Ask a simple question...
About twice a week I go to the bank for work. This is a nice excuse to get out of the office for an hour or so, drive a company car (WITHOUT my p's!) with the radio at full blast and have a coffee in Leichhardt. I look forward to it.
So I went into the Commonwealth Bank in Leichhardt and had to wait around for a bit because I was doing some complicated stuff with an overseas cheque. And then the middle-aged teller drops me the question that I get really sick of hearing every time I go into a CBA for work related shite:
"Where do you do your personal banking?"
Treading carefully, I replied St George.
"But it would be convenient to do it here. You already come in here a few times a week for work banking."
I didn't want to offend her - I felt sorry for her. I know she probably has some ridiculous target she needs to meet, some dumb quota.
I replied that I liked the Visa Debit card I get with St George. And then a little more boldly I added that I used to have a CBA account before having a really bad experience with them when my wallet was stolen a few years ago and the bank was negligent after I cancelled my card and allowed some random to use my Drivers' Licence and forge my signature and clear out my bank balance. (I got the money back but the whole thing was an incident I could have done without.)
I trailed off and changed the subject, feeling guilty for naval gazing to this teller and spelling out why exactly the institution she worked for licked balls. Then I stopped myself. Why was I trying to protect her feelings? How dare she accost me about my banking and put me in this uncomfortable situation when I'm supposed to be running some innocuous business errand. I don't care what her orders or expectations are - I took a stand against aggressing marketing and upselling enough to leave my job at Showbiz and endure months of gruelling, miserable unemployment. And every day while I agonised over finding a new job I wondered to myself whether it was worth it, whether I was a hero for taking an ethical stand against a practice I find appalling or a naive idiot for deluding myself that we are ever in a position to be ethical in a capitalist world where we all have to work. And after all that pain trying desperately to avoid upselling to be faced with it while I was trying to mind my own business seemed insulting.
So I made one final remark.
"To answer your question" I began, "I decided I couldn't bank with CBA because they are some of the major investors in Gunns Limited which is one of the key players in the logging of old growth forests in Tasmania. It's the same reason why I would never bank with ANZ because they are some of the major beneficiaries of the reconstruction of the War in Iraq. "
She started talking about how CBA gave to many small charities...and then it was her time to trail off when she saw the look in my eyes.
Ask a simple question...
So I went into the Commonwealth Bank in Leichhardt and had to wait around for a bit because I was doing some complicated stuff with an overseas cheque. And then the middle-aged teller drops me the question that I get really sick of hearing every time I go into a CBA for work related shite:
"Where do you do your personal banking?"
Treading carefully, I replied St George.
"But it would be convenient to do it here. You already come in here a few times a week for work banking."
I didn't want to offend her - I felt sorry for her. I know she probably has some ridiculous target she needs to meet, some dumb quota.
I replied that I liked the Visa Debit card I get with St George. And then a little more boldly I added that I used to have a CBA account before having a really bad experience with them when my wallet was stolen a few years ago and the bank was negligent after I cancelled my card and allowed some random to use my Drivers' Licence and forge my signature and clear out my bank balance. (I got the money back but the whole thing was an incident I could have done without.)
I trailed off and changed the subject, feeling guilty for naval gazing to this teller and spelling out why exactly the institution she worked for licked balls. Then I stopped myself. Why was I trying to protect her feelings? How dare she accost me about my banking and put me in this uncomfortable situation when I'm supposed to be running some innocuous business errand. I don't care what her orders or expectations are - I took a stand against aggressing marketing and upselling enough to leave my job at Showbiz and endure months of gruelling, miserable unemployment. And every day while I agonised over finding a new job I wondered to myself whether it was worth it, whether I was a hero for taking an ethical stand against a practice I find appalling or a naive idiot for deluding myself that we are ever in a position to be ethical in a capitalist world where we all have to work. And after all that pain trying desperately to avoid upselling to be faced with it while I was trying to mind my own business seemed insulting.
So I made one final remark.
"To answer your question" I began, "I decided I couldn't bank with CBA because they are some of the major investors in Gunns Limited which is one of the key players in the logging of old growth forests in Tasmania. It's the same reason why I would never bank with ANZ because they are some of the major beneficiaries of the reconstruction of the War in Iraq. "
She started talking about how CBA gave to many small charities...and then it was her time to trail off when she saw the look in my eyes.
Ask a simple question...