The Cashier At The Bank Who's Driving Me Nuts

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Let me preface this boring little tale by saying that I live in Small Town America, and have banked at the same establishment for years. It’s the kind of town where businesses you frequent get to know you by name-- a friendly sort of place inhabited by simple, good hearted folk.

It’s enough to drive you batshit. One sometimes longs for the rude anonymity which comes from living in the Big City.

The bank I use has four or five tellers, one of which is a elderly woman who’s almost always there. She’s the sweet-old-lady type-- you know the kind: plump, grey-haired, glasses, always asks how your family is doing . . . . She keeps a basket of dog treats under her desk to give to those customers in the drivethrough which have pooches with them.

I think I’m going to strangle her.

Today, I went in to make a deposit, deciding to go inside, rather than using the drive-thru because I had to ask a question: why haven’t my checks arrived? I ordered them two and a half months ago.

Okay, okay, I should have called to check up on them, but I’ve been busy, and only have intermittantly noted that I was running low and where the hell are they?-- promptly forgetting until the next incident.

The Sweet Old Lady wasn’t in, which relieved me, because she’s the one who placed my order and I didn’t want to make her feel bad. And she would have, because apparently she forgot to put in the order.

This isn’t the first problem I’ve had with the Sweet Old Lady. About five years ago, at a time when money was very tight, she presented me with a moral dillema. She both deposited and gave me cash for a check. I sat in the parking lot with $600 in my hands. A little devil stood on my right shoulder, whispering that it was unlikely they’d trace it back to me and I should just keep it, while that annoying asshole of an angel on the other shoulder said that the Sweet Old Lady would probably lose her job, and besides, such a thing would be wrong. I hate that guy.

I took the money back in to the bank, and gave it back to her. It wasn’t easy, but I did it, cursing her silently the entire time I stood in line, thinking that it was positively unfair that I should be presented with a moral crisis when all I wanted to do was deposit a check.

I guess I’d say I felt it was even more unfair when it happened a second time. This time, she gave me $800. It was Christmas, too-- the time of year when everyone needs money and our hearts have been hardened by crass comercialism and heated competition for parking spaces.

So, today they gave me the checks for free, which I thought was really nice, because I hadn’t been expecting that. I didn’t say anything. I never say anything. Why? Because she’s a nice person, and I’m a weak one.

Which got me to wondering: is there a silent conspiracy among we customers? Surely, I’m not the only one who’s had these problems, and even more surely the manager must have noticed. Has everyone banded together to protect this kind, grandmotherly woman from her own incompetence? It makes for an amusing question to ponder as I wait in line.

2

A bit of insight into the land of banking-had you not been governed by your conscience, for which I commend you, the audit trail of the teller would likely have uncovered the screwup, and your account debited for the amount handed to you incorrectly.

When I worked for an international bank equipment company, we were increasingly being asked to put in two sets of cameras-one to watch the customers, and the other to watch bank personnel. That way, if a teller’s drawer does not balance, there are resources beyond the audit trail of his/her machine tape.

Don’t know if you’ve noticed, but more and more banks don’t have tellers handling money for cash out-another machine lives under the counter which accepts the teller key input, decides bill mix, verifies bill thickness (twice), counts total number of notes (twice), and hands the scrip to the teller. That audit trail ties to the teller station.

Kindly old lady should likely head to another department if her number acuity is slipping, but that it another matter. :smiley:

3

So where is this bank? I could use the extra cash.

Seriously, you’re not doing anyone any favors by covering her incompetance. Just like there could be positive results (cash back + deposit), there could be negative results. You’ve already seen one – no checks.

What if the next time she takes your $700 deposit and accidently gives it to the next customer? No deposit, no return, oops! Still feel sorry for her?

Take your concerns to the manager, before bad things happen.

4

And I bet the took the money back without arguing.

However, when they double charge your account, they’ll fight you tooth and nail.

I once got a $600 cashier’s check from my bank, but a different branch that I normally went to. When I checked my account later, I found out I was overdrawn. Why? They had taken the money out of the account at the time I got the check and when the paperwork hit my branch.

5

I don’t quite get the point of this Odinoneeye. If it’s a cashier’s check, the money was taken directly from your account. Had you not had enough money, how could the bank issue you a cashier’s check?

I hate to sound like a big ol’ meanie Lissa but the bank manager needs to be aware of these mistakes. Sweet old lady or not, it’s just not a good thing that mistakes like this appear to keep happening.

6

Swampbear, the bank took the money out TWICE – the second debit emptied his account.

7

I get it now! I was out of school the day they taught reading comprehension.

8

Hope it’s not too much of a hijack, but my bank is really nice. Several months ago, I noticed a debit I didn’t recognize on the statement. Hubby didn’t recognize it either. The official explanation was a bit weird: “Not a check.” Huh??? From a branch of the bank my husband has occasionally used. It was a relatively small amount, $12 and change.

I went to the branch near where I work, where we opened the account, and asked for the item to be reviewed. Week or so later I went back, and the folks there hadn’t been able to get anywhere either. I spent most of my lunchtime while one of the bank ladies called the branch where the mysterious transaction occurred, and was switched back & forth between that one and various other bank departments.

The best we could come up with was that they believed the other branch had given out cash for some piece of paper that was not actually a check, but a rebate form or some such thing that was in a deposit. I told them if that was the case, I wanted the original “non-check” back so that it could be used in the manner for which it was intended. More calling about. The non-check could not be found, nor could any other hard documentation. But wait, there’s more: They traced down which cashier had handled the alleged transaction. She had been fired not long after that date.

The supervisor of the person dealing with me at this point stepped in. She said it was ridiculous that I was being charged for something that could not be documented, and that my time was being taken up with such nonsense. “Just credit it back to her account.” But where, the other lady asked, would be the corresponding debit? “Charge it to the [xxx] branch. They’re the ones who messed up. Let them figure it out.”

9

Arrr!

[/size=1]sorry[/size]

10

Balls.

11

I move the phrase should be changed to “The lady who’s [man who’s, situation which is…] sticking a ship’s wheel down my pants”.