musings

THINKER NOT JUST A DOER !

Wednesday, March 08, 2006

Worth a Read

I wanted to share this nice piece with you all.........especially the bankers This is an actual letter that was sent to a bank by a 96 year old woman. The bank manager thought it amusing enough to have it published in the New York Times. (it's worth a minute to read.) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dear Sir, I am writing to thank you for bouncing my check with which I endeavoured to pay my plumber last month. By my calculations, three nanoseconds must have elapsed between his presenting the check and the arrival in my account of the funds needed to honour it.

I refer, of course, to the automatic monthly deposit of my entire salary, an arrangement which, I admit, has been in place for only eight years. You are to be commended for seizing that brief window of opportunity, and also for debiting my account $30 by way of penalty for the inconvenience caused to your bank.

My thankfulness springs from the manner in which this incident has caused me to rethink my errant financial ways. I noticed that whereas I personally attend to your telephone calls and letters, when I try to contact you I am confronted by the impersonal, overcharging, pre-recorded,
faceless entitywhich your bank has become.

Starting from now on, I, like you, choose only to deal with a flesh-and-blood person. My mortgage and loan repayments will therefore and hereafter no longer be automatic, but will arrive at your bank by check, addressed personally and confidentially to an employee at your bank whom you must nominate. Be aware that it is an offence under the Postal Act for any other person to open such an envelope. Please find attached an Application Contact Status which I require your chosen employee to complete. I am sorry it runs to eight pages, but in order that I know as much about him or her as your bank knows about me, there is no alternative.

Please note that all copies of his or her medical history must be countersigned by a Notary Public, and the mandatory details of his/herfinancial situation (income, debts, assets and liabilities) must be accompanied by documented proof. In due course, I will issue your employee a PIN number which he/she must quote in dealings with me. I regret that it cannot be shorter than 28 digits but, again, I have modelled it on the numberof button presses required of me to access my account balance on your phone bank service.

As they say, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

Let me level the playing field even further. When you call me, press the buttons as follows:

1.To make an appointment to see me.
2.. To query a missing payment.
3.. To transfer the call to my living room in case I am there.
4.. To transfer the call to my bedroom in case I am sleeping.
5.. To transfer the call to my toilet in case I am attending to nature.
6.. To transfer the call to my mobile phone if I am not at home.
7.. To leave a message on my computer, a password to access my computer is required. Password will be communicated to you at a later date to the Authorized Contact.
8.. To return to the main menu to listen to options 1 through 7.
9.. To make a general complaint or inquiry. The contact will then be put on hold, pending the attention of my automated answering service. While this may, on occasion, involve a lengthy wait, uplifting music will play for the duration of the call.

Regrettably, but again following your example, I must also levy an establishment fee to cover the setting up of this new arrangement.

May I wish you a happy, if ever so slightly less prosperous New Year. Your Humble Client

All Content including Pictures are Copyrighted 2006- 2008 © Shruti Bansal.
Copying or Using the content without permission is punishable and offenders will be liable for prosecution.

5 Comments:

  • At Wednesday, 08 March, 2006, Blogger Noe said…

    Oh my God it's great!!! I see you have some copyrights, I was wondering if I can post it on my blog. Thanks!

     
  • At Wednesday, 08 March, 2006, Blogger shruti said…

    @noe - ur most welcome ... its not an original work .. neways .. the more who read the merrier ..
    BTW i have given up on calling these phone banking services .. still havent been able to inform ICICI abt change in my address... soo frustrating ..

     
  • At Wednesday, 08 March, 2006, Blogger quills said…

    LOL! Good one. Btw, you have a nice blog with great posts.

     
  • At Wednesday, 08 March, 2006, Blogger shruti said…

    @quills - thanks a lot .. i hardly get time to write as much as i think .. but then i share my time with a lot of other things as well..latest being my deep desire to learn horse riding ...

     
  • At Friday, 10 March, 2006, Blogger quills said…

    Horse Riding, eh? That's so cool. What made you take it up? Are you part of some Civil Services training or something? Not that others can't take it up simply for the love of riding. And I read your post on it but can't post comments. Have you disabled the feature?

     

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