Keepin’ It Human

[chuck freeman]

“To be rhymin' without a real reason
is to claim but not to practice a religion,

if television is the drug of the nation,
satellite is immaculate reception
beaming in they can look and they can listen

so you see don't believe in the system

to legalize you or give you your freedom
you want rights ask em', they'll read em'
but every flower got a right to be bloomin'
stay human."

I opened a bank account with the local Austin Telco credit union last week, and will close my Wells Fargo accounts in 10 days to allow for a smooth financial transition. This report appears to be one of those trite twitter “who gives a damn” text intrusions. I discovered however that this minute move has triggered magnificent meaning. As Michael Franti’s lyrical prelude foreshadows it is about keepin’ it human.

My first major banking transaction was in Fort Stockton, Texas. I looked the Ex High School basketball coach, turned loan officer in the eye and with a firm handshake got a sizable loan on my new 1984 blue Audi 4000. He then introduced me as the new Church of Christ Youth Minister to the 1st National Bank President.

Not long after that 1st national went big city introducing an ATM card and machine. I never got one. It was crucial for me to go inside the bank, look into the face of the teller, exchange a joke or two and feel that human connection.

One awful morning my loan officer’s daughter died suddenly when her gas heater malfunctioned. I was privileged to offer ongoing pastoral ministry to my devastated friend. Plastic card banking wouldn’t have afforded this movement from officer to soul friend.

When I moved to Austin in late 1991 I banked with a local concern, Franklin Federal. Once more I established names and faces that transcended my meager money balances. Franklin got bought by Norwest. Then Norwest and Wells Fargo merged. There is one person at my branch who I still know as a person. They move personnel more often than a Methodist Bishop moves pastors!

After Wells Fargo made a mistake that overdrew one of my accounts I went into the branch. The one person I know was on lunch break. The new “officer”/cog in the machine couldn’t help me. She said I would have to call the 800 number. A visit with the branch manager lackey yielded, “that’s the way it is.” It took me five hours and six or seven toll free numbers to get the mess cleared up.

After you and I became federal bailout shareholders of Wells Fargo, I got a notice announcing a 3% raise in my credit card interest rate. I had just heard Wells had reported record profits and were awarding healthy bonuses to their big wigs.

That was it for me. A visit to the only person I know yielded a fatalistic apology. “I don’t agree with it. They are raising our employee rates too.”

I googled all the major national banks in my area coupled with the term "bailout." The headlines were nauseatingly the same - big quarterly profits, large executive bonuses. I closed my laptop and declared. "I'm not doing business with any of these fu*ker's." My resolve was seated in defiance.

Walking out of the credit union last week after dealing with a fresh faced college grad to open my account, I not only popped the balloon of my anger. There was a much more fundamental transaction. The light of my humanity was rekindled.

[Christine Amaryllis]

Good point, Chuck. So many businesses have lives of their own, which have nothing to do with the humans who work there. I always think of the Terminator movies, where the machines take over. This way lies madness. Banks were one of the first to embrace the idea of less tellers, and more 800 numbers, for their less than wealthy customers. The wealthy ones have personal bankers. It is all spelled out on the home page for Chase Bank, I know. Anyway, I read a lot of customer service stuff, and banks hope that people will opt for the ATM, rather than the human face. ATMs don't need lunch breaks, or cost of living increases in salary. People don't expect much in the way of customer service these days. I work for a company that doesn't have voice mail, a human (usually me) answers the phone in the customer service department and all transactions, good or bad, are done by humans. I, however, use the internet for most of my purchases, and for my banking, etc. No humans involved. So, am I making the problem worse, or not? Hard to say. Austin has a big "shop local" thing going on. This is good, if you can find what you need locally. I think you are right, banking is best done by coops like the credit union, where you know the people and the decisions and transactions are made right there, not in some "corporate office". Michael Moore's movie showed what happens when you turn up at the corporate office looking for answers. :)
BB
CA

[Philip Lane Douglas]

Chuck,

Before my Mom died, I was keeping care of her money, which was in a Bank of America account. So I went to the local bank/Burger King branch and would stand in line and talk to the tellers. They had a big screened TV with Fox News going all the time. So I went in to talk to the manager and told who I was and said, " I really don't like the political spin from your TV. Could you play it on a neutral channel, like CNN or something. Or maybe just play the station that shows pretty pictures.

He changed it, and the last time I was in, it was still changed. Knowing people face-to-face makes a difference. Thanks, Chuck.