I think I must have once followed my Mom to the bank while she got something out of a small safe or something when I was young, because I believed that the way banks worked (having never gone with her to the bank before, and not going with her again later) was that everyone with an account had their own locked drawer. You'd go to the bank, then someone would take you to a room where there were walls and walls of little drawers, and you kept your money in that drawer.

When she explained it to me a bit, about how banks will give your money to other people, but they keep track of how much money you have, I figured that they just had a gigantic safe (with a huge combination lock on the front), like in cartoons, that was just piled up with money tossed everywhere. When you deposited money, they opened the door and threw it in. When you withdrew money, they went into the safe and got the money you asked for.

I still thought it was mean that they gave your money away, though.

Kate

When I was little I would see my dad go into the bank and come out with money and I thought that that was how it was - when you wanted money you just went to the bank and they gave it to you. I know that this is basically how it works, but just didn't realise that you had to earn it and deposit it in the bank first!!

Cheryl

I used to think that when you bought something, the tax couldn't be more than $1 ... I guess it made sense, because nothing I bought was ever much more than a dollar, so the tax was always less.

Ian MacLatchie

i used to find cash machines fascinating when i was younger and asked my grandmother where the money came from (bless her she was about 80) she genuinely believed there was a man behind the machine handing notes through the slot! the funny thing is she would'nt believe anything else...no matter what....ah bless i still chuckle thinking of that

faz786

I used to believe that money really did grow on trees, but grownups just didn't want us to know about it.

Mariah

I am from America, so when I first heard that people used francs I immediantly wanted to know how you could pay for a hotdog with a hotdog.

brandypandy

I used to believe that adults had as much money as they wanted, a never ending supply. I used to think my mother was so stingy when she wouldn't give me a few dollars to buy lollies from the shop!

Kim

My daughter, when she was small, used to think that when you took money to put in the bank, that the bank had seperate piles of everyone's money. So she had her seperate little pile in the bank and when she wanted to take some out, they would have to go to her little pile to get it.

Pat

when i was about 5 or 6 my older sister who was probably about 18 years old at that time bought an expensive make up kit. I asked her how much it was, she said "fourty-five bucks". I thought she meant fourty-five boxes. My mom started to wonder why in the world i needed boxes for the ice cream truck

Anon

I thought that cashiers gave people change because the people were too short on cash. (For example, with a $10 purchase, I thought that the customers the cashier $8 and the cashier gave the customer $2.)

Anon

I thought change was what the cashier gave you when you didn't have enough money to buy all the groceries you wanted.

Anon

I used to belive that dimes and diamonds where the same thing. So naturally it confused me when people would ask for diamonds as if they where very rare even though I had two in my pocket.

BtVSFan

When i was about 5 or6 i saw the wizard of oz. I was convinced that the munchkins lived and worked in the atm machines at the bank.

munchkin hater

I used to believe that at banks you just go to the teller and ask for money and she gives it to you. When I learned that you need an account and you have to deposit money, I was completely confused.

Adam

I remember hearing about how our country owes billions of dollars, I asked my father why the people at the white house just doesn't order the money makers to print more hundred dollar bills out to pay whomever they owed.

Wickwire

I believed (Until I was 11) that gas prices were just what the sign said. Maybe 2, 3 dollars to fill up the tank. Then my parents started to complain about the rising gas prices. I was just like "Oh come on! Its only 3 dollars!". Then they explained the philosophy of "money per gallon..."

Ze person

When my parents told me that money didn't grow on trees I always thought I'd plant some and prove them wrong. But I always wanted to buy a toy or some candy with any money I was given, so I never tried to plant any money.

Lee

already at the age of five i was disgusted by the lack of fairness and logic in the grown-up world.
f.ex. i had discovered that a lotery ticket did not guarantee getting anything, although you had paid for it!
so i organised a little lotery in my street with free tickets and prizes for every ticket:)
i had to part with many of my toys this way, but thought i had showed the world how things should be done...

oioi

When I was quite young, I was sure the
Dow Jones Av. was actually the Dodge owned.
I did not know the difference until I saw
it in print.

William Dee Campbell

When I was a child, I saw in a cartoon how people put some coins in the earth, and after a certain period a tree who produced money grew on this place. I was amazed about the idea that you could become rich in this way. So I tried the same, but unfortunately without success...

Claudio