Rant #3,754: Strange Days

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To pick up on yesterday's story ...

So I gave the teller at the drive-thru my deposit--check and cash--and she temporarily vanished after telling me she had to go to the front of the bank for some unknown reason.

She returned, gave me back my receipt, my driver's license, and my debit card, all nicely put together with a paper clip.

I took it, thanked her, and drove off--

But I wanted to put my license and debit card away in my wallet, so I pulled over to the side of the parking lot, parked, and took out my wallet.

I unclipped everything, and it was all there--

Including registers!

But to my surprise, something else was in this small package--

The check i gave her to deposit.

I double checked my receipt, everything was evidently put into my account, but she gave me back the check.

My wife was a teller for many years, and I know that before a teller's day is done, their draw has to balance out, including cash and checks.

If it doesn't balance out, everyone has to stay, until it can be reconciled 

If it can't be reconciled, the teller can be written up, and it gets put on the teller's personal record.

Whatever the case, and since this had never happened to me before, I stopped for a second, and decided what to do.

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Not to pat myself on the back, but I decided to take the high road, returning the check to save the woman's butt--

And also, i wanted to double check to make sure the transaction was done correctly.

Since I went through the drive-thru with my original transaction, I figured I might as well go through the drive-thru again, but this time, simply walking over to this area rather than waiting on another line, wasting more time.

I walked up to the drive-thru, and there was one car there.

I tapped the window a few times, noticed that it was a different female teller, and got her attention.

"I just made a deposit here, and it wasn't you, but the previous teller gave me my check back."

"You have to wait. I am waiting on someone."

I said that was fine, and I would wait.

She was just about done with the customer, and when the car drove away, there, miraculously, was no one waiting to use the drive-thru.

"It wasn't you, but the previous teller gave me my check back."

"I cannot help you. You have to drive up to the window again."

"All I want to do is return the check and make sure that the check was deposited correctly. Why do I have to get back on the line?"

"I can't help you unless you bring your car to the window."

I have to tell you, I left there quite a bit perturbed. 

There were no cars at the window, so why she could not help me right then and there is beyond me.

So I got into my car, and--you guessed it--a couple of cars had since driven to the drive-thru, and I was forced to wait my turn.

(In hindsight, I guess I could have gone into the bank and handled this, but I figured that since the original transaction was made at the drive-thru, I could get it done quickly right there, which ended up being a wrong decision. 

And the teller told me to get back into my car and get on line, so I did what she told me, no matter how idiotic I thought her request was.)

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After about 10 minutes, I got up to the drive-thru.

"Look, all i wanted to do was give back the check and make sure everything was correct. Why did you refuse to help me, especially since there was no line?"

"I told you to get back into your car and drive up."

"I did, and I had to wait, wasting time."

"I will not do anything for you unless you were on the line."

"Get me the bank manager."

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The bank manager appeared, I went over the entire story again, and this is whst he told me.

"Tellers cannot serve customers at the drive-thru if they are not in a car."

"There was no line. This teller wasn't at fault, as the previous teller was the one who gave me back the check, but this teller could have taken me, rather than having me get back on a line of cars."

"We cant wait on you at the drive-thru if you are not in a car. It is a safety issue."

This is not entirely true. My wife will tell you that she served plenty of customers at the drive-thru without cars, and safety really wasn't an issue.

And I told the manager that.

"My wife helped plenty of people at the drive-thru who weren't in cars ... all I am trying to do is make sure this teller's draw equals out. It won't without the check ... and i also want to make sure the check was processed properly."

"It is human error. Everyone makes mistakes."

Lame excuse.

I handed the manager the check, and even though my receipt showed that the money was in my account, I had him make sure of that ... as cars started to get on the line behind me.

It took him about five minutes to get back to me.

"The check was scanned, so it is in your account. It was human error. Have a nice day."

"Look, I simply did not want the teller to get in trouble. And this could have been handled by the bank in a better way."

"It was human error, that's what it was."

I drove away.

I wonder if the check was actually in my account when I gave the manager the check, or whether he had to do it to fully complete the transaction.

Irregardless of that possibility, I don't think I was treated nicely.

I certainly did not get a thank you for my efforts.

Next time, I won't return the check back. Why bother when they don't seem to care.

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Two simple bank transactions, which should have taken a combined 20 minutes to complete, ended up taking nearly an hour from beginning to end.

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But at least i got my registers!

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