Should our Morals be Compromised as a Response to the Economy?
On Friday I received a call from another bank manager of a different branch asking me if someone had left $1200 in our drive thru canisters. I told her I would check with the drive thru teller, but as far as I knew no one had. I checked, and the teller let me know that someone had left $130, but they quickly drove around the building and retrieved it after the next customer informed her it was in there and sent the canister in with the money. Customer A, who left the money, profusely thanked customer B who turned it in. The drive thru teller also thanked customer B for being so honest and doing the right thing.
I got back on the phone, and informed the other bank manager of the situation and asked her if the customer had called her. No, she said, customer B’s mother called me asking if the bank gives rewards for acts like this. I laughed and then realized she was being dead serious. I told her what she already knew (no we don’t do anything like that) and hung up. I also went up to the teller line to tell the drive thru teller about the bizarre call I just got.
I was unable to make it back up there because I got another phone call.
“Thanks for holding, this is Mrs. Money, how can I help you?” I answered the phone.
“Is this the bank manager?”
“Yes ma’am, how can I help you?”
“Well, my son was in your drive thru a few hours ago, pulled up and there was $1200 in the tube (No, and how could he tell there was $1200 if he didn’t take it out and count it??) and he sent it in to the teller.”
“Well I actually checked with the teller that assisted him and there was no one that left $1200 in the tube, just $130. Were you the customer that left the money in there?” (Because WHY are you calling me?)
“No, I’m customer B’s mother. He’s been unemployed for a year and anyone else that would have been in that situation would have taken off with the money!! I think he deserves a reward. Do you all do rewards for things like this?”
I bit my tongue as I wanted to ask her if she knew what happened when people STEAL FROM A BANK.
“No, we don’t. I appreciate your son’s honesty and I am sure the customer that it belongs to sure did as well.”
“Oh, well you may want to think about doing some kind of reward system for people like that in the future. Because had it been anyone else, that money would have been gone!”
“Thank you very much for your input! I’ll take that into consideration.”
Seriously? I couldn’t even believe the conversation I had just had. What person expects a reward for doing the right thing? The customer was about 55 years old. He should know better! It’s unbelievable some things you hear while working in customer service.
What would you have told this lady?
It would be up to the person who lost the money to give any reward, but did they even know it was lost? Plus why was she calling from bank to bank, did this actually happen or was she trying to scam the bank?
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Like you said, if he didn’t return the money, he’d be stealing from the bank or from Person A. Either way, it’s AGAINST THE LAW. There shouldn’t be a reward for following the law, or being a nice person. It’s rewarding in itself knowing you did something nice… or you wont have the cops showing up at your door the next day since EVERYONE knows there’s 500 cameras around banks and they’d eventually be caught.
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That mom sounds like a scammer.
Maybe you could have offered her a pen with the bank’s name on it or something.
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Whatever happened to the Golden Rule: Do Unto Others? Why do people think they need to be rewarded for doing the RIGHT thing? Just shows how so many people have lost their moral compasses. Yeesh!
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Miss M- This actually happened. The first customer left his money in the canister, realized it when he drove off, and drove right back around to get it.
Tiffany- That’s exactly what I thought! I wanted to review the tapes so that I could see the guy myself.
Kacie- That’s a good one! I wish I would have thought of that when she was asking!!
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Wendi P- It’s sad to me. I believe what goes around comes around.
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Wow. It’s not like he found the money on the street and walked around asking if someone had dropped it–it was in the drive-thru tube! Whatever happened to doing the right thing just because?
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Fit Wallet- That’s what I said! It’s crazy.
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