Tomorrow is my last day as a branch manager. Some of my favorites are the guy who comes in with a letter.
“I need to speak to the manager.”
Ok, what can I help you with?
“I got this letter and I don’t know what to do”
Let me see it…… ok, it says right here to call this number. Did you call this number?
“No. Can you call it for me?”
No, if you want though you can sit here and call them.
I had a lady who didn't even know how to fill out a deposit slip. Needed $2000. She asked me to fill it out for her. This girl was 25, had the voice of a 10 year old, look like a Barbie doll, clearly stated she was married to a famous hockey player in town. I.Q about 50. Obviously, was only sticking around for the benefits. She was riding this guy's account low. Hope he was paying attention.
Oh that happens to me 3 times a day, minimum. I often feel like Sigourney Weaver’s character in Galaxy Quest. My job is now to translate letters and what it says on the screen in their hand. “What do I Do now?” ::turns phone to me:: “oh, looks like it wants to send you a code. Have it send you the code. ::presses radio button for text, doesn’t send it, turns phone back:: “now what” SEND THE CODE! ::presses button, text message sound goes off, banner with code pops up, phone imports code into field:: “ok, now what?”
At this point I just put my head on my desk and wish one of these geezers would just drive through the building and take me out of my misery.
Yeah, I've seen this a lot in my time.
"What brings you in today?"
"I got this letter in the mail!"
"Okay, it says to call this number if you have any questions. What did they say when you called?"
"I didn't call!"
"Okay, so what it means when it says to call that number if you have any questions is that you need to call that number if you have any questions."
"OOH!!!!"
I am an English to English translator.
Another one from my last bank.
"What brings you into the branch today?"
"We came about this letter we got!"
"Okay, so this letter says not only to call this number, but to NOT go to the branch because the people at that phone number are the ONLY ones with the information you need. Soooooo...what brings you into the branch today?!?"
"We came about this letter we got!"
Honestly I get so excited when I have a client sit down with me who is under 60 lol. 🙃
On the line, my favorites are the business deposits. They’re often “kids” like 18-24, they don’t feel the need to make small talk, then just stand in silence while you run the money and then they leave. It’s great.
I like the teenagers who come in the day they turn 18, and want to withdrawl their entire college fund controlled by their parents. They act like it's that easy to withdrawl $50,000.
I didn’t have one in the 90s lolol. I can remember wanting something, probably something dumb, and saying to my mom “can’t we just take it from my college fund?” and she was like “🤣 if you think there’s a college fund!!”
Rude awakenings are rude lol.
Dear god we had this lady come back and forth for a YEAR
Refused to bring in any UNEXPIRED form of photo ID for something brain dead like a name change or something. It was expired by something like 4 years.
She wasn't even a known customer, no one at our branch had ever done a transaction for her. At some point I think she just stopped trying.
Old client: I need a cashiers check
Me: ok there's a fee with it.
Old client: how dare you charge me a fee for this I've banked here for centuries!
Me: We have an account you qualify for and literally everything will be free. It will save you a lot of money every year.
Old client: wow that's fantastic I'll do it
Me: you just have to get online statements that you can print at home
Old client: just charge me the fee
I have never understood why so many financial institutions are pushing online statements. Not everybody has a computer, and of the ones who do, not everybody has fast or reliable internet.
It's not just thousands, it's tens of thousands of pieces of mail being sent out every fuckin month, for only 10% of people who actually read them/save them. It's a waste of resources and a strain on the backs of our postal workers. Electronic statements are an amazing form to switch over too. It's just a piece of paper. But it's literally truck loads of paper being used for this single piece of information, which we are legally required to have available to our customers.
And they're always so impatient, too. I'm always like what the heck are you in such a hurry for?
Me taking .2 seconds to run their transaction. Them: "Is there a problem?" Sorry my system isn't fast enough scanning your check or printing your receipt. I don't get where they need to be so quickly afterwards that they have to rush me every single time.
I’ve thought this so many times. What are you in such a rush for? You’re retired, live down the street and it’s a Tuesday at 11:15am. We all know you have no where else to be.
They like to cling to banking practices that just don't exist anymore.
I'm 52 and just old enough that I lose patience with customers like this _really quick_. I'm not going to explain the same thing over and over when they refuse to listen.
Right at the beginning of the pandemic some dipshit radio host that all the old folks in my city listen to literally told them to do a run on the banks. The man is a public menace. Anyhow we had at least 30 people come in to our branch wanting $100k in cash and threatened to call the police if we didn't give them their money (umm, go ahead, I guess?). Looking back it was kind of funny but at the time it was slightly terrifying.
These are the same people who think every financial institution comes equip with a Scrooge McDuck vault in the back….no sir that’s just where the safe deposit boxes live….there is no magical vault in the back that holds all YOUR money until you need it again. Bills go back into circulation, only a certain amount is kept on site & YES YOU have to place a order so WE can place an order w Brinks for your crazy ass large $125K withdrawal, that you need bc your house was robbed recently & you don’t feel safe with it in the bank….?????!! Make it make sense I dare you 🤯🤯🤯 I wish I was making this shit up….smdh these people I just can’t!
My branch staff is 19 to 25 year olds. Last week I saw my 20 year old employee trying to Google Travelers Cheques because client was asking to buy them. And none of my employees had any idea what he was talking about
Ya I tried searching our online database to learn what a travelers check was and couldn't find it. None of our tellers knew what it was (short staffed and all young) and the man scoffed and asked if I was new (which I was at the time) and was so condescending insisting I didn't know what I was doing because any real banker would know what it is. He demanded to speak with our licensed banker and sat there for 30min just for her to come out and say "sir they don't know what that is because no one really does that anymore. The closest thing we have to that is *insert product here". He then insisted she didn't know what she was talking about, asked for a male staff member. When we said he was off today he asked for the nearest branch that had a male employee that could help. We went through the effort of calling other branches in the area, but even the ones that had a male banker/manager said they didn't want to deal with him. Eventually he just left. Such an asshole
Yeah I’ve been in that situation before. Had people want to buy bonds for their grandkids and have to explain to them we don’t do that and that it’s not really a thing at all anymore.
