11:15 a.m. - 08.05.2003
Someday, When I'm Older...
I have a few ways I've been measuring my gradual morph into adulthood.
Yesterday in the bank I was reminded of one such measure that I'd completely forgotten. Upon remembering it made me realize that I am no where near my perception of adulthood.
My measure is the time it takes an individual to perform a banking transaction. Simply enough, if it takes you over 2.5 minutes to complete a transaction - you are an adult.
In my mind, banking consists of nothing more than deposits and withdrawals. Really just deposits since withdrawals are made outside at the ATM. So the 2.5 minutes of deposit time is mostly the teller working the computer.
So whywhywhy do I wait in line at the bank while people stand up there for half hour transactions? I decided a long time ago that the secret would be bestowed upon me when I became an adult, and then I too would one day be guilty of the 30 min transaction.
But I'm closing in on adulthood - and I have no comprehension of transactions other then "deposit." So maybe I'm no where near closing in on adulthood. Which is a shame at 28.
It boggles the mind. People stand up there with stacks of loose papers, portfolios, and statements. I overhear them talking about taking money out of point A and transferring it to point B, but only if point C has sufficient funds.
Or the worst is when incredibly old and immobile people enter the bank. They act as if they may never see the inside of a bank again (which I suppose is true) so want the poor high school teller to run down all their finances with them, transaction by transaction for the last 150 years.
And I'm standing there, for 3.4 hours, waiting to make my 2.5 min deposit of $20 into point A, the only possible point of deposit for little, unknowing me.
Is it so hard to have one account, and your money either goes in or comes out? What more do you need? I guess the answer to that is an answer I'm not ready for apparently.
I'd make some argument in support of lengthy transactions, but the same people are the ones that take thirty mins to use the ATM. The last I looked its impossible to refinance your home through the ATM, but people stand there long enough to give the impression that that is exactly what they're doing.
Arrgh. I'll stop now, but I just wanted to say that I will never understand banking beyond the deposit. What are you people doing?
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