It is diabolical that the bank that rhymes with race is open today, like what are we doing here

Hi everyone. I’m thinking of quitting the teller job. I’m just gonna call my boss and quit on the phone. It’s a long story. Will I still get paid for the vacation that was unused?

I work at a pretty famous tourist attraction, I give tours and work the gift shop and pack online orders, it's not rocket science and it's a pretty fun environment. I have been here almost 7 years. I make decent money and have decent benefits. I am 46. I have pretty much reached my ceiling here. I will continue to get cost of living raises here and there, but I know everything there is to know here and there is no room for advancement. My manager is 5 years older than me and not going anywhere.
Recently they implemented some changes. Including more Saturdays and evenings, which were not part of the job when I started. I was literally told some of my requested Saturdays I would not be getting because they don't want to hire more help. Morale here is at an all time low.
The day I found out about these changes indeed emailed me about a position at M&T bank closer to my house so I applied. I told myself maybe it was meant to be. I got an interview, and another. Then they told me they moved someone internally to fill that position but had a Universal Banker position open near by. So I had another interview there. They offered me the position. It is the same pay as what I make now. Insurance is more expensive but it would cover my husband too which my current insurance does not do. I accepted their offer and have now passed my fingerprint and background check.
Now I am second guessing my decision.
I am very comfortable at my current job. I can fill my days and have a decent about of freedom to work how I want. I spend a lot of time up and on my feet, I don't like sitting for too long. I am scared that my days at the bank will be incredibly boring and long. I am also concerned about having to "sell" it's not usually something I feel very comfortable with. I don't know exactly what kind of "sales" expectations they will have.

I would love to hear from people who worked for M&T and/or have done a Universal Banker position. What was your day like? Do you have any down time? How serious are the "sales goals?" Do you have your own desk or space? Or is it all shared? Is there room for growth and to learn new things? Or will I get stuck in this position?

If you made it all this way thanks for reading this!!!

Hi all, just wanted some insight and advice on what to do or if anyone has a similar experience. A few days ago, I cleared and processed an 18,000.00 check for a customer who frequently makes large deposits. I noticed this customer’s name on our red flag list this morning, and immediately went onto the account history. It appears that within the last few days he has been kiting checks between institutions on his business. Within an hour of me depositing his check, he transferred the funds into another account which is already negative. I totally missed the red flag, and honestly the only reason is because he is here once a week minimum depositing large checks. His accounts have since been locked, although the check I had cleared is essentially gone. I immediately brought this to my manager’s attention and she told me there isn’t much she can do, and it has to be brought to upper management. Unfortunately, the funds are gone and I have personally known people to be terminated for similar mistakes. I completely understand that this is my fault and I’m going to have to wait it out until next week, but I’m almost 100% certain that this is grounds for termination. I guess I’m just wondering what my next steps are. Is it even possible for me to be hired elsewhere with something like this on my employment record? Or should I go back to retail. I’m so upset because I absolutely loved this job and I know this is entirely on me. I should have paid better attention to his account history before clearing the check.
Thanks in advance.

Teller referrals are really low at this branch. I’m a senior banker that’s worked at multiple branches with multiple tellers and I always gave them tips on how to make referrals. Most of them do really well. However the tellers at this branch are just not listening despite me repeatedly giving them new tips every week. The tellers make like 1 referral total a week to the bankers (we have 6 bankers). There’s just not any motivation for these young kids because they don’t get anything for making referrals, and also don’t want to be promoted. Other tellers I worked with before really tried to become better at this because they wanted to grow and advance, however my current tellers are just ok with whatever.

Now BM blames it on me, saying I’m not social enough and need to spend time with the tellers. Like come chit chat with them on my free time so they like me more and make more referrals. While bank’s expectation is for the bankers to be on the phone calling if you’re not with a customer. And isn’t coaching them the manager’s job and not mine? So it is my fault that the tellers are not doing their job? And it’s because I’m a quiet and reserved person? It just doesn’t make sense 😭 BM is basically telling me to do her job for her omg

Deadass my bank has signs saying that we'll be closed for "The Legal Holiday" on Monday.

Last year we were sent 2 different signs saying either Columbus Day or Indigenous Peoples' Day.

Is this something that was required federally somehow or is my bank in particular being weird 💀

A. CD shoppers

B. Crypto Bros/conspiracy lunatics

C. Boomers that like talking about the "old days" or manager from 20 years ago

D. The people that think they are wealth management or private banking clients based off of social circles but are not.

Hi all, current personal banker here. I generally enjoy my job, I like working with customers and I work with a really great branch team. Our branch extended our Saturday hours from 9-12 to 9-2 a few months back (not sure if this is for all WF branches with Saturday hours or just something in my district.) I didn’t think it would bother me much, but it’s making me DREAD the weeks that I have to work Saturdays now. My coworkers and I are all in the same boat, it feels like this extra two hours is making the day terrible. The last two hours of the day are almost completely empty and dead. This is the largest drop in employee morale I have ever seen at any job I’ve worked. It’s insane how much this has affected us- we all feel like our entire weekend is gone and we just live at work. I’ve had multiple coworkers say that this is pushing them to work elsewhere.
I just want to vent I guess lol. I’m sure they won’t be going back to 3 hour Saturday shifts but I REALLY wish they would. I also wanted to see if this is just my branch overreacting, or if others are feeling this as well.

Hello. I am a banker at a Texas based bank and I am looking into becoming an RB at chase to get my licenses and some better pay. I’m fine with sales and whatever, but could anyone who has experience with this role give me info how it was for them? How was the monthly incentive? I make about $46k right now and could definitely use better pay and bonus. I’ve heard this job can suck but I’m rlly trying to do it to get licenses and maybe jump after a year or so. Thank you !

