I had a bit of a fight at a bank this morning.
I won't go into the gory details, but briefly it was as follows (you must remember that as a rule I stand tamely in queues and never open my mouth more than I have to). They took a cash deposit at one counter and sent me off to another to update the passbook (which they usually don't do). There I was told to go to yet another counter, because I didn't have one of the new computer-compatible passbooks (they talked as if it was my fault they had not given me such a passbook earlier). The third man first sent me back to the second, then told me to wait, then got me one of the new passbooks which was printed so faintly that nobody could read the stuff, and I found to my horror that they had got some of the details wrong. When I pointed this out, they told me to come back later - in the afternoon or next morning. At this point I began to grow hot under the collar, and demanded that they update the old book at least, and then we could see about coming back later for the new one. When they began to raise more objections, I became loud and scathing. Then the (third-) man complained that he was being 'harassed' because this was kalyug. At which point I really blew my top, agreeing with him that it was kalyug indeed, because in satyayug the bank would have happily made mistakes and the customers would have happily suffered for it.
The yelling worked, and someone else ran up to do the needful. But I came away with a bad taste in the mouth. I also wondered how much I would enjoy this thirty years later, when I am a doddering old man, and the people manning the counter are my children's age...
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5 comments:
A response from a babu at a bank in Benachitty has stayed with me since the day it was uttered. He said (taking into account that my mother tounge is not Bangla) and i quote verbatim, "Aaj to hoga nahin, aap kaal aaiye".
I was about to object to this oft repeated excuse, when my mother (whom i was accompanying) remarked that the people at that particular bank were extremely efficient and friendly. If they promised "kaal", it meant that the job would definetely be done within a week provided I followed up diligently. To say the least, I was dumbstruck at how low her expectations were. Nowadays, i use the quote on other people as a joke to see how they react.
Other interesting excuses (translated below) that i have gotten at banks in Durgapur during the '80s include:
- The person you are looking for will not be in because Black Diamond Express is late today
- The person you are looking for is attending a wedding feast (followed by needless details of who got married and how long the bank employee knew the person who had gotten married).
- The person you are looking for is visiting his native village. He should *probably* be back in a week (implying that i should attempt to renew my fixed deposit only after a month)
- Today we are 'working to rule'. It is better you come tomorrow or the day after
- Today we are agitating against the evil designs of management to reduce workforce sometime in the future by installing computers.
In my opinion, the 10AM to 2PM working hours were/are the best part about banking in India. Back in the '80s, If you went after 2PM, you could see the hardworking employees playing carrom. Not sure what they do in their free time after 2PM nowadays.
Jokes aside, it seems that bank employees in India will never get the concept of customer service.
You have my absolute empathies regarding the incident, Suvro da, but your narration of the utterly unpleasant incident had me laugh out loud in the morning and at a couple of unlikely moments. I couldn't help it.
There is something outrageously hilarious even about the last bit(leave alone the title and your response to the third man) although I say an out loud 'good grief' too in the same breath. Here, I see old and little people hunched over with walkers grinning along on the streets sometimes and they seem to be at peace or so it seems but it worries me. I haven't gone far enough to thinking about unpleasant encounters even. Just that.
Living in a country where more than half the time people don't even pretend to be polite I know I can't wish away those unpleasant encounters but your blog keeps me grinning over things.
...and I forgot to add: where people most of the times will pretend to be nothing but infuriatingly obtuse and take pleasure in it although maybe this is a global phenomenon. I think credit card companies have taken things to a whole new level - where thick-headed stupidity is enshrined in their company's hiring policies. I've had stupid encounters with people from credit card companies and one bank. And it always surprises me that it's the perfectly timed yelling that works even though it leaves one not feeling particularly good...and the ill-timed yelling always falls flat or simply washes over those imbecilic heads because they've been trained so well to say daft things like a robot (So no, I can't take out a particular amount of money that's there in my checking account by using my debit card at an ATM. It's for my own security. But hey, I can use my credit card to get that same amount through a 'cash advance' and then pay a blistering interest on the amount!).
Dear Sir,
I know what you went through, especially since I have been a victim of this kind of treatment many a times. I have a lurking suspicion that it was a Government bank, since private banks are generally more courteous to their customers (though not always, as I have found out the hard way).
I remember the time I had to go to Burdwan University to fetch my transcripts. As far as my experience went, I have come to the conclusion that no one has seen the full extent of red-tapism, unprofessionalism, bad behaviour and lack of humanity if they haven't been in my shoes. I am a very peaceful person, but that day was the closest I came to throwing a punch, and if I did, they totally had it coming.
Ironically, these are the same people who feign disgust saying "Desh ta uchhone gelo" in roadside tea stalls.
Thanks,
Joydeep
Absolutely right in the last line, Joydeep. I have often felt that people keep talking about others' faults so that they might not have time to think about their own. This is the reason why I try never lecture my pupils about cultivating virtues I don't have, and no colleague of mine ever embarrassed me more than one who told his class 'Don't do as I do, do as I say'. What can you say about the quality of education given in a country where teachers talk like that?
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