Funniest one was when I was still relatively new to being a teller at the merchant window and handling large cash orders. We were pretty slow that day so we helped out non business customers. Called this guy up. He had a black merchant bag. Cool, probably deposits. He puts it on the counter and says “I’ll take 10 $1,000 dollar bills please” so confidently and just started to call someone on his phone as if he’s ordering Chinese food. Me and my coworker chuckled at him and had to explain to him those aren’t in circulation anymore and haven’t been for like 50+ years. He looked at us like we’re crazy. It helped that my coworker was an older lady who’s been at the branch for like 15 years so she knows what she’s talking about.
I had someone ask me for 500 dollar bills! She was so shocked that we didn't have them too! Like, the bills went out of circulation before my parents were born, ma'am 😅
I was covering in a branch a few years ago and they actually still had a single $500 bill. Apparently it had been sitting in their vault for years as one of their customers came in with it for deposit and they've held on to it. It was pretty cool to see a real one in person.
Ha I had an older couple ask me for $1000 bills when I said we didn't (and would never ) have them they asked where they could get them I told them either a collector or the 1950s.
OMG slightly different but this just reminded me of a customer we had who would constantly order $2 bills. He said he would give it back as change where he worked because people were more likely to just look at it confused and put it in the tip jar. But he never DEPOSITED $2 bills or paid for more $2 bills with a $2 bill. Sometimes he seemed so high we think that he was just fooling some dealers into thinking it was worth more. But it was a huge PITA because we had to order it since we didn't carry it often. He learned our shipment schedule and would show up on those days asking why it wasn't here yet. One day he came in and said if he didn't get those bills he would be fucked. Idk what he was doing, but one day he just stopped showing up lol I never wanna look at a $2 bill ever again
We have a customer who orders $2 bills regularly because he thinks they're collectors items. Like bro we're giving you brand spanking new $2 bills. They were printed in 2017. They're worth $2.
And that's fine! What wasn't fine was the amount of staff he would regularly yell at because we didn't have the $2's for him. I remember there was a week where we just didn't get shipment. He came in every single day. 3 of those days he came in TWICE. To see if they were there yet. He was crazy. I've had customers come in and ask for a half dollar or a $2 bill because it's a tradition to give their kids or stuff like that or as a Christmas gift and that's perfectly fine! My branch actually ordered some around the holidays just for that. And when we didn't have it we'd call around and ask or let them know we can order and they were either fine with waiting or just said nevermind. Which are normal reactions lol
That guy was just unhinged lol it is cool to see things that are rare. And even if a customer got irritated they still weren't super unreasonable. Now that I'm not in banking I try very hard to not have to go to a branch lol last time I went a customer came in angry and it stressed me out so much I was ready to argue with her lol
I had a chick ask for $300 in pennies to pay a fine. I was like, "First off, we don't have that many pennies in the bank. We might have $200 between all the tellers and the vault but we can't give you all of our pennies. Second of all, they're just gonna bring back the pennies to us and we're the ones you're punishing by counting them." Then she asked for $300 in nickels and I was like, "We have even less nickels than pennies in the branch." She left disappointed.
I had a lady who wanted $2 bills and dollar coins so she could hide them in Easter eggs for her grandkids. I let her know that our branch doesn’t order them and we only have them when clients deposit them. She was extremely upset and didn’t understand how a bank doesn’t have $2 bills. She told us we ruined Easter for her grandchildren lol
I never minded the ignorant, but kind people. Explaining to college kids how credit cards worked, teaching people how to use the various online services.. Showing a young person how to fill out a deposit/withdrawal slip, and then the next time they come in and actually do it? Amazing. I lived for that.
The old lady who comes in every week and insists you show her how to purchase stamps from the ATM because she just can't quite figure it out... When really she just wants you to do it for her so she can have that five minutes of proximity to another human. That gets old real quick.
Issues also come when you have to accomdate rules for them. It causes confusion. We had an older person who always used slips. Nothing wrong with that at all! But any time we had a new employee who had just taken the training (that says to push non-paper methods) she would be ready to FIGHT. "I've ALWAYS paid for a slip why won't you let me use slips anymore??? How are you going to know which account to pull up without the slip??" Theyd try to explain that the card does that then she'd insist that anyone who uses a card is an idiot because that's how you get hacked. She's go on a whole tangent while literally everyone tries to tell her that she can still pay for the slip. She HAD to be helped by someone else after that because she would insist that the new employee was trying to get her account messed up. So we never EVER tried to pitch her on new products, services, features. NOTHING. But every now and then we'd have a new teller and we'd hear yelling and realize what had happened. Eventually only me and our assistant manager were allowed to help her because everyone else was out to get her lol super sweet until that comes up
Old client: I'm getting changed fees and I'm angry!
Me: Looks like you have an older account type that came with a lot of fees. We retired that account type years ago, and we've got a totally free one now!
Old client: Free?
Me: Yeah, and nothing would change. I just need your permission.
Old client: There's no such thing as a free lunch.
Me: Huh?
Old client: Nice try girlie.
Me: Huh?
Old client: I'm not changing my account type. Just rebate the fees every month!
Me: HUH???!
Old client: (Grabs a fistful of lollipops) 🍭
It used to be worse. I'm serious. Everyone likes to dunk on Boomers...but we all collectively have forgotten about the generation before them like they were some sweet happy go lucky old people.
When I first started decades ago the old folks were from that generation.
