Monday 4 April 2005

The bank that likes to say... stupid things

This week, guess what!, I want to slap the same person I slapped last week: the clerk at the Abbey National bank who told me that I couldn't use the title Ms because I wasn't divorced (yes, I know, preposterous and ignorant) AND her manager.

Not content with wasting my time with stupid and unnecessary questions during our interview, the clerk called me during the week and asked me to come back so I could show her the debit card that goes with bank account details I gave as proof of identity. It wasn't mentioned on the list of documents that I might have to produce, so I refused to talk to that person and asked to see the manager. This 25-year-old little girl, who, I suspect, is the one who told the clerk about the uses of the title Ms, finally acknowledged that the debit card was mentioned in *their* literature not in the one given to customers (therefore the latter cannot tell they might have to produce it). Had I been asked to show the card I would have shown it to the clerk during the first interview (I had everything that could possibly be shown with me) - except that this particular clerk was *not* aware of that requirement. I showed the card and with a bit of luck the savings account I want will be opened for me, but I'm not holding my breath. I also got an apology for all the aggro, but just just...