Customer Service at its best

By now I’m quite sure that you are tired of hearing my mantra “I hate banking”. But after my failed attempt at MBGN, I’ve decided to make do with being a “Zenbie” and not complain about it. I’ve decided to continue to put in my best just because of God really cos if I wanted to be selfish, I would probably just give as much or as little as I’m being paid because come to think of it, to whom much is given much is expected right? If I did not have God in my life…

Hmmn! Where do I start? Don’t get me wrong the banking profession is not so bad, that is, if u love it and don’t mind the terminally long hours and all but it took me to get there to realize that it aint for me but enough of that already.

There are good days though. Trust me, like the day D’banj came in, Stephanie Okereke is like pure water in the branch and she usually shows up with this guy she’s dating (no names as I cannot afford a lawsuit…lol). Thank God for democracy. At that customer service desk, I have met people from Djinee to Olisah to Julius Agwu to Orits Wiliki (remember him?) to some other top shot men and women in the society whose names I cannot remember. Then there are days we get tipped and it is at that desk that I discovered that there are tips and there are tips. One customer has paid my salary at that desk as a tip, in fact, he spent like four hundred thousand bucks on just tips that day and all I and my colleagues could do was stare speechlessly. Yes there are days like that but they don’t come every day.

Then there are the men – married, single and all sorts. The funny part is the really old married men, calling your phone at night telling you that you could reach them at any time. I mean what could I possibly want with my dad’s mate? Attention? Money? What? Then there are the cute married ones, they have money, are rarely in town and know how to play the game and it takes the grace of God to resist them after all, “body no be wood”. Some of them have consciences and actually start with lines like “I’m a responsible man, I’ve never done this before, but I like you and have been trying to ignore it but it’s choking me” and if you are not careful, you could be lured by the lines and tell yourself “he is a good man” . then there are the men that see all female bankers as whores and would go from girl to girl trying to see where they can score and then there are the single ones who sometimes you pray notices you and for some others you just ignore their advances. In all, you must never be rude or condescending because you really don’t know who is who and before you know it, someone could be reporting you to one AGM or DM or ED and the rest will be history.

Then there are those customers who expect you to do everything for them, some will not even read before they append their signature and it makes one wonder how careless customers could be with their funds. Then there are those who you would go out of your way to please not because they have tipped you but because they are just pleasant people.
In my life’s journey, I have worked in three organizations and the most hostile place is the bank and I really do not know why. Maybe you could explain it to me because I’m yet to understand why. A senior colleague just picks on you for no apparent reason and it gets so bad that while you’re thinking of meeting whatever crazy target you’ve been given, you’re trying to deliver excellent customer service and then you are trying so hard not to step on your senior colleagues toes. That is without the hassles of my personal life which are countless. It’s crazy and sometimes I just want to scream but i no fit at least not within the office premises.

Sometimes I wonder how those in top management positions withstood all the antagonism and rose to the top and how they met their target because God knows I don’t want to get to top management level in the banking industry. They say there is money in the banking industry but I am yet to see it so or maybe it is until I get to a certain level. Some of my friends ask “do you think other places are any easier?” I know every environment has its peculiarity but what makes the difference is if you are passionate about it.

I’m not ungrateful that I have a job because trust me, I am able to help around the house, , send recharge cards to my brothers once in a while and basically take care of myself but I also know that I am bored and need to be mentally challenged. Or do all jobs become routine eventually and lose the ability to challenge the individual? But I have made up my mind to see it as a learning period, gold is not made beautiful until it goes through some serious heating right? That’s the attitude I’ve chosen to adopt and so should you if you are in the same position.