Banks and I...

I have never liked banks, ever. I’d still want one of those handsomely-paid-and-awesomely-benefited jobs at banks though, but that's besides the point! As a customer, it gives me the creeps to think about dealing with all things bank. But sadly, as I am taking baby steps into adult-dom, I don’t have much of a choice. As much as I’d like to dig a hole in the wall and keep my money there, practicality dictates that I ditch these crazy thoughts and try overcoming my fears.

For the longest time I thought maybe it’s just the fear of the unknown. We all are, to some extent, afraid of things that we haven’t tried or experiences that we haven’t had. It’s pretty normal because human mind blows thoughts out of proportion if they stay in our head without any degree of materialization of those thoughts! It is only when we have had an encounter with the material form of our thoughts are we able to correctly approximate our compatibility with entertaining those experiences! In simple terms I decided to go to the bank and see if it really is the fear of the unknown or do I have some sort of bank-o-phobia. Well, I have to say this much; I went to a rather friendly bank, or so was my first impression. Not going to take names though, unless I am being paid for marketing them! Yes, sucker for money in return of my services; It’s called being smart. Usually I am not too smart in matters like these, so when for a change I do think of a bright idea, I make it a point to show it off a little, hence those self-appraising previous few lines.

Anyway, coming back to my bank conundrum, I realized that I am not afraid of banks per se, not as much as I am afraid of being 'scammed at a bank'. It’s not the traditional upfront scamming; it’s more on a subtle note. They talk you into weird things without giving FULL PROPER information; they keep important details from you which you eventually end up knowing in the form of hidden charges which keep getting deducted from your account, silently. And they beat you with technical complexities of their banking process. To make things worse, they’d also use jargons so you end up feeling like a douche who doesnt know any better. So I am not phobic to banks but I am scam-allergic and allergic to place which may end up making me feel like a fool. I don’t like people keeping information from me and I don’t want to be the one who “eventually” finds out about stuff. Why can’t they just be honest and prepare their customers as to what to expect. Believe me, that would do them no harm!

My scam-allergy is applicable not just to banks but most of the technical or even non technical service providers. I am sticking to not taking names of companies otherwise I’d have given some good examples. If any of you reading this work as a customer service agent then I probably hate you already. Too bad you can’t ever excel at your job because all you’ve been trained to say is, ‘May I please put you on hold for a moment’ or ‘I am sorry for the inconvenience but there is no problem from our end’.

"Decide that you want it more than you are afraid of it." —Bill Cosby

If I were to sit with a notebook to pen down all that’s been on my mind lately, I am pretty certain my notebook would blow itself into ashes signifying its utter discomfort on having to listen to my elaborate worries! Yes, I am the queen of exaggeration. But all I am saying is life isn’t as simple as it was 8 months ago, when I was a student and all that was expected of me was to maintain a good grade point average! Gone are the days when my greatest worry was passing Chinese exam and my hardest choice was whether to take Psychology as my major or Economics.

Now, having graduated, I find myself looking for another meaningful project to get started with in order to sustain my ever-so-compelling urge to do something big in my life. Like MASSIVE. Post student life is all about paving one’s way in the real world. Which to me sounds more like, diving from the 10th floor with a parachute attached to you that you don’t know how to operate. Some people don’t even know they have a parachute attached to them, so I am at least better off in that sense. I know there is one. Just don’t quite know how the darn thing works! So till I stumble upon that one clever idea of what’s the right way that leads to a safe landing, I will keep entertaining scary, weird, idiotic and sometimes smart ideas that’ll help me in this transition. For now I am just gona book myself a nice helicopter ride and clear my mind from the burdens of tomorrow!

If any of you are in the same shoes as mine, get your helicopter ride discount vouchers from here: http://bit.ly/zmvrQH

“I have this strange feeling that I'm not myself anymore. It's hard to put into words, but I guess it's like I was fast asleep, and someone came, disassembled me, and hurriedly put me back together again. That sort of feeling.”
― Haruki Murakami, Sputnik Sweetheart