March 3rd, 2004
You know what? Banks suck. I know, I know, I've already gone on at length about this, but still ... banks suck. Not the people at banks, but banks themselves. Just listen to this piece of moronic assholery:
I finally got my cheque on Friday. So I made a few foolish purchases on the weekend, such as a haircut and new shoes so my feet could stay dry when I'm walking to work. Oh, and some groceries so that we can eat.
Well, on Monday, I stopped being able to access my money for such irresponsible purchases as lunches and paying bills. Also, I needed to pay that loan payment that I bounced last week. So I tried to phone my bank. I first phoned the bank but kept getting the automated banking line. Then I phoned the woman who handled my mortgage, but had to leave a message. She never got back to me. I phoned the 1-800 number several times and tried to talk to a real live person, and the system just kept hanging up on me (after saying, "Please hold for the next available Customer Service Representative.") Then, when I finally did get a hold of the bank itself, I left another frigging message, and finally they phoned me today.
It turns out that there is a mandatory 5-day hold on all cheques, and I couldn't touch my money until hell froze over. Because the 5 days started on Monday, not the preceding Friday that I deposited my cheque (in the banking cesspool, Fridays time-warp to the next Monday?) I actually PLEADED with the girl on the other end (who, to be fair to her, was sympathetic to my plight) and she acquiesced far enough to remove a portion of the hold to cover my loan payment, and then proceeded to make the payment. She was also gracious enough to let me have another $100 "in case [I] need it" for something!
You see how they socially engineered me to be grateful that I can have $100 of my own money? And nothing is her fault, and one could reasonably argue that it's All My Fault for not expecting my paycheque to be held for 8 full days (somehow euphemistically called five business days by the bank).
Then something occurred to me after I got off the phone: How did I even get an opportunity to spend some of it if it was supposedly being held? Is there a small amount off the top that they don't hold? Some sort of small sop so slobs are somewhat sated?
Feh ... I don't know, and I'm at the point where I really don't give two shakes of a stick about it anymore. It's much easier to just write them off as incarnations of pure evil and deal with them along those lines. Banks are the result of free enterprise organizations run by greed-based personalities when there are no initial limitations set. Now it's too late to put a choke-hold on them, and they've grown so big that they can beat you by attrition and/or simply set the rules any way they please.
So here's what my friend Ken had to say about it:
"For me, banks illustrate the inherent corruption of the foundation of this Great Nation of North America (a disease our ancestors brought from Europe). Colonization involves butchering the indigeneous peoples and enslaving everyone else you can by setting up systems that favour certain people (the rich/bank owners/merchants). It's never been any different.
"You just figuring that out now Brian?"
"Banks are filth."
Addendum, March 4th: There's more to this as well. You see how the bank shields its assholery behind the girl I talked to on the phone? I tried very hard to be polite to her and not snap, despite my frustration. I'm sure that not every person would exercise that restraint. Her stress levels when dealing with customers must be extremely high. She, and the thousands of similar bank employees across Canada are the wall erected to absorb the arrows of unhappy customers, while the higher-ups can make their decisions with nary a thought for how they are treating people. But, Ken remains accurate in his question: "You just figuring that out now Brian?