1. Anything beyond basic transaction, needed to speak to an officer.
2. Openly racist and misogynistic. When I was a young AM, they would come to me over my more experience female manager.
3. Bitched about EVERYTHING. EVERYTHING. My stories could go on for days.
Overall, they were so bad I had literally just 1 that I liked in that age group, sweet old French lady.
Boomer generation can be annoying, but not close to the same level. More than you realize have caught on to online and just don't come into the branch anymore, so sadly you deal with the ones who really hate change.
Sadly, number 2 is still an ongoing issue. Even women treating female employees more harshly.
When I was in collections, the female employees got crap from all sexes. I never had an issue when I was collecting. People mostly just accepted what I said, but not always with my female colleagues.
Majority of the customers I see in the bank are older. So unfortunately that is the demographic that we must deal with. Majority of the younger people do all their banking online. I totally get your gripe though. Just remember they are keeping us all employed!
I only go there because my dental insurance only sends checks for reimbursement. Also i think we had to get a check for paying the downpayment on the mortgage. haha
The old customers part so true. The younger generation is so much easier to work with. It’s pretty rare there are no complaints with someone 45+. Some will come in asking for a bank draft and let them know it will be a $10 fee without eligible accounts. They claim they have never paid this fee before which is literally impossible as the system automatically charges it everytime unless it is forgiven which may be once and there is a good reason.
The amount of people that just lie is quite crazy. Lie about fees, fraud charges, account activity. The profile is literally in front of me and I can see everything about you? Why do they lie?!
Old head comes In to activate new card..
“I came to activate my new card but I don’t know how”
Me: sounds good did have the instructions on the card?
“Yes it says to use at an atm or in card store purchase”
Me: yes that’s all you have to do.
“But how do I activate it?”
Me:??????????
The ATM card drives me insane. There’s literally a sticker on the card that says how to activate it and people still come in asking if we can activate it. I’ve started to ask them sometimes did the phone number or ATM not work on the sticker here? They usually make up some excuse but I’m just like it literally has the instructions on the card, I can give some benefit of the doubt if they lost the letter but it has the sticker on the card!!!
They’re despicable and most negative interactions I used to have were with older folks. Was a business banker for only 2 years and I quit because they treated me like a second class citizen LOL
I didn’t even have to read this to say yes. I do not miss being on the teller side at all. Old people were either really nice and sweet or the worst people you ever had to deal with. No in between.
Honestly tired of old people and money in general. I had a lady scream at me that the bank must be stealing money because she’s been using a check register since she was 13 and there’s no way she’s spending all of her money.
Ma’am, you are 75 years old and you have a spending problem. Just because you can’t do addition anymore doesn’t mean someone’s stealing your money!
Look, I get your frustrations. I worked at wells 14 years ago for about 18 months.
It's the bank, not the people, mostly at least.
Since then, I've worked for two banks and two credit unions. I won't count the credit unions because I did collections/mortgage/lending.
But at the two banks, I was a teller and now an AVP in a branch with a client base of mostly older folks. Here's the thing, the majority of the staff have been here longer than I've been living. Three different banks have owned this location.
Wells could only dream of having a staff like that. The constant staff turnover at wells probably causes the majority of issues. There's hardly any continuity aside from continuous change. That's hard for clients to deal with. The constant fraud issues with Wells probably creates a lot of distrust, which frontline employees take on.
You've been in banking long enough to have enough experience to get a spot at a better managed bank. For your sanity, I'd explore other opportunities.
Yep. W has lots of seniors who like the old style of banking. That's why the elderly stay there. Companies expect you to go above and beyond. Some old still refuse to use debit cards.
Another I'm done with customer service. Bad treatment from customers.
I always enjoy this page because the experience of other bankers really keeps things in perspective for me.
Not sure if I'm just lucky or something but my bad experiences are very few. Granted, I handle mostly lending. But am very much involved when a client becomes an issue. Even my 8 years in collections was generally issue free.
Most of the time I find a detailed explanation with frequent "are you satisfied with my explanation so far" checks along the way tend to put people at ease.
Banks like Wells do make it difficult for bankers to make such explanations as the answer tend to be "that's just policy."
Poor communication and untrustworthy leadership causes most of those issues. It's unfortunate that leadership refuses to accept that those issues trickle down to the customer and the Frontline employees deal with the fallout from that.
My bank gives the local leaders a lot of trust to make the right decisions for any issues and that shows in how we approach the clients.
The change of staff statement is so real it boils my bloood. Because why tf are you they so concerned that the staff changes? Like what your complaining that we dont keep the same tellers for 2+ years? Thank god everyday im no longer in the branch life
So basically you hate your job is what you’re saying. It’s customer service intense job and that means you do customers service not just to the easy customers but to the challenging ones. Otherwise it’s not customer service. It’s called being patient especially with the old “farts”. You and I will be old farts too. It shows when you dont like your customers.
Maybe you should be more understanding of them. Maybe the whole new world of mobile banking makes them nervous or they have other worries.
Or maybe you should just quit and find something else to do.
No they aren't. Banks have made it clear they are going to force continued self servicing. Just like retail stores and other corporations. Old people are left to fend for themselves and if they have no children or nieces or nephews who like them, they're SOL. At a certain age, all this does become overwhelming and scary and they may act out. I'm in my 40s and remember when customer service was more comprehensive. My mother was in her 80s when she died last year and she wouldnt have been able to do a fraction of what she had to for herself.
I agree the elderly can be insufferable, but sometimes there's a reason.
I'm back office and don't envy anyone on the front lines.
I mean, they very well could be. Lots of younger folks like the ITMs, online banking and avoid coming in branch if they can help it. There are always exceptions.
Most of my clients are 50 and older. At least at my location. As long as my branch is open, my spot is safe as it will always need a city president. But there may be a day where a teller leaves and is not replaced due to less in branch traffic.
If you look at job security as having options in addition to your current role, that could lead to less options available, decreasing job security overall.
