Cynthia Saves The Day

A true story...

The bank teller didn't like women.

Women talked too much.

They laughed too loud.

They changed their minds too often.

Women made big things out of non-events.

Women were always causing problems for him.

The bank teller thought it was just his luck to be a bank teller.

He had to deal with women.

They continuously tested his patience.

He would grit his teeth when, after he had handed a 1000 to a woman, she would say "Oh, no actually can you give me 9 hundreds,  5 tens, 5 fives, 1 twenty and 5 ones."

Or when a woman would say " Oh actually, can I take out half from savings and half from my checking account."

"Yes, of course" he would say, grimacing as he started over.

So of course, it would be a woman who would be behind THE MOST STRESSFUL DAY OF HIS BANK TELLER CAREER.

THE MOST STRESSFUL DAY OF HIS BANK TELLER CAREER started out as a day like any other.

Different customers walked up to his teller window.

Some men.

Some women.

Some deposited money.

Some withdrew money.

There were breaks in between.

The bank teller glanced at the clock.

He knew there would be a sudden influx of customers between noon and 1 p.m. - working professionals who did their bank work during their lunch break.

The customer who caused THE MOST STRESSFUL DAY OF HIS BANK TELLER CAREER was one of them.

She came in at 12:15 and walked up to his teller window when  it was her turn.

"I would like to deposit this money" the customer said to him, sliding a stack of notes into the teller slot.

"Sure" he said, "Name and account number?"

She gave him her name and account number.

He repeated her name back to her to make sure he had the right name and account number - "R....L...……3246792"

She nodded her head.

He counted the money.

After he counted the money, he prepared a receipt for her and then slid the receipt back through the teller slot.

"Here's your deposit receipt," he said.

This is when the trouble began.

The young woman looked at the deposit receipt and said "This receipt is only for 10,000 rupees. I gave you 20,000 rupees."

The teller was taken aback.

"No, Madam, you gave me only 10,000 rupees. I counted it. You watched me count it," he replied.

"No," said the young woman."Impossible.  I came into the bank with 20,000 rupees. Please look on the counter. The other 10,000 rupees must be somewhere there."

"No, there is nothing on the counter, Madam. What you passed me through the window was 10,000 rupees. Look in your handbag. Maybe the other 10,000 is there."

The young woman rummaged in her handbag. "Not here," she said.

"Where is the money I deposited?" she then said to the teller. "Please pass it to me so I can count it again."

"Can't do that Madam.  We have already recorded the deposit and given you a receipt."

The young woman's voice grew a little louder, "I know I gave you 20,000 rupees because I walked into the bank with 20,000 rupees to deposit.

She looked around and saw some familiar faces among the other waiting customers.

They were observing the proceedings with an interested, puzzled look on their faces.

She wondered what they were thinking.

Probably wondering how she, of all people, had made such a large deposit.

"They must think I am involved in some criminal activity," she thought to herself.

Meanwhile, the situation between her and the teller wasn't going anywhere, and he was also wondering what people were thinking of him.

He kept repeating to her "You gave me only 10,000 rupees."

She kept repeating  back to him "I know I gave you 20,000 rupees."

Finally, throwing up his hands, he said, "Excuse me...I have to go talk to my manager about this."

He went to the manager's desk.

Several other bank employees gathered around the manager's desk, interested in finding out more about the developing situation.

Among them was Cynthia, a long time employee of the bank.

She knew the customer personally.

"Let me go speak to the customer.  I know her personally," she told the teller and the manager.

Cynthia approached the customer and said "Hey, Rosie are you sure you brought 20,000 rupees to deposit? Could you have made a mistake?"

"I am sure," she replied.  "The 20,000 belongs to a foreign student who had to make an urgent trip to his country to fetch his fiance.  He gave it to me for safekeeping.  I brought it to the bank,  thinking it will be safer in my account, than at home."

Cynthia said "Rosie, where was the money before you brought it to the bank?"

"In my desk at work. I came straight from there since it was my lunch break," she replied.

Cynthia said, "Let's go back to your office and check if the other 10,000 rupees might still be in your desk."

"Okay," she said, "but I am telling you Cynthia, it is not there. I came to the bank with the full 20,000 rupees."

So they both got into an autorickshaw and they went back to Rosie's office.

On the way, Rosie told Cynthia she had made a horrible mistake agreeing to keep the money for the foreign student. It was a large sum of money, and now half of it was lost.

Cynthia said, "Let's stay positive, Rosie.  Hopefully, the other half will still be in your office."

They arrived at Rosie's office, and Rosie took Cynthia to her desk.

Rosie opened one of the drawers of the desk.  It had some papers in it, but it didn't have any money.

She then opened the other drawer of the desk.

In it was a stack of notes, which looked like what a stack of 10,000 rupees might be.

Rosie looked at the stack of notes.

Relief and utter embarrassment flooded her.

"I must have separated the money into two stacks of 10,000 rupees, and put each of them in a different drawer" she said sheepishly to Cynthia.

"It's okay" said Cynthia, "these things happen.  Let's count it."

They counted it, and sure enough, it added up to 10,000 rupees.

"Good. Now Rosie, let's go back to the bank so you can deposit it" said Cynthia.

"Oh, Cynthia, I am too embarrassed to face the teller and all the other bank folks.  Can you please take it back and deposit it for me?"

"No, Rosie" said Cynthia.  "You need to come back and apologize to the teller. He is known for his accuracy and honesty, so this incident would have been really hard on him.  Plus he doesn't like women, and his dislike of women will intensify, if you don't come back and apologize to him. Please come back with me. I will explain that it was a genuine mistake on your part. Don't worry.  It will go okay"

So feeling very sheepish, Rosie went back with Cynthia to the bank.

Cynthia explained to the teller and the bank manager what had happened.

Rosie then apologized to the teller "I am so sorry. I was sure I had come in with 20,000 rupees."

And so the issue was resolved.

The bank teller was glad THE MOST STRESSFUL DAY OF HIS BANK TELLER CAREER was over, and his name was cleared.

It was a woman who caused it.

But it was also a woman who saved the day.

Cynthia Saved The Day.

This is a true story told to me recently by my sister Rosie.  It is from back in the day when 20,000 rupees was a princely sum of money in India.

Here is the lesson I took from this story... When a customer is wrong, the challenge is to show the customer  they are wrong in a satisfactory way for the customer - that is, in a concerned, helping and understanding way. You have  to get involved in more than a superficial  way to do that, as Cynthia did so admirably,  in this story.

Rosie was very grateful to Cynthia, and remembers her kind intervention to this very day….as,  I am sure , does the teller.

The second lesson I took from this story is that people usually  do not wish to make trouble for anyone  intentionally. They often make trouble for others, unintentionally.  Rosie genuinely thought she had handed the teller 20,000 rupees. It was an honest mistake.

We have to learn to roll with these unintentional troubles and problems that will surely come our way at one time or another.

Happy Woman's Day to all women readers of this post. Here's to forgiving ourselves for our mistakes, laughing at our past foibles, and being proud of all the challenges we have dealt with in our lives, big and small.

Image by alsen on Pixabay