A morning at the bank

Why does it take so long in the bank?

I spent over an hour in the bank this morning. Last month, before they moved my friendly little “Bank in the Mall” to its new quarters in a big building, everything happened instantly. I would walk in; both clerks would greet me by my first name with smiles and offers of coffee and then deal with my business on the spot. Then disaster struck. They moved the bank to the latest 8-story building in town. It’s modern, square cornered and soulless.

What happened to my bank?

The bank went the same way. They changed both clerks, added all sorts of new departments, fitted the place out in a symphony of glass and stainless steel with a white marble floor and super-bright lights and made it as unfriendly as possible. In other words, dear customer, we are here for our business and not for your pleasure.

In future I am going to do all my banking, which is mainly borrowing and repaying money at the Personal Money Store. I will opt for an assortment of Payday Loans, No Fax Payday Loans and Personal Loans and I will stay away from the bank.

It all takes so long…

There were maybe five people in the bank. One was a guy depositing huge globs of paper money – I could hear the counting machine spitting out the notes. Behind him was a woman who had ordered checkbooks which hadn’t arrived. Poor woman, she had Parkinson’s and struggled getting the words out to the very patient bank clerk. There was an old man sitting in a wheel chair being spoken to softly by his Pilipino care-giver and as far as I could make out, he is a permanent fixture in the bank.

I understand that everyone is in the bank for a purpose and wants to do their business and leave as quickly as possible. I understand that some operations take longer than my usual 37 seconds. I understand that waiting in line is part of life. What I don’t understand is why it all takes so long. What do the customers talk to the bank clerks about? Why do they lean in close and have these confidential conversations? What are they discussing? How come they don’t notice that there are other people waiting? And how come the bank clerk, who is facing the line of irritable and anxious customers, doesn’t move things along?

My business

I had transferred some money from one account to another. It usually takes a day. Now it’s been a week and the other bank suggested that I check to see what’s going on. The bank usually sends me an email if there is any activity in my account. In fact the bank sends me an email if I happened to look in the direction of my account. Not this time. The money had arrived within one day but no one said a word.

The cost

So I lost about 2 hours of working time and an entire morning if I include the walk to the bank, the window shopping as I crossed the mall and a chat with a neighbor who I met on the way. I came home irritable and unable to write. But the bank is fine, thank you.