/r/TalesFromYourBank
A place to exchange stories about your bosses, employees, or those interesting clients that come in daily. If you just need to rant, rant away!
Memes welcome!
Tell us about your daily life in banking.
Please keep all stories anonymous if not it will be censored and removed until fixed.
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/r/TalesFromYourBank
Basically she has been aware that my fiances close family member is in hospice and may pass any day this way it wouldn’t be a surprise to her when it happens. So I let her know that unfortunately the family member passed this weekend and I will need bereavement days for funeral and burial (in my culture we do each in separate days) so I asked for 2 days.
I asked “will this be bereavement time off” she says “well for you we can do one bereavement and one PTO being that technically you’re not married in that family”. This just caught me so off guard that my marital status matters in this situation. She basically insinuated that “the person that passed was not my family” I almost felt discriminated. For anyone that has used bereavement days or is in HR if you can please tell me how it works.
It caught me so off guard because what if it was a friend of mine? Or a friends mom? God forbid. Bottom line is, I don’t think she should dictate what’s family to me and what’s not. My manager took a whole week off for one of her husband’s uncles passings. All because “she’s married” supposedly. I was just dumbfounded. I have been living with my fiancé for years, he’s all I know and have, his family is my family etc. anyways, Someone please tell me if I’m wrong and why, I appreciate all kind of feedback on this.
I started as a teller a few months ago, and according to my bosses, I'm doing great. I've already gotten two bonuses and a raise.
But there are a few regulars who don't trust me and some who won't even let me handle their money. One guy apparently does this to all new people, but he holds up the line by just standing there while I'm calling him over and he's acting like I don't exist.
Another dude is a business owner who the first time I did his transaction, my computer crashed and I had to redo it. Even though all my coworkers also reacted to my computer crashing, he kept making comments as if I were making excuses and didn't know what I was doing. Now he's just super rude to me and acts like the first guy.
And today, I overheard another business owner talking about me saying similar stuff. She is getting up there in age and has been making more and more mistakes in her transaction. It's just by coincidence that I started around the time she started struggling. But she thinks it's me making mistakes, not her. And today, I was the only regular teller on the line since everyone was out, and she called to have a change order done, and someone else did it and didn't tell me. She came in to get it, and I asked around, but for whatever reason, the person who did it never answered me. Finally, we found it, but she blamed me even though I didn't even do her order.
I know it's not a big deal, but it's so frusturating. My bosses say I'm doing great, but I feel like the customers and some of my coworkers have some weird preconcieved notion about me. Even though my bosses are great and the money is good, and even though I'm being monetarily rewarded for my performance, how I'm being treated just makes me feel like a screw up.
I will say that sometimes, I do wonder if it is because of my race. About three years ago, I moved to a very predominantly white rural small-town area and am south-east asian. I do have an asian coworker who gets respected by all our customers, but she is north asian, and frequently, I get mistaken for native or mexican. Last year, there was an incident when I was on a walk and got the cops called on me since I looked like a "suspicious native looking for something to rob and was probably on drugs." I was not, I was literally on a walk on a walking path at 9 in the morning.
Anyways, I guess this was more of a rant. If anyone has been through this or has advice, I'd like to hear it. Thanks for reading.
I hate working the drive thru and managing two lanes by myself. I get no help whatsoever. I also hate that when our part time teller comes in I have to sign off and leave the drive thru and set up my cash box on the front and when she leaves I have to switch back. Shes only ever there from 11-2. Tomorrow is the 1st and I dont feel like going in. Its not fair when the lobby gets a line the two bankers get on the teller line making 3 tellers on the front line and still me by myself managing two lanes that are backed up by myself.
Already tons of people are asking if we get a day off. Kinda bad taste in my mouth
Is your bank closing for the mourning of our President ?
Hello! I just got a job offer and I’m pretty excited I start January 14th and a MSR “Member Service Rep” and haven’t signed the offer but was wondering where my wife is due in end March. I know most places give 2-3 months paid if you work 1 year at most or less. But I’d only want 1-2 weeks off if possible. Should I say it before I sign or what should I do to tell them?
I just started as a brand new teller about a month and a half ago. Since starting I've had a few shortages between $1-10 but for the most part have been balanced. Tonight I was short $940 and I'm just so incredibly frustrated and stressed. I pre-balance in the morning and afternoon and around 1:30pm I prebalanced and was good so something in the last 4 hours of the day happened that caused me to be short. Myself and a banker looked through my work for 30 minutes or so and couldn't find anything. I always double count all transactions and use the machine to count all transactions regardless of size, I'm actually rather slow because I'm so set on counting my money.
