Who was correct?

debodun

debodun

SF VIP
Location
way upstate in New York, USA
I made a mistake of going to the bank on Saturday. I've never seen it so crowded! People were waiting in line out the door. I must have waited in line 45 minutes. There was one teller. When she turned around to help people at the drive-through window, some man in line in back of me shouted, "You have people waiting in line inside that have been here long before that car drove up! Wait on the people inside first!" I thought for a few seconds a fist fight was going to break out in line. People were really getting short tempered.

I almost felt sorry for the teller. She looked like she didn't know what to do. All she could say was that they were short-handed and she was doing the best she could. I allowed what I thought would be plenty of time since I had to be at a birthday party and I still ended up being late for the party.

Who was right - the man or the teller?
 

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The teller. I don't blame the man for being frustrated, but it's not the teller's fault that she had to deal with all the customers by herself. The bank manager is at fault and should have had enough tellers to run the business. She just can't ignore those customers at the drive up window, she had to make the judgement call on when it's fair to serve the next in line, inside or out.

IMO, the man was out of line for shouting like that and causing a scene, if he wanted he could have made a formal complaint to the bank's manager.
 
The teller. She does not set bank policy. If the man has a problem, he needs to go over her head to management, instead of taking out his frustrations by bullying her.
 

If the teller was tasked with both stations, I would have to say the drive thru came first. She should have alternated between counter and window.
The male customer was totally out of line. He had no idea what the teller was instructed to do by her manager.
Most tellers are part time and make real close to minimum wage. Only assholes yell at the hired help!
 
In my view, first come, first served but it was not the tellers fault, a stressful situation for all concerned .....that's why I always use a cashpoint and rapid deposit !
 
I wonder if there were other cars outside in line also. I have seen it happen where they wait on the outsiders as the cars may be blocking the roadway outside.
 
Robusta said:
the teller should have alternated between counter and window.
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I think that was what the problem was. She was alternating between the customer locales. After I heard the man yell, I did hear some murmurs in line from the indoor customers that seemed to be on his side. I had mentioned to the woman ahead of me when I got on line that I had to be at a birthday party at noon. She let me go ahead of her, but one person closer didn't seem to matter much.

SeaBreeze said:
The bank manager is at fault and should have had enough tellers to run the business.
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He was there, but was attending to people that needed assistance, but not from the teller. There were plenty of those customers, too. All the chairs were occupied by people waiting to see the manager. After the man yelled, he reiterated what the teller said - they were short handed and doing the best they could under the circumstances, so please be patient.
 
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I see these situations all the time. Where we are though there is usually several members of the crowd keeping folks in check. That poor teller was doing the best she could do. If that guy didn't like it he could take his pitiful self elsewhere. I've heard people curse cashiers and tellers only to have a loud voice or two come out of the crowd...someone cursing THEM for being douchebags.
 
Maybe it was crowded because it was the 1st of the month. Regardless the teller should have called her manager to alert her about the heavy volume, and the manager should have been on-call and ready to come in if needed. I also wonder from a safety perspective about having only one person at the branch with no backup.
 
Maybe the seniors were cashing their pension cheques (and they do not do banking online or use the machines). The bank management has the responsibility of scheduling more tellers to handle the busy times and the teller should have alerted the manager of the problem.

I haven't been in a bank for a very long time and get my money direct deposited into my account and pay bills online and use the cash machines for withdrawing cash. Only if I were buying a certified cheque or money order would I go in, but then again, money can be transferred online, so there's hardly any need for me to go into a bank these days.
 
I haven't been into a bank in ages, either;I do everything online and hardly ever pay cash for anything.

But to answer the question, I'm sure the teller was doing the best she could, under the circumstances. I think it's rude as all get out to take the problem out on the teller -- she's just dong her job and following whatever instructions she was given. If that guy didn't like it, he should have left and gone to another branch.
 
Public shaming can be a high art when people get irritated enough. There might be a customer, sight unseen but easily heard..." OH SOMEBODY is mad because THEY have to wait in line just like ALL of the REST of us...OH well That is just TOO BAD, you go on yelling at that poor child who is moving as fast as she can...mmmhummm YOU should be THANKING her for waiting on your sorry SELF!". By now the rude person is slinking out the door with his tail between his legs.
 
Not a good idea, Fur. The rude person could have a gun. In this day and age, I wouldn't take chances on getting some psycho even more inflamed.
 
The Teller is right but I think it's the bank management that is to blame. Maybe someone was sick that day and couldn't come to work. But I've seen this when I was still working, and it's happened at my wife's workplace. Cut back on the workforce then add more hours/responsibility to the remaining crew. Plus it seems Saturdays might be busy with folks who work weekdays and can't or don't want to go after work. That's my $00.02
 
In Texas maybe...here I hate to feed into the stereotype that everyone from the New York area is rude by nature...but I might say we don't generally tolerate it in others. But opening fire for rudeness? Nah, that jerk isn't worth it. Like today I was in bumper to bumper traffic. Nobody was moving for miles. The clown in back of me kept leaning on the horn.

If you have someone in labor or have to go to the bathroom reaaaally bad...I feel for you, I might even let you pass. But BEEEEP BEEEEP BEEEEEP. Enough already, there is nowhere to go BEEEEP BEEEEP BEEEEEP Okay you can try to pass in the opposing lane, go on I dare you...BEEEEP BEEEEEP BEEEEEEP...

I am about to turn off this road, but first I'm letting that van block the crosswalk just to piss you off more...BEEEEEP this
devil.png
 
I also do most of my banking on-line or at the ATM machines. Every now and then, I do find it necessary to actually go to the bank but I try to avoid Friday afternoons and Saturday mornings. On the rare occasion that I do find myself waiting, on one of these days, I spend my time wondering "why now" - -when I could have been here any other day of the week.:(
 
It's like going to the supermarket. The two worst times are Friday evening or Saturday afternoon. Those two days and you can read every magazine on display and still not be close to the register.
 
debodun said:
Why is that?
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On the 1st of any month, many people get their pension checks and other benefits checks, as well as those people who work and get paid on the 1st and 15th.

On Fridays, many workers get paid either every week or every other Friday, and also you have those getting cash for their weekend activities.

So you have all those people flocking to the bank to either cash or deposit their checks.
 

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