Question: With bank branches closing all over the UK and many of those that survive reducing their opening hours . . . why do we still have Bank Holidays?
I’m not sure banks deserve them.
I’ve previously mentioned the frustrating encounters that customers experience when visiting their bank.
The frustration starts the moment you walk through the door when you’re greeted by a bank staff member who has the attitude of a discount store shelf-filler, rather than someone who wants to carve out a career in banking all the way to the top.
They can’t be bothered to make the slightest effort to hide their irritability that you interrupted their conversation with a colleague about the latest ‘must watch’ Netflix series.
They give the impression that they want you to turn around and go back through the door as quickly as you walked in.
Then there’s the ‘whopper’ they’re instructed to tell you that no-one is serving behind the counter because “There is very little customer demand for it these days. Most people bank on-line. Don’t you?”
A friend recently had a query with his bank and popped into town for a face-to-face to sort it out.
He arrived at 1.40 pm only to find that it closed at 2pm every day, well, except Mondays when it was closed all day!
He was greeted by one of those robotic staff members who, according to my friend, seemed to have their eye on the clock, anxious to get rid of him well before ‘locking-up time’.
It only took him a couple of minutes to explain his problem, during which the staff member nodded, giving my friend hope that he could quickly be put together with a bank official in a side office who could solve his problem before the bank’s doors closed at 2pm.
When he’d finished his explanation, the staff member told him they no longer had ‘face to face’ meetings with customers “but if you call this number, I’m sure someone will be able to help you!”
Just 10 days later my friend changed banks.
I’ll ask you again. Why do we still have Bank Holidays?