Poem About Death...

I'm sort of ready to sweep them under the rug
Followed by the Mexican Hat Dance
Or a tantrum.
Old people.
Croaking, shaking, too trusting, too paranoid.
Just so I don't have to think about it anymore.

Today I was told I was losing my job.
A dead canary in the mine.
I should be running out screaming
But all I do is sit here
Waiting for it.

I can't imagine this struggle going on
For sixty more years.
Living through decades of pain
Only to be hated by some spiky-haired kid
Who used to work at the bank.

Out

So Much For That...

Well, all good things must come to an end, and shortly after I read that post back to myself I thought, "Uh-oh. That's a lot of good in one small space. Where's the big bad to offset it all?"

I know I made a resolution to be more positive, but after 26 years of thinking like that, its a hard habit to break.

Well, I found it.

A woman came in a few days ago and deposited a check for $25,000. She's had an account with us FOREVER. She's ANCIENT, and she's MEAN! Oh, and senile...blah blah blah. All those reasons were taken into account when I bypassed the 7 day hold on the check and made it available the next day.

Turns out the check is fraudulent. And guess who the $8,000 she's already taken out goes against? Yeah...I don't know what the heck I'm going to do about that.

I used my best judgment. I was trying to be a good customer service rep. And yet...I'm going to get slammed for a nonpolicy loss. Because while they cram customer service down our throats and punish us for not getting ABSOLUTELY PERFECT scores (on random customer service calls), we're apparently not supposed to do what's best for the customer. So. Damn.

Oh well. It was fun while it lasted.

Out

[Expletive Deleted] x 3...

A funny thing happened to me at work yesterday.

We had a substitute manager because one is out on sick leave and the other had meetings all day. In walks Troy. Cute, indie-rock-looking, aviators-and-skinny-tie-wearing Troy. He was a breath of fresh air, let me tell you. So, we shot the breeze, found out his girlfriend is getting her premed in the Cayman Islands, found out he kind of hates his job, too, and basically just wasted the day. It was glorious.

But every glorious day has its dark spot.

This customer came in at about 10:30 AM. Tall, tattooed, Hispanic (not that that really matters except that he had a thick accent and I found it difficult to understand him). He had a credit card payment slip and a blank check from a relative, his dad, I think. He asked, "If he wants to make this check out for more than the payment amount and get cash back, can he do it?" I said he could, and then he starts to make the check out himself. I told him that I couldn't give him the money. His dad would have to be present. So he gave me this look that said, "I'm gonna gut you," and he left, cursing under his breath.

That was odd.

He comes back in. He mumbles something at me and I ask him to repeat himself. He says it louder and I still don't understand it. I ask him to repeat himself and he shouts each word at me. He wanted to know if his dad called us and told us it was okay, could I do it? I told him no. His dad would have to be present. So he flips out, goes, "Maaan, fuck you! Fuck this place. That's fucking stooopid." I said, "Excuse me! You don't need to be using that kind of language in here." And he said, "Fuck you." So I told him to leave. He says, "What are you gonna do?" I told him I'd call the cops. And then he called me "fucking pussy bitch" and left.

Well, Debbie, our Customer Service Leader, goes charging after him and follows him outside. She apparently told him never to come back. He said, "fuck you" to her, and she warned him not to use that language. He said it again and she told him that his mother should have beaten the shit out of him when he was little.

This is why she's my hero! So now if we see him again, no one will wait on him and we'll call the cops. And I'll be the first in line to be the "fucking pussy bitch" who picks up the phone.

Out

Above the Law...

Today I had a young customer at work who we've had problems with before, although I've never been the one to deal with him. In fact, I've never actually been there when he's come in with a problem, like the time he yelled at us for using his name. Today, however...

He mumbled something from the fourth lane of the drive up, something I didn't quite hear due to the rain and wind and train going by. I heard the words "money market" and "deposit in to checking." I thought he'd asked me to cash his check against his money market account and deposit it into his checking account. We don't cash checks and then deposit the cash into the account. It breaks policy when we do that. AND, when we DO do it, it's only with checks drawn off of our bank, since we can make sure the funds are available before cashing out the check (although we're asked not to even do that...). But when I looked at the check, it was drawn off another bank. We never cash out checks and deposit them if they're drawn off another bank. It's just bad business, easy fraud, etc.

So I figured I misheard him, and I deposited it into his checking account. He drove away, and a minute or two later, he sashayed into the lobby and flounced up to the counter. "I was just in the drive..."he started to tell Debbie when I walked up, "and he [pointing to me] was supposed to cash this check against my money market and deposit it into my checking account."

So I had heard him correctly.

I stepped in and told him that we don't cash out checks and deposit the cash, so I just deposited it into his account, and since it was drawn off another bank it would be available tomorrow. And then he threw this big hissy fit about how we were the only branch that gave him problems and how the people in Palatine did it for him all the time (totally breaking every rule we have). "This is ridiculous," he must have lisped at me across the counter four times.

My manager just explained to him that we don't do that. And he tried to explain to us how to do our job, how it was okay for us to break policy, and how he was above the law.

Umm....no.

And when he went in to talk to the manager, I counted my till and went home, since it was time for me to go.

I don't know what ended up happening in the end, but this little incident got me thinking. Why do we each think we're above the law? Why do the rules not apply to us? I'm sure there are places where you get special favors from the people there who know you, but do you then expect them? And do you expect them at other places, too?

At my favorite Chinese restaurant Yen Ching we almost always get a free egg roll or fried rice or something when we get take out, and we don't get charged for it because they love Robb and I there.



We're above the law.

At Pizza Hut I used to get free pizza because a friend of mine worked there. I was above the law.

But I don't expect to walk into any Pizza Hut and tell them I know Eric and they should give me free pizza. I know it's a courtesy and a favor because I have a relationship with someone that works there. I am not entitled (there's that word) to anything. I am not REALLY above the law. And I am not a pompus enough ass to think that I am, unlike my swishy "friend" from the bank today.

Are there places where you are above the law?

Out