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’.