photo credit: TheTruthAbout…

Have you ever been waited on by a teller and you can tell that they’re annoyed, either with you, or something else? Have you wondered what happened to make them so mad?  Here are some some things that bankers find annoying.

1. Standing in line (or in the drive thru), loudly yakking away on the phone. At my bank, we’re required to make small talk with customers.  I’ve seen tellers not call customers up to their windows until they are finished with their conversation.  I think it’s rude to interrupt the customer just as much as it is to stand in line talking on the phone.

2. Not having deposit slips filled out. Deposit slips really should be in the customer’s handwriting.  Not only does this help the teller assist you quickly, but it also reduces the risk for error. If you don’t know your account number, that’s one thing, but if you expect the teller to fill out that you want to deposit $20 and get $50 back, please do that yourself.  Trust me, the teller will appreciate it.

3. Not endorsing checks. There are some checks like insurance drafts that must be endorsed by the recipient.  If they aren’t, chances are that they will be returned by the paying bank and the money will be taken out of the account.

4. Yelling about overdrafts/account balance differences/the weather. It’s not the teller’s fault, so please don’t take it out on them.  They are only there to help you.  No one likes yelling!

5. Complaining. Whether it’s about how the posting process works, the color of the debit card, or the fact that you don’t have enough money, chances are all they can do is sympathize with you.  If you have a problem, ask for the customer service number.  They can normally route your problem to the correct area.

6. Bringing in $1000 in loose or wrapped coin. We don’t take loose coin (because we don’t have a coin counter), but if it’s not a huge bucket, normally I’ll help the client wrap it, or just take it in my drawer.  A few rolls of coin are fine to bring in, but when you bring in $100 in pennies, that’s annoying.

If you don’t do the things listed above, you’ll be a great banking customer.  The tellers will love you and may even give you a sucker. 

Are you a good bank client?  Do you do something else not listed here that annoys bank employees?

Last week I received a call from my uncle, who said he had some banking questions to ask me. He said that he had transferred money from his savings account to his checking about three weeks ago and he noticed that it wasn’t on his statement. He wondered why it would take that long to show up and what he should do. I told him that chances are the teller or the branch is out of balance and they would certainly appreciate a call since they may not know where the error is. He called the next day, talked to the manager, and she said that no one was out of balance and it must be his mistake.

He asked me what exactly happens when an error is made like this.  I told him that bank employees definitely do make mistakes, and that honesty is always the best policy and that sooner or later I’ll bet the bank realizes the mistake and debits his account.  The bank can do that, you know.

When we lived in Colorado, I had a friend who made a deposit to her savings account one day of $1,000 and then went home and checked online and realized that the teller had deposited $10,000 instead!  She was thinking that they wouldn’t catch it and she would be a little richer.  Of course, that night at posting the proof department caught the error and corrected the mistake.

I also know of instances where things didn’t work out so well.  One day when a teller went to balance she realized she was $900 short.  She thought she had incorrectly put a $100 deposit in as $1,000 cash and gave the customer too much money.  She called the customer, the customer insisted that he gave her $1,000 and she was stuck with the outage.

Basically it all boils down to this- if a teller makes a mistake, chances are the proof department will find it.  If you notice the error, bankers definitely do appreciate the heads up.  They can and will debit your account to put the teller and bank in balance.

Have you ever been credited too much money?  Did you say something?