fuck this job.com

What is going on… at the Memorial branch?
In 5 months I have shown up and suited up. In 5 months I have approached my job with interest and enthusiasm. So what happened? Lets take a look. My only scorecard reflected a 93-94%. I have been out of the office more than one full month enrolled in multiple training sessions, when real issues awaited real solutions. When I was at the office how many of those days were we at the full (and necessary, otherwise why would we even have that number allotted for employment here.) staff of 7 people?
On a few months of calendars on which I took quick, observational notes of when employees were out for one thing or another (ex: Patrick out for rest of day 2 pm.) The numbers seem impossible to see how anything let alone goals could be met. We hear in Monday meetings.. “this branch does 5-7,000 transactions a month” what wasn’t mentioned in that little stat fact is the fact that of that month we were only at full staff less than 5 days. And more than likely we were at least 2 and even (on multiple days) 3 people short (I am not referring to Wednesdays. .I am referring to Fridays and Mondays the busiest days at this branch). And as always at 5 pm Patrick’s phone call comes in…asking “if we hit our goals…did we make business calls? Did you finish that project that I left for you?” Lets see…realistic? Only he would think so. So what does this tell us? 3 out of 7 employees on staff on a Friday. One leaves at 4:15. 40-50 transactions in less than 40 mins. Customers leave bitching about the poor customer service in both the lobby and the teller line. Patrick gets a report that concerns him because a shopper gave us a break and gave a 90 on a shop.
On Fridays customers wait for 15 mins. to make a deposit, get a little cash back, check their balance...basically get some personal attention that they feel they deserve. And frankly, they do deserve it. Why should they have to wait 20mins to get a supervisor override because we are shorthanded? Why should 15 others have to wait 15-20 minutes and more because we take commercial deposits in situations as described above? Why should they feel anything other than frustrated and angry? Yet the teller is working faster than is really safe. And yet customers continue filing in through the doors expecting one experience and leaving with another. Many walk into the branch at 5:30 on a Friday and see one teller at one open window working their ass off and still complain “what a shitty bank this is”.
3-5 people waiting in the lobby for a new account for over one hour because each customer sitting with the PB wants several transactions. One PB doing what they can… “just to maintain”. That customer who expected a higher level of customer service now has to wait because there has been 5 people ahead of them waiting at the teller line before she even walked in. 6 more cars are in the drive-through. I have driven literally thousands of miles in support of this bank policies and practices in an effort to be the better than I am, yet I am signed up for a supervisors class against my wishes (wasn’t even asked, actually Patrick (per usual) just said Bill wants you to attend this class. “It’s an honor” he continued. All I have to do is read a couple of books every other month and a little homework on my own time. ( I guess this shows my commitment to the bank, so I agree…what else could I do?) so,. a week before this meeting I finish reading both books, and start my homework assignment…but never finish it because of some unforeseen health issue in my family, yet I arrive at the class on the meeting day, and am asked if I read the material , “yes I said”. I also say I did my homework. And mention that I didn’t quite finish it. Vicki(TRAINER) informs me that it was supposed to finish before I arrived to class and I acknowledged my mistake. I tell her I have read both books and have a strong understanding of the material read. She says to me, my failure to follow through and complete the HW assignment on time, I will receive a failing grade for that days PASS/FAIL class. It wasn’t even 9 am yet do I treat this as a wasted day? No. not for a minute. I resolved to stay in the moment and pay attention. Participate and enjoy the class. Forward a week or so, Patrick calls me into his office. “Tony, Bill is very disappointed in you. It is an honor…to attend this class….blah blah blagh. Even though I attended and fully participated throughout the process of the days exercises. I tell Patrick that while I was sitting in class I saw 3 MANAGERS DOING their Homework in class and 2 of three trainers were aware of this. I sat there watching Elizabeth watching both Chris and Keith doing all of it while the rest of us were going over it. Pulling info from the books. I was sitting right next to Keith and yet I didn’t do it. Patrick comments after I mentioned this to him..”well you got caught”
whatthefuckever. Should I re-spell that or did you get it the first time?
And this it the thanks I get. “Bill is disappointed in you. and Judy is too. You missed your deadline for the 10th of the month for January…” yet I missed them because NO ONE in the whole branch knew how to send them out correctly. When Judy saw the outage reports during her FEB visit she also saw that they had not been done correctly since August. So now I have (per usual) fix something that has been really messed up for months on end) I didn’t start doing them until December.
After all of the ridiculous training and the joke they call “the Mentoring Program”.. I won’t even go there. I have worked and been expected to meet unrealistic goals set by who-the-hell-knows-who. Where no one ever gets sick, fired, quits. Where no one is ever late or passes their work off because they don’t want to be bothered with it. Here is a mission statement for you. This is the place where “you will commit to and surpass the goals that have been set for you- no matter what the working conditions of the present environment”. IT MAKES NO SENSE.
