The Bank

It must have been at least five minutes now that I had been waiting in the queue, there are seven people in front of me. There are five teller desks, but there are only three tellers. Why do they have five desks but only three tellers? It's not lunchtime, nor morning tea time. Perhaps two tellers are away sick, or on holidays. Perhaps one teller is away on holidays and one teller is sick because they wouldn't allow two tellers to take holidays at the same time, or would they.

The lady being served by the right hand side teller looks like she has finished her transaction, yes! she's moving away, but! no, she has turned back towards the teller and they are now talking about the lady's daughter's new home, hmm. Now the young lady at the center tellers desk has completed and is walking away but the man who is the first in line has not moved? He's looking towards the corner where the bank manager's office door has just opened. The teller at the center desk calls, 'Yes please!' but the man is still looking at the now open bank managers office door and does not hear the teller calling him, but fortunately, the person behind the man who is the first in line, has tapped him on the shoulder and then indicated towards the now becoming impatient teller.

That other woman is still talking to the right hand side teller but yes! the man at the left hand side tellers desk is now leaving and the person that had tapped the other persons on the shoulder is now at the tellers desk. There are now only three people in front of me, good getting closer now.

The woman at the right hand side tellers desk has finally left and the person next in line is about to move forward but the teller is leaving her desk, what? the person next in line shrug's his shoulders as he looks at the people in the queue behind him as if to say 'Why is it that this always happens to me?'

There are now only two tellers remaining, did that teller have to go to the rest room? morning tea perhaps, who knows, but why couldn't the teller wait until everyone had been served? Ah, because more people may join the queue. Another person has now joined the queue behind me and there are now five people in front of me.

I have just noticed that the person at the front of the queue is carrying a white banking bag, possibly doing business banking. Now I am thinking that is not good as it will be a long transaction and there are only two tellers.

Now what! What is happening? The teller on the left hand side has gone to talk to the teller in the center. Hmm, could be a long wait, but wait! the teller from the right hand side desk is returning to her desk and is about to call the next person when she suddenly joins into the conversation with the other two tellers. The first person in line is now looking very unhappy ans has looked at his watch several times within several seconds.

All three tellers are now back at their desks and the man carrying the banking bag has finally been called forward. He has taken his deposit book from the bag and has placed it on the tellers desk, he has now emptied the contents of the bag onto the tellers desk and the teller is starting to count the money from the banking bag.

The person at the center desk has now left and the next in line has moved up, there are now only two people in front of me. What on earth is happening at the left hand desk? The man is emptying the contents of his wallet onto the tellers desk, why? Hmm, seems he can't find his credit card, he is looking in the back section of his wallet, now he is looking in the front section. Suddenly the person at the center has left and we move up one and there is now only one person in front of me.

Which teller will I get called to? The lady in front of me should go to the business banking on the right hand side has almost concluded so she will be called there, the man on the left is still looking in his wallet, but wait! the center desk is again vacant and the woman in front of me is now at the center desk.

As I am now close to the teller desks I can now clearly hear the conversations of the tellers with their customers. The business banking was almost complete but was taking time, the man was again looking in the back section of his wallet and both he and the teller were going through the mountain of cards that he produced from his wallet with the promise of many more.

The lady at the center desk has presented a cheque that she wishes to deposit. The teller has advised the woman that she can deposit the cheque in the automatic telling machine that is located outside in front of the bank building. The woman has now told the teller that she has no knowledge of how to do that and that she has never made a deposit into an automated telling machine. The teller whilst leaving her desk is saying she will go outside with her and show her how to perform the transaction at the teller machine and they both exit the bank together.

The business banking has now concluded and it is finally my turn at the tellers desk. I too have a cheque that I wish to deposit and the teller also gives to me the same advice as the woman at the now closed teller desk next to this teller. I advise the teller that I do not have the knowledge of how to deposit a cheque into an automated telling machine and this teller also leaves the teller desk and escorts me outside to the automated teller machine.

There is quite a queue at the three automated teller machines, one is out of service and we join in the queue. It is here that I decide to deposit my cheque into another bank that is located across the street from this bank that I know does not have an automated telling machine and I thank the teller for their time and I leave the queue.

I now wonder, this new technological smart era that we live in, do the companies that embrace it consider that not everyone is tech savvy, especially the older ones, should all of this new technology be put aside until all the old people have passed.