Like my late uncle always said ” Never Leave All Of Your Money In One Place ” !!!

“Banking Queen” – a Live Performance by Barney Frank

Most of the time, I am working with familiar tellers or bank employees. But when I get a new one I get the same treatment you described. If I’m in a pissy mood I’ll make some comment like Ukraine has the best drugs money can buy or I’m over there to buy a sex-slave. Whatever I can do to shock them after they’ve ran to their supervisor to ask about a suspicious ‘cash’ transaction. Then I tell them it’s none of their damn business as it’s my money and if they are going to work in the banking industry they should understand that deposits belong to the customer. Furthermore, just because of 9/11 I did not forfeit my rights and property to the US government, the unconstitutional Patriot Act be damned. I’ve got more than a few stunned looks from the young tellers, which are inevitably young women who have never thought about ‘rights’ and ‘property’ much less challenged over the issue.

Also, in the late summer 2008, my banks began having a supervisor sign off for me to cash my paycheck, which was around $4000 and always exchanged for cash, which I prefer to keep as I’ve had the IRS steal $4000 from me (2005) when my bank account apparently got to large for them. Not only was the supervisor approval required, but to obtain cash, I had to physically enter the bank….the drive-thru option with my driver’s license as an ID was not OK….unless I just wanted to deposit the check of course. I suppose this could have been the banks themselves but curiously enough, both banks adopted this policy at the same time so I suspect some federal stranglehold regulation was involved.

I wouldn’t be too hard on the rookie teller who processed your transaction. Assuming that this lady was a 20-something, it’s probably safe to say that she’s never in her life experienced, let alone practiced anything approaching “customer service.” Her manager, OTOH, should probably have been called on the carpet. Granted, he and his bosses are thralls of the fedgov’s unconstitutional and intrusive banking laws, but that doesn’t excuse rudeness or substandard service on his or his employees’ part.

All of that said, I still suspect that even without intrusive banking laws to justify their atrocious and customer-unfriendly behavior, the owners of most banks probably would still engage in it anyway. With the concentration of what little remains of the Amerikan economy into fewer and fewer hands, there are few remaining incentives for practicing good customer service. As I said in the first paragraph, even the small local banks and CUs seem to be striving to emulate “the big guys” all every conceivable ways, including the worst ones.