Missing Zero

Zero means nothing right? Yesterday I realized that I was missing zero. Our number was up this week and we were supposed to be receiving the Federal Tax Relief Rebate from our dear Uncle Sam. We'd been looking forward to it as our car is having problems and we were going to stimulate the economy with our gift by repairing our vehicle. I checked our bank account online and nothing was waiting for me. I read online at about the process again and something told me that I needed to check my 1040. I took a look at it and low and behold my bank account number was WRONG! I was missing a zero from the account number. Panic. I called the bank and they said that they would have to send the moolah back to the government because the account number was wrong. I went back to the website and read more. It said that if your number was wrong or changed to call them and they might be able to do something. So I called. I waited on hold for about an hour. I talked to a lady who was obviously underwhelmed by my issue and she said, "I can't do anything about it. I've never seen that on the website, I don't know why it would say that. Your bank will send it back to us and then we'll eventually send a check to you". Eventually. I've learned that zero does not mean "nothing". It means the difference between now and eventually.