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Dear bank, leave me the illusion...at least

gingersoul posted on May 16, 2009 | views: 380 | Tags: life, money, bank, illusion, old age, waiting rooms, caring, multi-purpose cooperative, why
I went to the bank yesterday.
I don't know if this happens in your banks too...... but here i am witnessing a strange trend: the banktellers are getting younger and younger by the day.
And when i say young i say fresh-from-college young..

Now, i don't have anything against youth.....believe me.....lol..

But...i remember when i used to go the bank and it was like stepping in a different world. The banktellers were always these austere and well dressed people rarely smiling, extra busy with their mysterious calculations. The athmosphere was almost intimidating. People in line was whispering to each other. No tv blasting, no magazines spread on the tables..actually not even chairs to seat on.

You had the feeling of being in a solemn, trustworthy institution.
They were really good in giving us the ILLUSION ( i repeat ...ILLUSION) of being these fatherly figures who would have never let us down.

Nowadays....a bank is like a Starbuck. And like their coffee, they leave you with a bitter aftertaste when you step out.
Everywhere you see coffee machines, huge lollipops bowls (to sweetening the fact they made us swallow those hefty fees), tv are distracting people from the reality of what they are doing.....it seems to be on a Disney cruise ship....

And lately...the bank tellers..

Where are those middle age, respectable, business-attires dresses people?
(Where is my mom???)
Did they fire them all together? Did they send them in some Third World country to open new branches?

These youngster dress in the most diverse way, forget the professional attires thing. Some looks like they stepped out of the gym.

Yesterday this chirpy-bubble gum chewing girl was chatting with her fellow teller about what she was going to have for lunch while doing my transaction....

Ok, see? It has been that attitude that made me check my slip twice..
Wait a second, chirpy-bubble gum chewing bank teller....
I had to give her back the slip because she put down my deposit without a zero......i mean, like i had deposited 10 instead of 100.....

Hellooo?....Did your chewing gum get stuck over my zero?
While this was happening, another young guy was dragging his feet from the counter to the back window to help some drive-through customer.

Somehow it hit me.
 
They are stripping away from us EVEN the ILLUSION of putting our money in safe and trustworth hands.
 
I mean, i don't believe for one single moment that banks have EVER been on our side (who is this naive? After all the shit that is happening?)  BUT at least why not leaving us the ILLUSION of it?

I think i am going to do everything online from now on so i keep the illusion alive......yeah, like that could help...

Maybe i will start keeping my cash under my mattress, like my grandma used to do.

Uhmmm.....i think this is a great idea.

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Comments

  • Lucytorial said on May 16, 2009....
    I can associate with this, my bank manager who will be organising a new loan for me is YOUNGER than I am... feels wrong. 
  • gingersoul said on May 16, 2009....
    Lucy.....i know!....lol...

    I mean...at least let me see aged and well manicured nails taking my money away from me!...
    My mom' s hands......;-D.

  • Lucytorial said on May 16, 2009....
    Or at least that aged and concerned look (male) te he he makes me feel weird, strange to hand over money or sign documents with someone who is still using their training wheels
  • Hegemone said on May 16, 2009....
    I think this is very true, although, one thing, where I bank, they at least keep proper attire.  It is quite a huge difference though because I actually deal with two banks, one a newer bank and the other an old branch that's been in existence for years.  The newer bank has younger people who do speak to each other during transactions, etc. while the older bank has older ladies who concentrate on YOU and ONLY you.  It's remarkable the differences when you think about it.  I feel more secure with the older bank, but with my newer bank, I pretty much quadruple check any and all transactions via my own checkbook ledger, online banking, monthly paper statements and automated phone banking.  It stinks having to be so paranoid, but the way things are, every little penny counts and I can't afford to lose money because somebody else was too worried about where their lunch was going to come from.  So I totally know what you mean on all of this.  That mattress checking account sounds quite dandy at this point.
  • gingersoul said on May 16, 2009....
    Lucy.....i so agree with you......
    It makes you say "Go back to your Monopoli. The yellow apartments are mine. Don't play with my money".....lol...

    I just say.....just give me something...an illusion is better than this...lol..

    And that male concerned look...didn't make you feel like a little good girl?......;-P
  • gingersoul said on May 16, 2009....
    Heggie......paranoid is the right word....

