Commentary: A Visit to the Bank!

A friend wrote today.  It's about his experience at a bank.  I didn't know if I should laugh or cry.  Here is his description:

Today I went to my bank to order checks.  I do not order online.  And, as most know, I have stopped all "auto billing" and "paperless" accounts.  I do this out of pure self-interest: privacy and avoidance of hackers.

So, I walked up to the gal who is in charge of such things and told her that I needed to order checks.

She asks why I was doing that.  I said that's the way I prefer to do business.  She says "nobody uses checks any more..."

I told her to just order the checks and let me worry about what "everyone else is doing."

She asks me for my account number and I handed her a cancelled check.  The check was for an insurance payment that was made last year.  She says "we are not an insurance company...so what is your account number?"  I says "got a highlighter handy?"  She points to her cup on the desk.  I highlight the account number on the bottom of the check.  She asks me again what my account number is.  I told her it is right there, highlighted.  Again, she says "this is an insurance company check and we are a bank...."  I finally said "is there a manager available?"  She replies "I'm the manager of this branch."

I said that I was shocked that a manager does not even know how to read a check or to read the account number on the check.  She acted even more pissed off at me.

Finally, I got her to understand that the check has both a travel code and an account number and that is how checks work...they wire funds to and fro, using the fed wire system.

Then, she plugs in the account number and asks me my name, which I told her.   She then asked me what I wanted to do.

Before she would do any more, she had to have my driver license and scan it in to the "system."

Finally, she said that everything looks "in order" and my account should show a debit of $26.95.

This is not America, it is Czechoslovakia or Borneo.