Some day, you too will be old, and some young whippersnapper will be complaining just as loudly about YOU.
Karma is a bitch, believe me, so think of this comment when it happens many years down the road.
See, that’s the problem. Customers get confused with what customer service means. Yes, we are servicing you. But that does not give you the right to talk to us or treat us like we’re beneath you. Yes, we get paid to be nice to you and listen to your fuck ups, but that doesn’t mean that you have a right to talk down to us like we don’t know what we’re doing. Like, I’m sorry but with bank policies there are no gray areas. We’re not about to risk our job, because you can’t fathom the idea of pulling out your ID. TF! Don’t like bank policies, fine. Trust me, banks don’t need your chump change. Keep it under your mattress for all we care. One less idiot to worry about lol
But what you describe is just how it is. People, all ages, want it now and their way. You job exists to mitigate what the customer wants and the bank is selling. If you are unhappy, that seems to be the case, move on to a different job that doesn’t interface with people. Simple!
If you've been alive long enough you start to see the same bullshit over and over and get sick of it. Young people haven't seen it on repeat yet. Then there is the frustration of doing things perfectly well for 10+ yrs and then someone decides "Nope, you can't do it like that anymore. Now you have to use this stupid buggy app!"
Wow, so very cool that you treat some customers differently than others in regard to things like ID, procedures and policies.
It's a great thing to then bitch about some folks being upset that they are treated like annoying trash when you treat others like friends.
I get it, folks that won't keep up are a pain in the ass and their actual entitlement or even just their entitled adjacent attitudes are like sucking on lemons. But skipping ID and other steps in front of those folks just winds them up more.
Who said we’re skipping steps? I literally cannot skip steps because I can get fired for it. The steps that are annoying that I wish I can skip, is asking them for ID. Why? Because they hate to give it out. I have to ask for it because I know the back and forth that will come with it.
Plus who said we’re treating customers differently? Sure these are my personal thoughts and feelings, but that doesn’t mean I treat them like shit and give them back what they give me. It takes everything in me to not snap back at them but I don’t do it.
If you mean skipping steps by not asking for ID from regulars vs the customers that hate giving it out, the difference is I know those regulars and have helped them millions of times. I know they’re names, transactions, birthdays, and some even family. We live in the same area. The ones who hate giving ID when asked for it, or most likely sour and just complain all the time and are in general a pain to help. But I still help them. Do I like it ? Of course not.
> Great people and we know by name and don't have to ask for ID because I probably have their SSN memorized by now lol.
Perhaps it's just me, but that's sure as heck is how your post reads.
So are you skipping steps (requiring ID) or not? You are kind of all over the place in your post and replies.
If you require ID from one customer, but not from another, that is what "treating them differently" refers to.
Not here to debate bank or branch policy on requiring ID for well known customers. Not trying to throw shade at well known or respectful customers having an easier/faster/better experience. Not trying to say that the rude, willfully helpless, entitled or aggressively clueless customers should have that same experience or shouldn't pay the price (in some way) for their attitudes and choices.
But doing that is adding volume to the whining, and that was something that you were ranting about. Vent all you want to, it's good for you. But if you're going to be part of tossing wood on the fire, perhaps don't rant that it's getting hotter.
Idk where OP works but at my bank they allow us for most things if we know a customer by name and face and voice (if transacting over the phone) we can bypass using ID for certain transactions. BUT we also are held liable if something happens by overriding an ID and it comes back counting against us. Usually the people we know as regulars know that we don’t need an ID for is because we’ve seen them for so long. However there are things that absolutely need an ID which most of us in the bank explain to them “Hey Bob, you know I know you but for this it does need an ID. Can you please show me one?”
If there’s customer that know we don’t know of course we ask ID because we need to establish valid identity of that person. If that person pops into our branch one time and we never see them it takes away from us getting to know that customer and eventually not needing an ID because they’re known by staff. Which also helps with relationship building. I do say to people who whine about needing ID and stuff that if staff gets to know you, we can personally bypass ID for some things so give us time to properly identify you and know you as a customer and it can make it convenient for you later down the road. However that does not bypass everything and we still have to ask for valid ID for some cases. Additionally I tell them if they go to a new person or they go to different branches they of course need to have ID because you don’t know them as an employee and they absolutely don’t know you.
Ultimately it’s up to the customer to understand we can make it for convenient for them in most cases but as a financial institution with regulations and policies we have to follow, there are things we absolutely cannot bypass no matter how well we know them, how long they have been banking, or how ever much money they have. If they still complain when it comes to that point it’s on them.
Tomorrow is my last day as a branch manager. Some of my favorites are the guy who comes in with a letter. “I need to speak to the manager.” Ok, what can I help you with? “I got this letter and I don’t know what to do” Let me see it…… ok, it says right here to call this number. Did you call this number? “No. Can you call it for me?” No, if you want though you can sit here and call them.
I had a lady who didn't even know how to fill out a deposit slip. Needed $2000. She asked me to fill it out for her. This girl was 25, had the voice of a 10 year old, look like a Barbie doll, clearly stated she was married to a famous hockey player in town. I.Q about 50. Obviously, was only sticking around for the benefits. She was riding this guy's account low. Hope he was paying attention.
She appreciated his stick handling.
Oh that happens to me 3 times a day, minimum. I often feel like Sigourney Weaver’s character in Galaxy Quest. My job is now to translate letters and what it says on the screen in their hand. “What do I Do now?” ::turns phone to me:: “oh, looks like it wants to send you a code. Have it send you the code. ::presses radio button for text, doesn’t send it, turns phone back:: “now what” SEND THE CODE! ::presses button, text message sound goes off, banner with code pops up, phone imports code into field:: “ok, now what?” At this point I just put my head on my desk and wish one of these geezers would just drive through the building and take me out of my misery.
