Topic: thought provoking
I was talking with a member on the phone when something interesting hit me (mentally not physically...)
She gave me her name and asked a question and while she was talking I just happened to pull up her account. I answered her questions and when she got off the phone I noticed that she had over $7,000 in her account. I remembered back to hearing/reading about cases done where pyschologists have studied how people act differently based on preconceived judgements. For instance, if you bring a "new kid" to school and tell the teacher that the kid is not the brightest kid, the teacher usually treats them differently than the other kids. If you use the same child with another teacher and tell her he's a genius, then she tends to treat him that way.
I then wondered if I treated customers at work differently depending on how much money they had. My first thought was "no I tend to treat them all the same."
But I'm not so sure that's really true. Although I treat everyone with respect who calls, there are some who deserve more than others. For instance, my boss's husband calls up or someone who has quite a bit of money and you HAVE to treat them with extra respect. To not do so might very well cost me a job.
Someone who calls with $5 in their account and/or no political ties whatsoever to anyone I work with is different. I've had far too many people with little to no money try to act like they're the shit and that I should bend over backwards to make them happy. Frankly I don't care if they take their $5 (and most importantly all the grief and problems they cause us) to another institution. In fact, I'll even print out driving directions if they need it.
It's not to say I treat them like crap, even if they do so to me. I keep a smile the whole time, don't raise my voice, and don't return any swear words. But at the same time, I'm not going to worry nearly as much about how they might perceive me as to someone who is, let's just say, more important financially.
Hey, let's face it: like it or not, money does a lot of talking at financial institutions. If you have it you can get away with a lot more than if you don't. So please, if any of you out there have $5 in your account, don't expect the world from your financial institution...unless you just want to be made fun of...