I'm super stressed and hoping I'm not out of a job now. I have no interest in retail banking as a career, however I'm a finance major with a year and a half left of school and I work at a large respected bank and this teller job was my foot in the door to a finance career. I have the opportunity to be promoted once I get my degree and if I lose this job I'll be screwed in this awful job market.
One of our associates has a mannequin head that her daughter used as a Halloween costume prop (she was Five from Umbrella Academy) and has been hiding it around the branch. She went on vacation last week and when we opened the night drop the next day, it was staring back at us. We're trying to figure out where to hide it in her teller station to surprise her when she gets back.
Just switched from a full-time position at one company to part-time at another, because 20 hours works better for me at this point with school and other obligations. During my interview, I was told that part-time tellers there usually want to go full-time and move up and always ask for more hours. I remember saying that I am open to helping out when necessary but that I do like the 20 hours as that fits with my schedule. They offered me the job quickly. Today is my first day and when discussing my schedule going forward, the manager mentioned again that part-time tellers usually like as many hours as possible and seemed like she was pushing me to say I'd work more. I am worried I might get put on the spot often to stay later than I'd like or to come in on my days off. Any advice on how to deal with this?
Poor kid, 19 years old, first customer I had today, came in and asked why is his checking account frozen. I take a look and it seems like there's a freeze of 2 thousand dollars on his account.
I looked into it and saw that he deposited a check for 2 thousand at the ATM last week and immediately withdrew 2000 cash afterwards at the ATM. Also saw that the check bounced and that's why there's a 2k freeze on this account. Told the kid he will have to pay back the 2000 in order for him to use his chequing account.
Here's comes the sad part, when he approached the ATM last week there was an old man asking him to help him out, telling the kid that his ATM card wasn't working and if the kid could deposit a 2000 dollar cheque for him and withdrew the money for his grandkids during the holidays. Kid thought he was helping the man out, so he deposited the check and withdrew 2000 for him on the spot. Obviously the check was a fake.
I was expecting an escalation after telling the customer why his account was frozen, but he looked completely heartbroken. I tried to empathize with him as much as I could but told him there wasn't anything we could do on our end, he got swindled, and he would need to fork up the 2000 to have things resolved.
Decided to look at the security footage of the day of the incident, and sure enough.. there was a very raggedy old man approaching the customer.. and yea, the rest was history.
We often talk about how old people are extremely susceptible to fraud, but young people who are just starting out in their careers who can't pinpoint fraud tactics that aren't obvious can be just as susceptible. Please be careful!
A customer called in, absolutely livid, because when her Social Security funds were deposited into her account, the statement apparently showed her full Social Security number. She claimed this had never happened before and was certain it was a new issue, but after some digging, I realized this was how her deposits had always been processed. It’s a standard thing that comes from the Social Security Administration.
I calmly explained to her that this wasn’t something the bank could control—it’s how Social Security formats their deposits. I even reassured her that her information was secure on our end. But that wasn’t the answer she wanted. She got angrier, insisting she’d never seen her SSN on any transaction before and demanding to know why it couldn’t be removed.
I also tried to gently break it to her that her information is already online—not just through the SSA, but also banks, credit bureaus, and a variety of legitimate systems. (Not to mention, we all leave digital footprints these days.) There’s no way to completely scrub your information from the web in this day and age.
This only made her angrier. She told me she wanted to file a formal complaint—not just against us, but against the Social Security Administration. At that point, I just took down her concerns, offered to escalate them where I could, and wished her a good day.
Honestly, I get it. Privacy is a huge concern these days. But it felt like she didn’t really want to hear the explanation or face the reality that this is just how the system works.
I am trying to gather (informally) some data to present to my boss in an attempt to change our pay periods. How many of you get paid twice a month at your FI? And if you do, or you hourly or salaried?
Thanks in advance if you participate.
Currently an AB, my schedule is set until the end of Jan but I got summoned and disqualification for jury duty was denied. What am i supposed to do will this be taken as one of my holiday days off or would di have to use sick hours. Never done jury duty and also new to the bank.
I hate how understaffed we are, how bitchy the customers are, how overworked and drained I feel.
Maybe I’m also just bad at this job because I’m a year in as a teller and I’m still making mistakes and asking questions. It’s just frustrating. This role is not for me.
It’s the holiday season and the phones inside the branch won’t stop ringing. New rule: even if you’re with a customer you must pick up the phone and not expect someone else to answer it. You must excuse yourself. This is rude and disrespectful to the customer but whatever. The thing that bugs me more is the problems they’re calling about. Help! I have fraud on my credit card/checkingS account! I want to close my account! I just got a zelle/wire transfer why is it not in my account yet? Why did you charge me $5 now my account is negative I want my money back! Bro all of this you can just report it online or call customer service. If you call the branch we can’t help you over the phone and you have to come in person 😭 why if you’re already calling why can’t you call the correct department. And they hate when I tell them they need to come in or be transferred to customer service.