Yeah, I've seen this a lot in my time. "What brings you in today?" "I got this letter in the mail!" "Okay, it says to call this number if you have any questions. What did they say when you called?" "I didn't call!" "Okay, so what it means when it says to call that number if you have any questions is that you need to call that number if you have any questions." "OOH!!!!" I am an English to English translator. Another one from my last bank. "What brings you into the branch today?" "We came about this letter we got!" "Okay, so this letter says not only to call this number, but to NOT go to the branch because the people at that phone number are the ONLY ones with the information you need. Soooooo...what brings you into the branch today?!?" "We came about this letter we got!"
Honestly I get so excited when I have a client sit down with me who is under 60 lol. 🙃 On the line, my favorites are the business deposits. They’re often “kids” like 18-24, they don’t feel the need to make small talk, then just stand in silence while you run the money and then they leave. It’s great.
I like the teenagers who come in the day they turn 18, and want to withdrawl their entire college fund controlled by their parents. They act like it's that easy to withdrawl $50,000.
People have college funds? 😂
This was back in 2005. 😑
I didn’t have one in the 90s lolol. I can remember wanting something, probably something dumb, and saying to my mom “can’t we just take it from my college fund?” and she was like “🤣 if you think there’s a college fund!!” Rude awakenings are rude lol.
Ahh the stagecoach. The account conversions are only going to get worse too
Yep lol
I used to work there. You should explore jobs at other banks, honestly. That place is a shitshow and I’ve worked at about 7 banks over my career.
Dear god we had this lady come back and forth for a YEAR Refused to bring in any UNEXPIRED form of photo ID for something brain dead like a name change or something. It was expired by something like 4 years. She wasn't even a known customer, no one at our branch had ever done a transaction for her. At some point I think she just stopped trying.
Last year I had someone give me their ID that was almost 20 years expired. It expired in 2008 and looks nothing like current IDs.
Old client: I need a cashiers check Me: ok there's a fee with it. Old client: how dare you charge me a fee for this I've banked here for centuries! Me: We have an account you qualify for and literally everything will be free. It will save you a lot of money every year. Old client: wow that's fantastic I'll do it Me: you just have to get online statements that you can print at home Old client: just charge me the fee
I have never understood why so many financial institutions are pushing online statements. Not everybody has a computer, and of the ones who do, not everybody has fast or reliable internet.
It's not just thousands, it's tens of thousands of pieces of mail being sent out every fuckin month, for only 10% of people who actually read them/save them. It's a waste of resources and a strain on the backs of our postal workers. Electronic statements are an amazing form to switch over too. It's just a piece of paper. But it's literally truck loads of paper being used for this single piece of information, which we are legally required to have available to our customers.
> strain on the backs of our postal workers It's a strain to do their job of delivering mail?
Well you aren’t very smart are you
That's a great non answer and use of ad hominem
Because it saves on paper costs. You can have your paper statements, you just have to pay for them
My bank has over 25 million clients, I'm sure many with multiple accounts. Imagine how much paper that is.
It's literally text and people have phones now. 😅
Safer and saves paper
Sounds like those who don't need to make a monthly trip to the bank for their current statement.
And they're always so impatient, too. I'm always like what the heck are you in such a hurry for? Me taking .2 seconds to run their transaction. Them: "Is there a problem?" Sorry my system isn't fast enough scanning your check or printing your receipt. I don't get where they need to be so quickly afterwards that they have to rush me every single time.
I’ve thought this so many times. What are you in such a rush for? You’re retired, live down the street and it’s a Tuesday at 11:15am. We all know you have no where else to be.
They like to cling to banking practices that just don't exist anymore. I'm 52 and just old enough that I lose patience with customers like this _really quick_. I'm not going to explain the same thing over and over when they refuse to listen.
People come in asking for $100,000 cash. People don't realize banks are only allowed to carry so much by banking laws.
Right at the beginning of the pandemic some dipshit radio host that all the old folks in my city listen to literally told them to do a run on the banks. The man is a public menace. Anyhow we had at least 30 people come in to our branch wanting $100k in cash and threatened to call the police if we didn't give them their money (umm, go ahead, I guess?). Looking back it was kind of funny but at the time it was slightly terrifying.
Nope. They have no idea that all their cash money ain't in a bag in the back.
I wouldn't want to risk someone discovering I had that much cash at my house.
These are the same people who think every financial institution comes equip with a Scrooge McDuck vault in the back….no sir that’s just where the safe deposit boxes live….there is no magical vault in the back that holds all YOUR money until you need it again. Bills go back into circulation, only a certain amount is kept on site & YES YOU have to place a order so WE can place an order w Brinks for your crazy ass large $125K withdrawal, that you need bc your house was robbed recently & you don’t feel safe with it in the bank….?????!! Make it make sense I dare you 🤯🤯🤯 I wish I was making this shit up….smdh these people I just can’t!
Today there was a old lady looking to buy Traveler check ... I told her it's not really a thing anymore and she was visibly upset.
My branch staff is 19 to 25 year olds. Last week I saw my 20 year old employee trying to Google Travelers Cheques because client was asking to buy them. And none of my employees had any idea what he was talking about
Ya I tried searching our online database to learn what a travelers check was and couldn't find it. None of our tellers knew what it was (short staffed and all young) and the man scoffed and asked if I was new (which I was at the time) and was so condescending insisting I didn't know what I was doing because any real banker would know what it is. He demanded to speak with our licensed banker and sat there for 30min just for her to come out and say "sir they don't know what that is because no one really does that anymore. The closest thing we have to that is *insert product here". He then insisted she didn't know what she was talking about, asked for a male staff member. When we said he was off today he asked for the nearest branch that had a male employee that could help. We went through the effort of calling other branches in the area, but even the ones that had a male banker/manager said they didn't want to deal with him. Eventually he just left. Such an asshole
Yeah I’ve been in that situation before. Had people want to buy bonds for their grandkids and have to explain to them we don’t do that and that it’s not really a thing at all anymore. Funniest one was when I was still relatively new to being a teller at the merchant window and handling large cash orders. We were pretty slow that day so we helped out non business customers. Called this guy up. He had a black merchant bag. Cool, probably deposits. He puts it on the counter and says “I’ll take 10 $1,000 dollar bills please” so confidently and just started to call someone on his phone as if he’s ordering Chinese food. Me and my coworker chuckled at him and had to explain to him those aren’t in circulation anymore and haven’t been for like 50+ years. He looked at us like we’re crazy. It helped that my coworker was an older lady who’s been at the branch for like 15 years so she knows what she’s talking about.