    Again, its not that we were lulling in this beautiful idea of our banks loving us and not our money...
    But since they were the ones trying to project that image of solidity and trustworthiness on us .......we got used to it..
    Now...right when they should try to reinforce a sense of stability and dignity (after their shit has blown up to mythic proportions) .....they play the opposite card....

    That mattress look more and more appealing, let me tell you....lol...
  • MsStar39 said on May 16, 2009....
    Ginger it is not just an illusion that's wrong, banks are making some serious mistakes.
    A few years ago my husband got a lg settlement for 27,000 and he put in in his account at a very well known bank, a week or so later he found out that instead of his deposit being $27, 000, the bank teller put it in at $2,700, good thing that he had his original papers, it was months before BOA  got it right.
    We need to check everything.
  • gingersoul said on May 16, 2009....
    Ms....wow.....that's a huge mistake.....lots of money......glad your hubby kept the originals.....scary accident...

    Two years ago i made a deposit of 785.00 dollars....the girl counted only 75 ...

    I mean, people.....its OUR money you are dealing with..

  • MsStar39 said on May 16, 2009....
    Ginger I was surprised at what he had to go through before they got it straight.
    I tried to get him to change banks after that but he didn't.
  • beyondtheveil said on May 16, 2009....
    soulgirl- I've heard about your dilemma from others (except small towns) and it sounds like banks are little different than other places of business now. I don't use banks and haven't for over thirty years, I use my credit union. Credit unions seem to have a better attitude and its a situation where the employees and customers 'own' the bank, in a sense.

    Charges are less and interest rates are usually higher and they have 'specials' now and then on different types of loans.

    I have an article for you from my homepage about credit unions as opposed to banks. Sometimes things from my homepage don't transfer well, I hope this takes for you.
  • gingersoul said on May 16, 2009....
    Ms......isn't weird? Its like being in an abusive marriage...lol..
    We know that they are sucking the life out of us and yet in many cases we remain with them...

    BeyBey.....uhmm.....credit unions? I am going to read that article because your link works...

    Thank you very much.

    I have found that Suze Orman is really good ...do you knwo her? What you think?
    I have one of her books and i am going to apply some of her suggestions...
    I need to straighten up my financial life....oh yeah....:-)
  • queenparanoia said on May 16, 2009....
    ginger bank tellers are the same here too!!! the same age like me!!! maybe they hide the old ones on the back and they the one counting all the money???lol...
  • gingersoul said on May 16, 2009....
    Queenie.....LOL.....hey.....this is a great theory...

    You mean....the pretty and young up front and the old and ugly in the back counting the bills?

    In this society where everything is based on appearance it would make great sense...
    You would be the cutie accepting my check, then.......;-p

  • speaking_up said on May 16, 2009....
    Sadly, it's not just banks...when I was turning forty I said to my husband, "husband, why are so many young people out clubbing these days?  Shouldn't they be at home in bed?"
     
    And I went another time, and the same children were there, ordering drinks, dancing up a storm...and I was curious...not too sure what to make of things.  I wanted to find a crowd where I could relate...but more and more, I was not relating.
     
    ?????
     
    Then it occurred to me...wholly shit!  I'm OLD!  I use to be that one up there drinkin and dancing and having fun...now I am wondering why the music is so much louder than it use to be...why the kids are out...why that obnoxious asshole keeps spilling his beer on me...why I'm not getting the service I use to get...
     
    I was curious.  And so allowed myself to think about it for a minute.
     
    And the answer came to me like a slap upside the head.  It's a real eye opener. 
     
    When I was in my 20s and 30s I was the boss.  I was the MAN! (even though I am a woman)...I remember reviewing a 40 something year old's resume for a job opportunity I had open, and laughed my ass off that he didn't put any dates on the resume...like he was SO OLD he didn't really expect I would place him in a job, did he?  
     
    I remember that.  And it is haunting me today as my own career is in shambles.
     
    The only thing that has changed, was my age. 
     
    Young people rule.  Always have, always will.
     
    *head hanging low and walking out of the room before the tomatoes start coming at me*
     
     
  • speaking_up said on May 16, 2009....
    btw, ginger...this is the funniest, descriptive post I have read yet...you are a great humorist writer!
     