As a former rep, trust me I get it.
But why would you send a customer to the branch’s phone line when they need a transaction explained? Especially if it’s unauthorized?
At my institution, call reps are able to dispute debit AND ACH transactions. So again, why are you dropping them off on the branch line?
Maybe it’s just the stress of the holidays but I am so sick of my job being made harder by those that don’t want to do theirs. Plus the customer’s experience is less than enjoyable because they’re being transferred all over the place. As a result, the customer is annoyed and their annoyance is passed on to you guessed it: ME.
Please. I beg. Please just do your job.
Happy holidays everyone 🫠
Quick back story- I started banking as a teller at 18 (16 years ago). Had a few teller jobs as I tried to be a rock star (lol) moved into platform then saw the transformation (sadly) to universal banker. I got bored and did Real Estate full time for 7 years and recently decided to get back into the banking world. I know the head of retail at my institution pretty well and he helped set up my current UB role. I was (not on paper stupidly) promised senior pretty quickly. 9 months in and nothing. Just “more time” needed kinda conversations. I outperform the rest of the branch, keeping up with the assistant and branch managers numbers on accounts, calls, etc. The biggest thing against me right now is I went a few days over (prorated I might add for starting in April) in PTO. My son had some struggles and while my wife took PTO as well, I had to step up at times.
I work at a small bank, where the executives and alike know me well by now. They all love me, and so do coworkers and other branch employees.
An assistant role opened up, right in my town (I commute 30 minutes now, this would be 7). Sell my municipal and business contacts from years of networking are here, the branch needs someone who understands sales (current culture shift), etc. Even other people interested in the job say I am the best fit, but I can’t seem to get management on board. Meanwhile recruiters are starting to ping as I get closer to a year. I like the bank overall but it feels like I’m gonna be stuck at UB forever. And I need more money and honestly a bigger challenge to keep me from gettin bored.
One, why does loyalty still not pay (financially and just in general)? And two, any ideas to add to get me seen. I let the head of retail know I’m raising my hand, formally applied, and emailed the branch manager who already knew from speaking at the Christmas party I am interested.
It feels so fucking wrong, and I'm pissed at our institution. Our clients (a nice middle-aged couple with two children from Guatemala) can only speak Spanish and very limited English. As our branch's Spanish speaker, I was helping them fix an issue on their car loan and came to find out that they absolutely loathe their current insurance. We offer car insurance too, and we're very much trained to cross-sell it aggressively, although we don't have anyone in-branch who is licensed (our last manager who was licensed and also spoke Spanish quit).
I went into an office with them and called up the insurance brokerage department, explaining to the couple that they'd need to collect some information like their account number, etc in order for the brokers to issue a quote through e-mail.
Turns out that our FI's insurance department will not write the policy because the client's primary language was Spanish. They won't even QUOTE them, even if I assist in giving the brokers the account information, because "in the event the client wants to file a claim, it will be really difficult to communicate with them, so yeah, we won't get involved at all".
I asked the broker if that means that [our institution name] refuses to do insurance business with Spanish-speakers, and she kind of waffled around and went "yeahhh well I wish I could help, if you're not licensed I can't even technically talk to you about this at all. Sorry. I wish I could tell you something different. They can try to contact Progressive, or Bristol West, or any other insurance company directly".
I had to break the news to the couple and explain that our financial institution would not be able to assist them in finding insurance because of their primary language. I explained what the insurance broker had told me. The clients acted like they understood and were OK with it, but I could see behind their eyes that they felt offended and saddened at being refused service. The lady muttered "It's OK, I understand that this bank does not want to help us" and left.
I'm left here feeling like, what the hell? All my coworkers basically said "yeah, man, it sucks, but you can't talk about insurance if you're not licensed". This part I know, and I understand there's a strict licensing issue, but I feel like an institution like a bank where ~50% of our clients are (mostly) monolingual Spanish-speakers should have some sort of accommodation for them, or at least not have a restriction on services that's de-facto based on ethnic origin
Hi everyone,
I’ve been working as a bank teller at WF while also studying UX/UI design on the side. My original plan was to pursue a career in finance—possibly as a financial advisor—since I have a finance degree. However now I want to pursue my career on uxui instead.
The challenge is, I enjoy working at the bank and would ideally like to transition into a UX/UI role within the company. I know some banks have teams focused on improving their digital products and user experience (like mobile banking apps or online services), and I’d love to contribute to those areas someday.