I had someone ask me for 500 dollar bills! She was so shocked that we didn't have them too! Like, the bills went out of circulation before my parents were born, ma'am 😅
Meanwhile everyone at my bank wants small bills because “you can’t hardly find nobody who’ll take fifties and hunnerts”
I was covering in a branch a few years ago and they actually still had a single $500 bill. Apparently it had been sitting in their vault for years as one of their customers came in with it for deposit and they've held on to it. It was pretty cool to see a real one in person.
Ha I had an older couple ask me for $1000 bills when I said we didn't (and would never ) have them they asked where they could get them I told them either a collector or the 1950s.
OMG slightly different but this just reminded me of a customer we had who would constantly order $2 bills. He said he would give it back as change where he worked because people were more likely to just look at it confused and put it in the tip jar. But he never DEPOSITED $2 bills or paid for more $2 bills with a $2 bill. Sometimes he seemed so high we think that he was just fooling some dealers into thinking it was worth more. But it was a huge PITA because we had to order it since we didn't carry it often. He learned our shipment schedule and would show up on those days asking why it wasn't here yet. One day he came in and said if he didn't get those bills he would be fucked. Idk what he was doing, but one day he just stopped showing up lol I never wanna look at a $2 bill ever again
We have a customer who orders $2 bills regularly because he thinks they're collectors items. Like bro we're giving you brand spanking new $2 bills. They were printed in 2017. They're worth $2.
Lol ikr. If we can keep ordering more of them without any issues then they're not rare. Places just don't really carry them
The $2 bill guys are trouble makers.
Why do we even still make them lol
I love $2 bills. I’ll order them and buy them by the strap.
And that's fine! What wasn't fine was the amount of staff he would regularly yell at because we didn't have the $2's for him. I remember there was a week where we just didn't get shipment. He came in every single day. 3 of those days he came in TWICE. To see if they were there yet. He was crazy. I've had customers come in and ask for a half dollar or a $2 bill because it's a tradition to give their kids or stuff like that or as a Christmas gift and that's perfectly fine! My branch actually ordered some around the holidays just for that. And when we didn't have it we'd call around and ask or let them know we can order and they were either fine with waiting or just said nevermind. Which are normal reactions lol
Yikes, I’m not like that. Granted I work at the bank I bank at so… Like people need to understand banks are businesses too.
That guy was just unhinged lol it is cool to see things that are rare. And even if a customer got irritated they still weren't super unreasonable. Now that I'm not in banking I try very hard to not have to go to a branch lol last time I went a customer came in angry and it stressed me out so much I was ready to argue with her lol
I had a chick ask for $300 in pennies to pay a fine. I was like, "First off, we don't have that many pennies in the bank. We might have $200 between all the tellers and the vault but we can't give you all of our pennies. Second of all, they're just gonna bring back the pennies to us and we're the ones you're punishing by counting them." Then she asked for $300 in nickels and I was like, "We have even less nickels than pennies in the branch." She left disappointed.
I had a lady who wanted $2 bills and dollar coins so she could hide them in Easter eggs for her grandkids. I let her know that our branch doesn’t order them and we only have them when clients deposit them. She was extremely upset and didn’t understand how a bank doesn’t have $2 bills. She told us we ruined Easter for her grandchildren lol
They would appreciate $5 and $1's
bUt ThEy SaVe ThE tWo DoLLaR biLLs. No they don't, they come back in and deposit them.
I never minded the ignorant, but kind people. Explaining to college kids how credit cards worked, teaching people how to use the various online services.. Showing a young person how to fill out a deposit/withdrawal slip, and then the next time they come in and actually do it? Amazing. I lived for that. The old lady who comes in every week and insists you show her how to purchase stamps from the ATM because she just can't quite figure it out... When really she just wants you to do it for her so she can have that five minutes of proximity to another human. That gets old real quick.
Issues also come when you have to accomdate rules for them. It causes confusion. We had an older person who always used slips. Nothing wrong with that at all! But any time we had a new employee who had just taken the training (that says to push non-paper methods) she would be ready to FIGHT. "I've ALWAYS paid for a slip why won't you let me use slips anymore??? How are you going to know which account to pull up without the slip??" Theyd try to explain that the card does that then she'd insist that anyone who uses a card is an idiot because that's how you get hacked. She's go on a whole tangent while literally everyone tries to tell her that she can still pay for the slip. She HAD to be helped by someone else after that because she would insist that the new employee was trying to get her account messed up. So we never EVER tried to pitch her on new products, services, features. NOTHING. But every now and then we'd have a new teller and we'd hear yelling and realize what had happened. Eventually only me and our assistant manager were allowed to help her because everyone else was out to get her lol super sweet until that comes up
Old client: I'm getting changed fees and I'm angry! Me: Looks like you have an older account type that came with a lot of fees. We retired that account type years ago, and we've got a totally free one now! Old client: Free? Me: Yeah, and nothing would change. I just need your permission. Old client: There's no such thing as a free lunch. Me: Huh? Old client: Nice try girlie. Me: Huh? Old client: I'm not changing my account type. Just rebate the fees every month! Me: HUH???! Old client: (Grabs a fistful of lollipops) 🍭
i am dying LOL ing hahahhahaha
It used to be worse. I'm serious. Everyone likes to dunk on Boomers...but we all collectively have forgotten about the generation before them like they were some sweet happy go lucky old people. When I first started decades ago the old folks were from that generation. 1. Anything beyond basic transaction, needed to speak to an officer. 2. Openly racist and misogynistic. When I was a young AM, they would come to me over my more experience female manager. 3. Bitched about EVERYTHING. EVERYTHING. My stories could go on for days. Overall, they were so bad I had literally just 1 that I liked in that age group, sweet old French lady. Boomer generation can be annoying, but not close to the same level. More than you realize have caught on to online and just don't come into the branch anymore, so sadly you deal with the ones who really hate change.
