When you work in a bank, life becomes so monotonous. People come and go. The faces are different but the work is same. “Ma’am, I want to open a new account”, ” Ma’am, my ATM card isn’t working”, “Will you tell me my account balance?” ,” Fill this form for me, I can’t see properly!” and repeat. Sometimes there is no rush but sometimes there is no time to look up and look at people’s faces to know who’s come for what.
I’ll tell you what happened a few days back. It was a regular day. I was at my desk helping customers with their forms. Then I heard a girl saying “I’m sorry” quickly to one of the customers that was leaving. Again as she took another step towards my desk she stepped on one of our guards’ shoe. She apologized again. As the guard was checking her bag with the detector, she dropped it. I could see that she was in hurry. There was a guy behind her telling her to calm down.
Both of them came at my desk. The girl said, “I want to open a payroll account but I have not brought anything with me”. I told her she needs to have her photo and a citizenship certificate or passport with a secondary identity card. She got upset and started telling me that she had come on her lunch break and she forgot to bring necessary documents. She checked her bag and found out a photocopy of her citizenship certificate and an id card. But she didn’t have any photos.
The guy who was with her asked her, “Why did you tell me you got everything? I asked you before coming here.” She laughed and told him that she thought she’d talk to us, convince us, open an account and bring necessary documents the next day. I told her she had to provide everything I asked for.
She insisted in filling the form. I told her she could take one with her and bring it to me the next day with her photo. She said she’d fill it first and think about it later. My friend on the next day was a little annoyed and asked her if it was her first time in a bank. The guy replied it wasn’t and she could have forgotten because she was in hurry.
I smiled. He was defending her so well. Then I asked her if she wanted a payroll account she needs to have a letter from her workplace. She mumbled, ” Keshav was telling me about it.” The guy exclaimed,” You knew!” to which she replied that she did and she thought she’d talk to us and get her work done. The guy didn’t say anything.
She kept filling the form and the guy helped her. He helped her with her phone number, birthplace and everything. He got her id card photocopied. She asked him to search her bag if there were any photos and he did but didn’t find any.
Once she was done with the form, he checked the entire form for her before handing it to me. He said,” You’ve only mentioned two other bank accounts here, you’ve got one in NIC Bank as well.” She laughed and said” How could I forget, let me write it” and wrote it down.
She had marked in the “Payroll account” section. I told her that with her documents she could only open a saving account. For payroll account, she needs to have a letter from her office. I suggested that she could come back again the next day because the payroll account was beneficial as she didn’t have to maintain a minimum balance, facilities like mobile banking, internet banking and use of ATM card was free. But she said she wanted to open the account then and there.
The guy asked her if it was urgent. She replied it wasn’t but she wanted to complete what she had started. She kept requesting me to get her account opened and approved and she’d bring her photo and the letter in the evening or the next day. I had to explain it over ten times that it couldn’t happen.
She got upset. She said she didn’t want a payroll account, a saving account would do but she’d bring her photo the next day. I said that the photograph is mandatory.She had accounts in other banks, she should’ve known that but she kept insisting. She wouldn’t go.
The guy looked into his purse and took out her photograph.
“You had one”, she screamed. She was surprised and very happy.
He said,” I’m giving it now but you have to promise that you’ll bring me another one tomorrow.”
“I promise”, she said smiling widely.
Then finally her account was going to be opened. She was going to pay for those services that if she had a letter from her office, she’d have got them for free. But that was okay because she wanted to open the account on that very day.
As they were waiting for approval, I could hear them saying they lost their bike’s key.
“I saw it in your hands a moment ago”, the guy said.
“No, I gave it to you before entering here”, she replied.
He told her he remembered seeing her playing with it while filling the forms. She insisted that she had given it to him and hadn’t seen it after entering inside the bank. They searched for it everywhere. He looked for it inside her bag, purse and wherever she had gone.
I got engaged in some other works. After a long time, when I looked around, I saw them searching for it.The guy was digging into her bag like anything!
Then, she checked her pocket and screamed that she had found it.
“Just now you said it wasn’t there” the guy frowned.
“I didn’t feel it then”, she said smiling.
He smiled too and said, ” You were getting late, remember? I’ll drop you. Let’s go.”
She said, ” Let’s open your account too!” and winked.
He grabbed her by her hand and pulled her. She laughed and followed.
My friend sighed.
I smiled.
There was another customer in front of me.
He said,” I want to open an account.”
I asked, ” A saving account?”
Luckily he said YES.
“You need to have a citizenship certificate or passport, a recent photograph and any secondary identity card, sir”, I told him, “otherwise you can take this form home, get it filled and come again tomorrow with everything”
“No, no I got all the necessary things”, he replied.
My friend in the other desk giggled. I looked at her and made a face at her to make her shut up. This gentleman didn’t take much of my time within minutes his account was ready.