Legends of the Bank Teller: Episode XIII

Scenario: A woman came to the drive-thru today wanting to cash a few checks. Nothing major, just the standard small checks to be cashed.

As I greet her, she insists that she has multiple accounts with our bank, so even though the checks she wants cashed are drawn on other establishments, I would be able to cash them for her. Unfortunately, she did not provide any of the numbers for these multiple accounts.

She gave me her driver's license, so I looked her up by her name. No luck. So I asked for her social security number. I didn't ask her to yell it over the speaker, I told her I would send out a slip of paper for her to write it on. She insisted again that she had multiple accounts, and that other bank employees knew her. One of whom was with a client, the other was home with a bad back. That left me and her social security number.

Let me explain, even if those two bank employees that this woman knows had been available at that time, that still doesn't tell me any of her account numbers against which I can cash her checks.

I feel that I must re-emphasize to the general public, when a bank teller asks for your social security number, it is not so we can steal your identity and rip you off. It's only so we can verify that you are who you say you are. It's only so we can look you up in our computer system to make sure you have all these multiple accounts.

The fact that she had to give me her social left a poor taste in her mouth for the rest of the transaction. I remained polite and gave her the cash. I threw in the usual "have a good afternoon." I got a "yeah, you too," which was dripping with sarcasm. But really, who am I to complain about sarcasm?