Setting goals and having the worst technology imaginable where even the tech dept laughs when you make jokes about this crap software. The lack of teamwork is one thing but the constant bickering, eye rolling, backstabbing, rumor mill of a work environment is not just uncalled for, it is unhealthy. I feel my efforts were cut off at the knees by a stiffening resistance towards creating a better place to work. Dealing with Hilda’s resentments has in effect corrupted the work environment. I have not handle it well at all. I had originally hoped she would help me understand my role within the branch a little more. But she has disappointed me around nearly every turn. Sneaky and bossy is a bad combination. Hilda has both in spades. And for a fair number of weeks, this and other issues have made me unhappy. Being shorthanded is part of today’s workplace. But morale is entirely a different matter. Its nothing more than cliché to point out, we are all feeling “over worked, under paid” etc. But when Blanca told me what her last raise was, she seemed crushed. I see that she is a steady worker, but in her five years employed with GB she hasn’t seen more than a quarter raise a year. The banks’ part in this is pathetic. She seemed sad that her “new” boss gave her what her old bosses did. She seems aimless. And why shouldn’t she.
Mike acts as if the world, or at the very least the bank owes him something, he deems it okay to walk in the door 45 minutes late 4 out of 5 days 4 weeks a month and an hour late on Saturdays and chalk it up to some dumb saying “getting written up for being late at this place is like giving out tickets at the Indy 500” cute, but that’s all it is. The fact of the matter is, he is late every day and others see it and take it as “getting away with it” I am curious if his time sheet shows up as 8-4:30 5 days a week.
And when Mike asked me “do the paperwork. For an annuity being cashed out by the Bailey’s and claiming right in front of the teller check stand, “its okay for you to just do the paperwork”, and assuring me even against my own statements that I am not licensed I am not allowed to do this even as the Baileys’ sat near by, Mike had me stand behind his desk and commented to the Bailey’s that he was going to have me watch and learn this so I could “help them the next time”. It was obvious Mike just makes up the rules as he goes along. Just as it is equally obvious he did not want to be bothered (per usual) with something like the Bailey’s cash out request and the annuity paperwork. Patrick was made aware of this.
Patrick is infamous within this branch for giving complex transactions to employees and saying things like: “Oh, its simple, if you don’t understand it call liaisons”
Mike seems to believe that Patrick has others do his work because, “he (Patrick) doesn’t know how”. I disagree. Patrick is extraordinarily intelligent, much more so than most bank managers. Other than some apparent inability to see what is right in front of him, he is by far the most operationally competent employee I have personally worked with while working for this bank. I respect his judgment, however I have seen too many instances of his lofty expectations crippling the branch at crucial times. He is an idealist excited by his work. Other employees frequently fail to meet his expectations of their potential.
I left for 2 weeks to get married, and when I returned to the branch, Blanca handed me a stack of “printouts” that were requests by customers but not been done. Requests like, address changes, and adding customers’ family members as BENE, ordering checks or check cards, or simply adding a phone number to the next check reorder. None were done upon the customers’ initial requests; instead they were put aside for me to do when I returned. Some of the customer requests were 2 wks. old by the time I returned. Yet this was never brought up as a problem by anyone. Blanca felt it was okay to hand me this stuff that no one wanted to do while I was gone. That was the last straw. Showing a lack of character, and no matter what the reason, to see my coworkers would do something like that and think it was okay to do so stunned me.
If I had had the slightest hint to ask if the technology used at the branch level was current or stuck in the early to mid 90’s, I would have never accepted the position to begin with. The software IS a problem that EFFECTS daily individual job performance and in turn customer and co-worker relations. I believe everyone wants to do their jobs and help coworkers and achieve that balance of success, but unfortunately, teamwork and common sense are not two characteristics I associate with the branch I initially was very excited to work for. That excitement was curbed by daily critical and negative comments hurled behind each other’s backs for weeks on end. Training session after training session implore some nonsensical use of positive thinking and strategically ignore the problem, trainers citing the problem will be fixed “down the road.” but what about now? The teller side is akin to a mid model DOS program. The software’s codes muddle most attempts to help people in a timely professional manner. while at the branch level employees who have worked this system for years are still daily, clearly unsure many times what screen accesses which info for certain customer information and on the platform side even what policies and procedures to follow on simple account openings, closings, holds etc. I would not want my family to bank here.
While attending the CSM/SOR meeting we were told certain information would be relayed to us concerning extended holds and cashiers checks/tax refund checks. Never happened and if it did it never reached me. Transparency, communication these things work really well in theory. What if your employees gave the bank the same song and dance, making promises and never following up with results instead of a whole lot of double talk. The banks overused, turn that frown upside approach to the software and hardware issues is childish, boring and finally over. Not unlike my resignation. So, does this 4 page 20 minute rant qualify me for any Guinness book records?

Kiss off. I am out.