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Bank Refuses to Lend a Hand...

#1

sixpackshaker

sixpackshaker

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090903/us_nm/us_bank_thumbprint

No thumbprint, no withdrawal, even if you have no arms.


#2

bhamv3

bhamv3

Couldn't they use a noseprint? Those are unique, right?

Or was that for sheep? I can't quite recall...


#3

Shegokigo

Shegokigo

Our bank allows for withdrawals in this very specific type of case with a thourough ID check.


#4

Covar

Covar

Like the response from Bank of America "yea that's our policy, but the guy has no thumb, clerk should have known better"


#5

Shawn

Shawn

Suddenly this incident will create a rise of disabled con artists.

I'd have to be there, but I might have done the same. Here you have a guy who claims to be someone's wife, wants access to her money, won't go get her, and just happens to not have any way that he can be tracked should there be an incident later. Heck, as far as the teller knows the wife might even call and put a halt on the check because "You didn't get proper identification".

We have similar trust issues here at the hotel regarding room keys. We won't just hand them out to anybody. In fact if we do we'll be fired without hesitation. If there is only one name on the room we require that person to be at the front desk with his ID to claim another room key. You can imagine how many incidents we've had regarding someone's young son or daughter being locked out of their room while the parent is away and unreachable.
We of course have other methods of confirming, but none of them are perfect. And I guarantee that if we make one error, no excuse is going to save us from the wrath of management.


#6

sixpackshaker

sixpackshaker

They should at least take the serial number off his friggen prosthetic arms.


#7

Shawn

Shawn

They should at least take the serial number off his friggen prosthetic arms.
This is a good option. But seriously? Can you blame the teller for not thinking of that? When was the last time you had to ID a guy with no arms?


#8

Shegokigo

Shegokigo

Again, I repeat, it's standard practice, that in that rare kind of situation, you simply do a more indepth ID check.


#9

Shawn

Shawn

Again, I repeat, it's standard practice, that in that rare kind of situation, you simply do a more indepth ID check.
It sounds like they tried. Except the man was unwilling to open up an account or bring in his wife to confirm relationship. He may have even been unwilling to let the Teller check the Serial number on the appendages for all we know. What's the next option? Ask the man to "swear on his mommy's grave that he's telling the truth?".


#10

Shegokigo

Shegokigo

"They looked at my prosthetic hands and the teller said, 'Well, obviously you can't give us a thumbprint'," Steve Valdez told CNN on Wednesday.
I kind of think they were just berating him and of course he wouldn't want to be compliant at that point.


#11

Shawn

Shawn

"They looked at my prosthetic hands and the teller said, 'Well, obviously you can't give us a thumbprint'," Steve Valdez told CNN on Wednesday.
I kind of think they were just berating him and of course he wouldn't want to be compliant at that point.
Not going to say that the Teller wasn't giving bad customer service. But considering that he can get fired for not following proper procedure I don't blame him for not allowing the man to cash the check. I doubt this kind of situation was covered in his training. So without a manager on duty to approve it, I would politely ask him to come back later if he was unwilling to go through the other options.


#12

sixpackshaker

sixpackshaker

The moral of the story is,

If you ever lose your arm, keep your hand in a pickle jar.


#13

Shawn

Shawn

The moral of this story is...
If you are disabled, use it to your advantage. You'll either make a lot of money from people who have no choice but to trust you, or get your 15 min of fame by bringing to justice those who won't.

Being disabled: The "Puppy-Dog-Eyes" of America.

One thing you'll notice about the article is that there is no where that says that the teller lost his job. This is important because no matter what the reps from the bank says in their statements, they still agree with the Teller's decision. This is not the time to get fired from a job for "doing the right thing". And it happens. Another hotel related story (not my hotel, but a hotel in the area). A clerk was fired for giving a free room to a desperate woman in need of help on Christmas eve. You can imagine how much a big deal that was to the media just cause it's so heart wrenching. But the clerk did go against policy and she was fired. I sympathize for her, but it's a constant reminder that companies are not charities and "thinking outside the box" is simply not encouraged. Sure the reps might say "The employee should have found other options" but what they mean is "he's lucky he didn't choose the wrong option or we would have canned his ass"


#14



redapples

A clerk was fired for giving a free room to a desperate woman in need of help on Christmas eve. You can imagine how much a big deal that was to the media just cause it's so heart wrenching. But the clerk did go against policy and she was fired. I sympathize for her, but it's a constant reminder that companies are not charities
No indeed but was there any loss to the company from the action.
and "thinking outside the box" is simply not encouraged.
Even for management who could have asked the employee to clean the room in their own time as a fitting punishment.

Companies get away with all sort of stuff when no one questions there action. Bring in a union rep as see what compromise can be reached. People break protocol all the time this need not be a sackable offence. Any way that's me signing off from my works computer.


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