6/19-6/21/2012 I Couldn’t Hold My Tongue Any Longer!

Monday – chilly start to the day, sweatshirts and jackets were the norm for everyone. Very few boats going out, too chilly, too windy and its Monday. I went in for an hour and a half and Bob didn’t go in at all. There was just no point, when I left at 9:30 there was one boat in the water launched from the marina ramp.

Tuesday & Wednesday – We didn’t go to Wilmington as we had just gone last week. Our days off and not much going on. Tuesday was still chilly in the morning but warmed up nicely. Bob went golfing on Wednesday with my uncle, Kenny. I used the time to take care of errands. A trip to the post office (twice) a trip to the bank and the grocery store.

My ATM card that recently expired was from the bank that the one we’re with now bought out. I thought they would have automatically sent me a new one but that wasn’t the case or wires got crossed somewhere,,,whatever. So I get there and no in line at the tellers, no one is sitting waiting for a bank officer and one student is with the only bank officer I see.

I took care of the business I had with the teller and then took a seat to order my new ATM card. This meeting between the student and the officer was taking longer than I anticipated because the student is a college student from Moldavia and doesn’t speak English all that well. I don’t think he’s ever had a checking/savings account before because everything had to be explained once by the bank officer and then again through a bank employee who also happens to be from Moldavia but is very fluent in English and she translated things this young man just wasn’t grasping. So I sat and waited.

Enter mean old biddy. This woman is hereafter referred to as MOB.

She came in with an attitude. She started waving two pieces of mail in front of the teller, yelling that someone changed her address and her pin number. She went on and on waving the mail but not giving it to the teller to read. The teller finally wrestled it from her reached for it and read it. She explained to the woman that the change of address letter was notification from the bank that the change of address she requested from her Florida winter residence to her summer residence was completed. She didn’t like it being pointed out that she obviously forgot requesting the change.

So she started ranting about her pin number. We all heard how she’s had that pin number for FIFTY YEARS! Did you hear that, FIFTY YEARS! Did we even have pin numbers fifty years ago? The teller politely told her that the pin number was changed because she didn’t validate it in a timely manner in conjunction with the address change, or something like that. I guess it was a security measure. She started yelling again that she wanted her pin number back. The teller assured her that that would not be a problem and that a bank officer would be happy to help her.

She sits across from me.

After two minutes, two minutes (!) she starts with why is she made to wait? This bank makes so much money and they should have more than one bank officer on and she doesn’t like waiting and on and on and on. Then she starts talking to me about how she’s going to take her money out of this bank. Well, by now, I’ve had enough of this woman and her ranting and miserable attitude. I agreed with her! I told she should absolutely take her money out and put it elsewhere. She liked what she heard. She went back to this bank makes so much money and there should bank officers waiting at the door to greet you, yada, yada, yada. The lone bank officer now made an appearance and told her that he would be with her as quickly as possible but one officer was out to lunch and the bank manager was in a business meeting at another location. She didn’t want to hear it. I finally told her she was absolutely right, bank officers should not be allowed to take lunch! She looked at me and said, well of course they should eat lunch. I replied, “And that is exactly where he or she is, eating lunch and the manager is in a meeting off premises.” She got all huffy and said, “Oh, well, your taking the bank’s side, I don’t even want to talk to you.” That suits me fine!

She started muttering to herself and then started again about how there should be more bank officers so she wouldn’t have to wait. I had had enough. For a very brief moment I considered counting to ten and holding my tongue but then I thought,,,,naaahhh. I let her have it.

My rant started. “Lady, I pray to God that when I get your age I’m not a miserable old biddy like YOU! The world does not revolve around YOU!”

I happen to glance over to the tellers and they are all giving me the thumbs up. With this the bank officer who dared to have a mid-day meal arrived. The officer who was helping the student left the poor kid and came out to us and told his co-worker that he would help me with my ATM card and that he should help the lady with changed pin number. I started to protest because after all I was there first and he put his hand on my shoulder and applied slight pressure and said he would be right with me. Ok, I got the message. And with that the un-suspecting bank officer invited the MOB into his office. The bank tellers, the student, the officer helping the student and I all heard her rant through the closed door. And we laughed. Out loud.

Two more minutes and the student was all set up with his checking/savings account and his first ATM card. Yes, I waited a lot longer than I expected to but dealing with someone new to this country and not exactly fluent in our language as far as banking practices go, well, you deal with it. Hear that MOB? You deal with it!

So I go into the little alcove and the officer puts his hand up for a high five. Well, ok, if you insist, and I offered my hand. He said, I heard everything you said and I want you to know that YOU ARE MY HERO! He said, “That woman has lots and lots of money and thinks the bank employees should snap to when she walks through the door.” He went on to say that they cringe every time she walks in. He told me that every employee would hear about my conversation with her. He did let on that he could have done a few minutes earlier but he wanted to see how it was going to play out.

Something tells me that when I walk through the door now the employees will snap to for me! Right now, I am their new best friend.

From there it was to the grocery store. Somehow we never seem go get to the commissary that is an hour up the road. Since we were out of everything I thought the heck with it, I’ll bite the bullet and pay these prices. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the boneless, skinless chicken breasts were on sale again for $1.99 a pound. Each breast is about three quarters to a pound in weight. I bought another fifteen pounds. I also bought a whole lot of other things, Tastykakes in particular. I bought four boxes to ship to Texas to our dear friends LaVon and Don. They’ve heard so much about Tastykakes I thought it was time they had these treats. Next stop, the post office to pack them up and ship them off. They should have them Friday, I can’t wait to hear how they like them.

We hear that summer is going to arrive tomorrow and make her presence known. I hope so, there’s just something so wrong about a sweatshirt in June.