Travellers Cheques

OK, so my mum swore she was sending me euros in cash. I open the package, and they're travellers cheques. UNENDORSED travellers cheques. I ring my mum to ask WTF.

"Oh no," she says. "I just picked them out of the box and put them in the bank, I thought they were cash."

Two clues:

1) Does it say AMERICAN EXPRESS across it in big letters? It is not cash.

2) Do you have to SIGN your money? Unless your name is Queen Elizabeth II, I don't think you do.

I am grateful to my mum for sending me the money. Very grateful. But blimey... I wish she'd done it in a way that didn't involve three hours of running around and half a dozen transatlantic phone calls to AmEx.