I’m wondering:
I’d really appreciate any advice you share. Thank you in advance!
Before I begin I already know it's not about the gift, it's the thought that counts, and work isn't obligated to give us anything. I personally didn't expect anything nor did I really want anything from work. That being said, I believe if you still choose to give someone a gift, let it at least be "nice" or "decent". My manager gave me a little gift box with a little card and told me the same old "oh we're so happy to have you as part of our team" schtick. I said my thanks but I didn't open the box until I got to leave. Card reads everything she already told me about being thankful for me being there and stuff. I open the box and see she gave me two scratch off cards, obviously I didn't win anything.
I don't know what it is but this kind of pissed me off. I feel like I'd rather just been given the card and be done with it but this gift was so unnecessary and tasteless. Obviously, it's not enough for me to quit over but for sure this is not exactly the kind of gift that makes me feel more inclined to be at all loyal to this branch.
I had an interview four days ago for a banker position and asked the manager about identifying counterfeits. I wanted to learn all the ways you can do it and was curious about how sophisticated counterfeits would get.
It seems though that the institution has some machine, a recycler, that will just automatically detect counterfeits and also dispose of banknotes that have been through too many washing machine cycles and coffee spills.
I won't lie that I'm slightly bummed about it, but I suppose it has to be much better for the bank.
What’s the correct pronunciation, in your opinion?
Hi everyone,
I just started as a teller and I was curious about the different career paths available in banking. I’m not sure where to go from teller in the future or there are any credentials that could help me out?
I just finished virtual training to become a universal banker, and Monday will be my first day handling my own cash box. Honestly, I’m terrified. I’m not great at counting cash.. I lose track halfway through and have to start over. I’m also still figuring out how to navigate the system and things like the vault..
My manager told me the "training wheels" are off on Monday, and I’m on my own. When does this start to feel easier? Is it normal to feel this unprepared, or am I just overthinking it?
I don’t have any previous banking experience. Any tips or advice?
I’ve done this before when I was in the branch before I left. Ive always given myself 2-3 stars on everything as I truly don’t believe I belong here and idk how I’m still even here.
Now I’m back office and my boss is always “oh you’re not getting fired” “I’m not concerned about your performance”. Yet I make mistakes. Way too many to be acceptable and if I hired me I’d be long gone already. I have to complete my review on the 31 so…my plan is just mark everything 2-3 stars and word my responses as professional as I can get them before I send it to my boss to review.
I’ve been in retail banking ever since I graduated high school, it was easy money and because I wasn’t going to school I thought I’d work there while I figured out what I wanna do or what fields I’d like to work in. Over the years it’s grown stale and while I’ve made several unguided attempts to leave, I keep ending back in retail banking. I’ll job hop in and out of major and minor banks because I’d have no choice but to settle, and now it seems that regret has caught up to me again. This new banker job I have is an hour away, and I find the sales pressure and the stress of being transactional when I’ve grown to despite it is lowering my performance, I’m showing up later or just calling off, and it saddens me because I have no idea how to leave. If I quit I’ll literally be unemployed for a few months and just end up having to settle for another retail banking job. No other field will hire me let alone consider me, and I’ve researched threads on where people went to after retail banking. Fraud analyst, loans, back office positions, account receivable, none will hire me. I don’t understand, it looks and sounds easy on a comment but when you go and search for these positions they always require years of experience in that field. Even side hustles like stocking at a grocery store or working at a cafe won’t consider me.
I can’t even network at my current position due to my already poor performance and the fact that I must remain at my job for a year which I clearly see isn’t happening this time. I should have stayed at my first position, network and then move up from there but it’s too late now.
It’s frustrating I feel like everyone has their careers down or have jobs they are comfortable with while I’m drowning because of the crap job I have and the fact I can’t escape. I have to put up with it because I have a big car payment and debts to pay. It feels like there is just no way out of this.
There’s a credit analyst position open in my area and I wonder what it takes and how hard is it?
I am curious as to how long anyone here was in loan processing and where did you go from there?
This is my first winter in banking and our bosses are telling us that fraud EXPLODES during the holiday season. In fact, just in the last two weeks, I have personally prevented 3 incidents of check fraud! What gives?
Hey everyone! Just want some advice or opinions.
I have been a teller lead for almost a year. A banker role opened up here at my branch and I am being considered for the role. I've told them that I really like the lead position, and have concerns about moving from this position and being stuck in one I hate.
What are your opinions on moving from lead to banker? What did you like or dislike about the transition? How do you feel about the roles compared to one another?
Thank you in advance.
What is it like working at provident? I just started and all I am doing is shadowing people