighties and nineties, it was common for a business to call the bank and ask if a check would clear. We would give the name and account number on the check and the bank would tell us if it would clear "at that time." In other words, they couldn't guarantee that another check wouldn't come in and deplete the account.

So the travel agency calling the bank is completely believable. These days most places use a service that uses various algorithms and other available data to clear a check.