    I wish I could tag again because I would tag humor too!
  • travelr712 said on May 16, 2009....
    chirpy bubble gum chewing tellers, i love that!
     
    used to be you had to be responsible and able to do math to be a bank teller. now it's all done with software and cameras, so they can hire young people and pay them allot less and few benefits. just like everywhere else.
  • fragglesrock said on May 16, 2009....
    lord, you should see the outfits the gals at my credit union wear! it doesn' t really make me feel confident in my bank when the girl behind the counter looks like she should be dancing for dollars instead of counting them...
  • fragglesrock said on May 16, 2009....

    see....i'm old too, i said "gals".  just shoot me now.

  • gingersoul said on May 16, 2009....
    Speaking .......lol.......don't run...its ok.......i agree with you...youth rules..
    Always did, always will.......It's a generational thing.....and the new takes place of the old..
    Nothing to say..
    .
    What i noticed is not that...

    I was just wondering why banks don't try to trick us anymore now, as they have always done in the past...

    Hey, i am glad you liked my post......come and visit more often then....;-p 

  • beyondtheveil said on May 16, 2009....
    ginsoul- I've seen Suze Orman on  tv a few times and I think she's probably as good as anyone to listen to for financial advice. 
  • gingersoul said on May 16, 2009....
    BeyBey...and what are you doing still up, mister? Counting the sheep?....;-)

    Ok, then, Orman ...i do like her.


    Travvie......guess you are right....still...it doesn't look good....

    Fraggles.....lol....so right......
  • GrapeKoolaid said on May 17, 2009....
    That's why I stuff my money in my mattress.  :)

    You're right, though.  I do recall bank tellers resembling librarians way back when.  Now...  Not so much. 

    Austere, authoritarian ladies with hair in a bun and glasses do appeal to a very specific part of me, though... 

    What part that is, I can't rightly say.  :)
  • scipio said on May 17, 2009....
    In all respects the  banks are no longer the hallowed institiutions they once were.
     
     
  • superbozo said on May 17, 2009....
    LMAO.......my bank you have to go to a machine and print out a ticket and wait like the deli at the supermarket. When did banks start resembling doctors waiting rooms. People sitting around coughing and looking nerveously around wondering what diseases the others have and if they'll get them. At least when your in a queue you only have to look at the back of the head of the person in front of you. Now you sit your arse down and watch a little monitor high above the counter looking for your number. While people cough and moan. Theres a tv but it's normally so quiet you can't hear it anyway above the staff talking. It's just a scam to force us to use internet and phone banking instead. They don't really want to see us face to face. Unless your about to make them some sort of commision.
  • travelr712 said on May 17, 2009....
    i never really thought about it till you brought it up ginger, i just sorta took it as the way all businesses have changed in the last 20 years. i think the image you're talking about came from the fact that many banks until the f.d.i.c. was created, held their money in a vault on the premisis making them targets, so they wanted to project an image of security. especially after the advent of computer networks (the electronic financial system has been in place since the 70's), banks don't hold much cash on site. real bank robbers don't usually go after the store front, they try to crack in electronically where the real money is. the ones who hold the tellers up are generally desparate and inept, and caught very quickly with only a few hundred dollars at best. i guess what i'm saying is that i don't think banks ever really projected a sense of sobriaty in their workers to give us the illusion they knew how to invest our money, they gave us the illusion of security to make us think it wouldn't be lost through theft. so now, bank outlets are no different than any other retail outlet, they're just the place where a customer can physically make a transaction. even that's starting to go by the wayside with direct electronic deposits and bill paying. we may yet see a time when there are no more bank buildings, just some sort of super ATM.
  • travelr712 said on May 17, 2009....
    on a side note, did you know that VISA, reputed by some to be the largest consumer financial system in the world, doesn't actually collect any money or make any loans? that's all done by a bank. all visa does is manage it's financial computer network that handles the electronic transactions between the banks and the consumer, and take a healthy percentage from the banks and the retail outlets for the convenience?
  • gingersoul said on May 17, 2009....
    Grapey...oh, do they?...lol...

    The fascination is understandable though .....i mean, many like to fantasize what might be hiding underneath stereotyped appearances...you know...like uniforms or business attires......:-p

    Maybe some librarian spanked you because you stole a book when you were a kid?...LOL...
  • gingersoul said on May 17, 2009....
    Scipio.....amen to that....:-)

    Super..........oh yeah...so right...the number thingie...
    Well, if you think ......that makes sense...i mean.....aren't we going to the bank to have a transfusion of money/blood?