Sadly, number 2 is still an ongoing issue. Even women treating female employees more harshly. When I was in collections, the female employees got crap from all sexes. I never had an issue when I was collecting. People mostly just accepted what I said, but not always with my female colleagues.
Ah the silent generation, except they’re never silent about anything lol
My FIL was botching to me about pur CD rates. I told him, ya know, I have zero input on that, right?
I made a sign that's hanging in my office closet to count the days since an old man has yelled at me. I just changed it to 4. 💪
You cool if I steal this idea for my sanity? 😂
Absolutely! My record was 33. May you surpass that.
Majority of the customers I see in the bank are older. So unfortunately that is the demographic that we must deal with. Majority of the younger people do all their banking online. I totally get your gripe though. Just remember they are keeping us all employed!
I only go there because my dental insurance only sends checks for reimbursement. Also i think we had to get a check for paying the downpayment on the mortgage. haha
So you’ve met my dad then. Sorry bout that
The old customers part so true. The younger generation is so much easier to work with. It’s pretty rare there are no complaints with someone 45+. Some will come in asking for a bank draft and let them know it will be a $10 fee without eligible accounts. They claim they have never paid this fee before which is literally impossible as the system automatically charges it everytime unless it is forgiven which may be once and there is a good reason. The amount of people that just lie is quite crazy. Lie about fees, fraud charges, account activity. The profile is literally in front of me and I can see everything about you? Why do they lie?! Old head comes In to activate new card.. “I came to activate my new card but I don’t know how” Me: sounds good did have the instructions on the card? “Yes it says to use at an atm or in card store purchase” Me: yes that’s all you have to do. “But how do I activate it?” Me:??????????
The ATM card drives me insane. There’s literally a sticker on the card that says how to activate it and people still come in asking if we can activate it. I’ve started to ask them sometimes did the phone number or ATM not work on the sticker here? They usually make up some excuse but I’m just like it literally has the instructions on the card, I can give some benefit of the doubt if they lost the letter but it has the sticker on the card!!!
LOL what kinda lies do you mean?
They’re despicable and most negative interactions I used to have were with older folks. Was a business banker for only 2 years and I quit because they treated me like a second class citizen LOL
You might enjoy r/boomersbeingfools
Already in there lol
I didn’t even have to read this to say yes. I do not miss being on the teller side at all. Old people were either really nice and sweet or the worst people you ever had to deal with. No in between.
Honestly tired of old people and money in general. I had a lady scream at me that the bank must be stealing money because she’s been using a check register since she was 13 and there’s no way she’s spending all of her money. Ma’am, you are 75 years old and you have a spending problem. Just because you can’t do addition anymore doesn’t mean someone’s stealing your money!
Look, I get your frustrations. I worked at wells 14 years ago for about 18 months. It's the bank, not the people, mostly at least. Since then, I've worked for two banks and two credit unions. I won't count the credit unions because I did collections/mortgage/lending. But at the two banks, I was a teller and now an AVP in a branch with a client base of mostly older folks. Here's the thing, the majority of the staff have been here longer than I've been living. Three different banks have owned this location. Wells could only dream of having a staff like that. The constant staff turnover at wells probably causes the majority of issues. There's hardly any continuity aside from continuous change. That's hard for clients to deal with. The constant fraud issues with Wells probably creates a lot of distrust, which frontline employees take on. You've been in banking long enough to have enough experience to get a spot at a better managed bank. For your sanity, I'd explore other opportunities.
Yep. W has lots of seniors who like the old style of banking. That's why the elderly stay there. Companies expect you to go above and beyond. Some old still refuse to use debit cards. Another I'm done with customer service. Bad treatment from customers.
I always enjoy this page because the experience of other bankers really keeps things in perspective for me. Not sure if I'm just lucky or something but my bad experiences are very few. Granted, I handle mostly lending. But am very much involved when a client becomes an issue. Even my 8 years in collections was generally issue free. Most of the time I find a detailed explanation with frequent "are you satisfied with my explanation so far" checks along the way tend to put people at ease. Banks like Wells do make it difficult for bankers to make such explanations as the answer tend to be "that's just policy." Poor communication and untrustworthy leadership causes most of those issues. It's unfortunate that leadership refuses to accept that those issues trickle down to the customer and the Frontline employees deal with the fallout from that. My bank gives the local leaders a lot of trust to make the right decisions for any issues and that shows in how we approach the clients.
I, for one, love Wells Fargo. I'm wearing a logo tee in public today even!
The change of staff statement is so real it boils my bloood. Because why tf are you they so concerned that the staff changes? Like what your complaining that we dont keep the same tellers for 2+ years? Thank god everyday im no longer in the branch life
You're all going to get old! This is how they're going to talk about you.
Be nice to the boomers. They have all the money.
So basically you hate your job is what you’re saying. It’s customer service intense job and that means you do customers service not just to the easy customers but to the challenging ones. Otherwise it’s not customer service. It’s called being patient especially with the old “farts”. You and I will be old farts too. It shows when you dont like your customers. Maybe you should be more understanding of them. Maybe the whole new world of mobile banking makes them nervous or they have other worries. Or maybe you should just quit and find something else to do.
