Well, it seems that I was sadly mistaken.
I stood in line for ten minutes. Can you imagine? I mean, here I am to put money into a bank, in the line for new accounts, and they keep me waiting for ten minutes. I would have thought that if I have money to give to you to hold for me you would be eager to accommodate me. But no, I have to wait in a line to let them have money to invest.
That was only the beginning.
BANK TELLER: We must have two forms of ID and a utility bill.
ME: Well, I have a driver's permit. Unfortunately, my passport expired two years ago and I have to wait for a new one, you know nobody can get a passport anytime soon in our sweet country which we all love so much. I don't have an ID card either, as I have never voted and never will for my own reasons.
BANK TELLER: Well I'm sorry sir, I won't be able to open an account for you.
ME: So what should I do with this money?
BANK TELLER: Excuse me sir, let me check with the supervisor.
So I wait. Wait. Wait. Ten minutes later, the teller is back.
BANK TELLER: The supervisor says that we will open the account on the DP but we must also have a utility bill.
ME: I don't have a utility bill with me.
BANK TELLER: Can you bring it after the account has been opened?
ME: Sure, no problem.
BANK TELLER: Okay. Now what type of account do you want to open?
ME: Well, something yielding a reasonable interest.
BANK TELLER: Well that would be the (blank blank) account with an interest rate of (xyz).
ME: OK, no problem, let's do it.
BANK TELLER: How are you opening it?
ME: I have a (blank) cheque here. By the way is my deposit insured? Do I have a guarantee?
BANK TELLER: No sir, there is no guarantee on the deposit, and we do not accept cheques from (blank).
ME: So how do I open the account?
BANK TELLER: With either a cheque from our bank, first or third party, or cash.
ME: So you will not accept the (blank) cheque?
BANK TELLER: No, I'm sorry sir.
ME: OK miss, now let me tell you something. I came in here with good money to put into your bank and I went through all the rigmarole which you put me through, and now that we are here at the climax of the transaction you are telling me where the money must come from. My advice to you is the next time there is a meeting with your supervisor, tell him or her that the policy smells badly and I cannot stomach it.
With that I exited the bank and felt no sense of loss, just a certain sadness. Because you see -and this is the point - how can a small man open a bank account in this country, given the fact that in order to do so he must have two forms of ID and a utility bill and a minimum of five hundred TT dollars? Anybody stood in line for a passport lately? Do small men drive cars and have driver's permits?
Also, what does that say about the bankers? I'm not referring to the bank employees as a whole, just those in charge of all this money, the ones at the top whose decisions make or break the investors big and small, and who ultimately pay little price when the meltdown comes.
To make it worse: the meltdown is often the result of bad judgement and mismanagement by those individuals, our so-called leaders, men with the financial fate of millions of people dependent upon the morality and intelligence of their decisions.
Yet they fail.
So, if the people we all trust most prove to be unworthy what does that say about our society?