    Outward...in their direction......
    So doctor waiting room ambience seems perfect in their sick state of mind...;-p
  • sehnen said on May 19, 2009....
    i believed in your love. but all the months, all the hardship, and you did nothing. how could i keep believing.
  • Ormocanon said on May 20, 2009....
    "Maybe i will start keeping my cash under my mattress, like my grandma used to do. - gingersoul


    Big mistake if you do it...what if there's a fire?
     Best move to make is be a member of some multi-purpose cooperative in your area. Then deposit your cash there.

    Of course you have to undergo a membership seminar but it's worth it.
  • justk said on May 21, 2009....
    gingersoul~ i put my money in my underwear drawer and go there instead of the ATM. granted the tellers at the bank are my age, I still don't trust the bank. but you don't want me to get started on the other people we are supposed to trust because they are supposed to protect us (cops!)
  • gingersoul said on May 22, 2009....
    Traveler...the sense of imposing trustworthy pseudo-protection that banks used to give me in the past was not correlated to the fact that i knew the actual, real money was behind their vault. I am not talking about safety from thieves...the banks are the thevies..

    Nowadays its the fact that all these kiddo can have access to so much more money in any single branch that none of us will ever see in their own life (including MY money) what gives me the heebey geebey.

    I have an online access to my account and (knocking on woods) i have never had problems with it......

    Sehnen......i am confused......what are you talking about?.....some light, here..:-)




  • gingersoul said on May 22, 2009....
    Ormocanon........uhmm....multi-purpose cooperative? I don't even know if i have any in my area..i am going to check though.....thanks.

    In Italy, many of my friends use them. My brother actually bought a second house using their loans.


    Justk....hello there...nice to meet you...:-)

    Oh, feel free to start.....i coudl tell you a lot of stories as well...:-)
  • justk said on May 22, 2009....
    hello gingersoul~ thank you and likewise :-> I better not get into the cop problem for now.
  • GracieLee said on May 31, 2009....
    me too. i'm not a big fan of cops either. some of them are very nice and sweet but some of them have that cop attitude. their whole job seems to be to give tickets if they are working in a low crime area. give tickets, eat donuts, be rude, and order chinese food at the station.

    but what were we talking about? hold on, i'll scroll up. oh yeah, bank tellers. i was never a bank teller but i was a cashier and boy did i suck. more than half the time my drawer didn't balance. they never suspected me of robbery. guess i have an honest look. and no, i never robbed them. i just sucked. one time i was out $80. unless someone else was getting into my drawers!!! that's possible too because i didn't have the key.
  • hotaka said on Jun 03, 2009....
    The older tellers are here in Japan. At my bank the youngest is in her early thirties at the youngest. Anyone younger is made to look especially solemn as if to say youth begets mistrust so don't even think about smiling. The older tellers know they are different and smile more freely.

    As for Denmark, my mother went there some years ago and went to the bank. A young straight-outta-college teller greated her using the casual form of the word "you" (as in French "tu" instead of "vous"). My mother felt it was very rude to be addressed by a much younger person using the casual form of the pronoun. But she accepted that times had changed.

    Good observations, ginger. Enjoyed the post.
  • gingersoul said on Jun 03, 2009....
    JustK...good choice...:-)
     
    Gracie.....lol....my drawer would be exactly like yours, believe me.....
     
    Hottie......oh, so there were they put them! In Japan!....lol...
     
     
  • ABOVE_TOP_SECRET said on Jun 11, 2009....
    Put the money in a coffee kan and bury it!
  • gingersoul said on Jun 12, 2009....
    I will do it, Above....lol...
  • sehnen said on Jun 29, 2009....
    so many people seem to need their illusions, including myself. but i don't like them, as i don't like hope, because it seems to me that these things keep people in denial. i know they've done that to me.
  • gingersoul said on Jun 29, 2009....
    Sehnen.....i agree, denial is a horrible beast...and more so when dealing with money. Or love..:-)
  • sehnen said on Jun 30, 2009....
    why is a word always on my mind, why about everything that's happened in my life the last 15 months. and mostly: why couldn't a certain man love me more than he loves the job. and why, for a while, did I make myself the illusion that soon he would.

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