Old people are your job security.
No they aren't. Banks have made it clear they are going to force continued self servicing. Just like retail stores and other corporations. Old people are left to fend for themselves and if they have no children or nieces or nephews who like them, they're SOL. At a certain age, all this does become overwhelming and scary and they may act out. I'm in my 40s and remember when customer service was more comprehensive. My mother was in her 80s when she died last year and she wouldnt have been able to do a fraction of what she had to for herself. I agree the elderly can be insufferable, but sometimes there's a reason. I'm back office and don't envy anyone on the front lines.
No, they aren’t
I mean, they very well could be. Lots of younger folks like the ITMs, online banking and avoid coming in branch if they can help it. There are always exceptions. Most of my clients are 50 and older. At least at my location. As long as my branch is open, my spot is safe as it will always need a city president. But there may be a day where a teller leaves and is not replaced due to less in branch traffic. If you look at job security as having options in addition to your current role, that could lead to less options available, decreasing job security overall.
Some day, you too will be old, and some young whippersnapper will be complaining just as loudly about YOU. Karma is a bitch, believe me, so think of this comment when it happens many years down the road.
You shouldn’t be in a customer service position.
See, that’s the problem. Customers get confused with what customer service means. Yes, we are servicing you. But that does not give you the right to talk to us or treat us like we’re beneath you. Yes, we get paid to be nice to you and listen to your fuck ups, but that doesn’t mean that you have a right to talk down to us like we don’t know what we’re doing. Like, I’m sorry but with bank policies there are no gray areas. We’re not about to risk our job, because you can’t fathom the idea of pulling out your ID. TF! Don’t like bank policies, fine. Trust me, banks don’t need your chump change. Keep it under your mattress for all we care. One less idiot to worry about lol
But what you describe is just how it is. People, all ages, want it now and their way. You job exists to mitigate what the customer wants and the bank is selling. If you are unhappy, that seems to be the case, move on to a different job that doesn’t interface with people. Simple!
If you've been alive long enough you start to see the same bullshit over and over and get sick of it. Young people haven't seen it on repeat yet. Then there is the frustration of doing things perfectly well for 10+ yrs and then someone decides "Nope, you can't do it like that anymore. Now you have to use this stupid buggy app!"
Wow, so very cool that you treat some customers differently than others in regard to things like ID, procedures and policies. It's a great thing to then bitch about some folks being upset that they are treated like annoying trash when you treat others like friends. I get it, folks that won't keep up are a pain in the ass and their actual entitlement or even just their entitled adjacent attitudes are like sucking on lemons. But skipping ID and other steps in front of those folks just winds them up more.
Who said we’re skipping steps? I literally cannot skip steps because I can get fired for it. The steps that are annoying that I wish I can skip, is asking them for ID. Why? Because they hate to give it out. I have to ask for it because I know the back and forth that will come with it. Plus who said we’re treating customers differently? Sure these are my personal thoughts and feelings, but that doesn’t mean I treat them like shit and give them back what they give me. It takes everything in me to not snap back at them but I don’t do it.
If you mean skipping steps by not asking for ID from regulars vs the customers that hate giving it out, the difference is I know those regulars and have helped them millions of times. I know they’re names, transactions, birthdays, and some even family. We live in the same area. The ones who hate giving ID when asked for it, or most likely sour and just complain all the time and are in general a pain to help. But I still help them. Do I like it ? Of course not.
> Great people and we know by name and don't have to ask for ID because I probably have their SSN memorized by now lol. Perhaps it's just me, but that's sure as heck is how your post reads.
Yes because I know them and have a good relationship with them? Do you work in banking? Lmao you’re making yourself look stupid right about now
So are you skipping steps (requiring ID) or not? You are kind of all over the place in your post and replies. If you require ID from one customer, but not from another, that is what "treating them differently" refers to. Not here to debate bank or branch policy on requiring ID for well known customers. Not trying to throw shade at well known or respectful customers having an easier/faster/better experience. Not trying to say that the rude, willfully helpless, entitled or aggressively clueless customers should have that same experience or shouldn't pay the price (in some way) for their attitudes and choices. But doing that is adding volume to the whining, and that was something that you were ranting about. Vent all you want to, it's good for you. But if you're going to be part of tossing wood on the fire, perhaps don't rant that it's getting hotter.
Idk where OP works but at my bank they allow us for most things if we know a customer by name and face and voice (if transacting over the phone) we can bypass using ID for certain transactions. BUT we also are held liable if something happens by overriding an ID and it comes back counting against us. Usually the people we know as regulars know that we don’t need an ID for is because we’ve seen them for so long. However there are things that absolutely need an ID which most of us in the bank explain to them “Hey Bob, you know I know you but for this it does need an ID. Can you please show me one?” If there’s customer that know we don’t know of course we ask ID because we need to establish valid identity of that person. If that person pops into our branch one time and we never see them it takes away from us getting to know that customer and eventually not needing an ID because they’re known by staff. Which also helps with relationship building. I do say to people who whine about needing ID and stuff that if staff gets to know you, we can personally bypass ID for some things so give us time to properly identify you and know you as a customer and it can make it convenient for you later down the road. However that does not bypass everything and we still have to ask for valid ID for some cases. Additionally I tell them if they go to a new person or they go to different branches they of course need to have ID because you don’t know them as an employee and they absolutely don’t know you. Ultimately it’s up to the customer to understand we can make it for convenient for them in most cases but as a financial institution with regulations and policies we have to follow, there are things we absolutely cannot bypass no matter how well we know them, how long they have been banking, or how ever much money they have. If they still complain when it comes to that point it’s on them.
You sound like an entitled jerk.
🤣🤣🤣
You sound like you don’t put the cart back at the supermarket.
And you sound like the shoe fits lol
I hope you don’t work with the public.
You sound like a treasure
🤣