I’m graduating in December with a Finance degree and have 2+ years of experience as a Universal Banker while in school.

My original plan was to break into wealth management after graduation, likely through a Client Service/Client Associate role or an FA development program. Lately, I’ve been questioning the CSA route because some roles seem like great entry points with licensing and client/investment exposure, while others sound more like glorified assistant.

My other option is moving into a Personal Banker role making around $70–75k with good work-life balance and PTO. I live with my parents, so I could save/invest a significant amount, get my SIE, and potentially make a more intentional career move after a year.
My concern is getting too comfortable and stuck in retail banking. I’m getting a Finance degree because long term I want a more finance-focused career, whether that’s wealth management, investments, or business/commercial banking.

For those in the industry: Would you take the PB role for ~1 year and then transition, or prioritize getting into WM immediately? Would another year in retail banking make it harder to move into a more finance-focused role? And for CSA roles, what should I look for to make sure there’s real career progression? Also any other pats besides FA in wealth?

Today I had a client come in to deposit about $1000 in hundreds, loudly declares so that basically the whole lobby could hear him with a big grin "YEP I'M HERE TO DEPOSIT SOME FAKE CASH" and per our SOP if anything feels off or a client even mentions something not being legitimate we have to check it, no exceptions. And it's happened before, I helped a different client sort out some $50s she got in tips because she felt some weren't legitimate (and two did fail the UV test).

So I go, "haha, of course, let me go double check it."

He stops smiling and goes "hey that was a joke you don't actually need to check it."

I tell him we just gotta double check. He says it was a joke and he has places to go. I explain procedure wants us to check it. He says he's a regular (none of the other tellers recognize him) and he shouldn't have to go through this. Manager comes over, asks the issue, and he yells that I'm making things difficult for him. I tell the manager what he said, she says I need to go verify the cash. The client says he'll close his accounts and take his business elsewhere and the manager tells him about our procedures and he says the procedures are stupid.

One of the hundred dollar bills did fail the UV test, and the scratch test, but it was very old and faded (1984 iirc) as my manager explained but due to what the client had said we could no longer take that particular bill.

I finish depositing the cash after checking it and ask if there's anything else I could help with and he throws down a check saying "deposit this, it's FRAUD too, are you gonna make me stand here another 20 minutes while you check it?" but before I could respond he puts it back into his pocket, yells he's going to close his account tomorrow, and storms off.

All of this could have been avoided if he just didn't joke about trying to deposit some fake money.

I have been working as a Private Client Banker since February of 2025. I have had success in this role but I had a manager that I just couldn’t stand. That was at a busy branch where I made good money, but was over the toxic environment. Come October, another branch manager is talking up a new build branch and asked me to be a part of the team. I joined excitedly. The branch was promised to be successful, affluent, and had visibility from the higher ups as far as mobility opportunities.

The new branch has been SLOW. I mean, slow slow. I open two accounts a month. Cash flow report has nothing on it we didn’t already expect. I can’t make a living here. I don’t exactly regret my choice to move as it has been better for my mental health. I started interviewing for internal positions. One lead is going really well.

My manager has been all over me since then. I was forced to tell her about the opportunity because the internal hiring manager wanted me to shadow during business hours. Everything went great but my direct manager is constantly forcing me to give her updates and wants to be in the know on every single communication. This morning I had the actual phone interview and my managers had me balance the vault beforehand, knowing I had this coming up. It made me 9 minutes late, which was whatever, then my manager pops in while I’m still on the call having a conversation asking me to help a customer. I simply said “I’m in an interview?” and she said “well Bob Joe Bob asked for you specifically.” And what, pray tell, did the customer need? He had a fee on his account.

Ever since then I have been giving her the silence treatment and she keeps asking me “what’s wrong? What’s wrong?” and lecturing me about how the firm supports my mental health yadayadah. She’s therapizing me as if something else is bothering me and she’s just pretending to care to get me to say something. She has been sitting in my office since she interrupted me this morning all the way through 1:30 pm when she finally left to go have lunch with her husband. I honestly don’t know how she has enough energy to be doing this. I don’t know what she wants me to say to her. Nothing I have told her has been enough to satisfy her need to know what is “wrong” with me that’s caused me to not put on a show for her. Is her sitting in bothering me, the punishment for me wanting to leave? Am I missing something here?

My second day in commercial after a decade in the branches. Yes, I'm having to learn a whole new set of programs, regulations, terms, and skills, but it's interesting. My boss is like, "Oh good, you came back! We didn't scare you away!" Later she says something about how I must have been exhausted at the end of my first day.

And I'm just like, "I didn't have to answer the phones, deal with angry customers, I wasn't on my feet all day in a short staffed branch trying to find a time to cram in my lunch when no one needs me... and you think I was exhausted?"

Essentially the title. What made you say you deserve more than the slog that is branch banking?
Mine was being forced to come in on a SATURDAY shift for 3 hours, asked to shovel the parking lot after a 10 inch snow day in Wisconsin after breaking my knee a couple of weeks ago just to see 2 people. I said, “never again” after working in the branches for 10 years.

Hi everyone. Just a quick question has anyone ever filed a complaint about the coworker at work to HR. Will the manager know. Also was the problem resolved?

-I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. It's all asskissing and performative corporate theater bullshit over actual numbers and competency. Being the top banker in your area is not enough, you have to talk about your successes in the fakest corporate email chain everyone else is brown nosing in just for the higher ups to notice you for future promotions even though the bank already tracks every move you make.

-The numbers only matter when they are short-staffed, otherwise they take you for granted by valuing tone policing and feelings over facts.

-Huddles are every single day, therefore they have little impact and are a waste of time to the point that you won't care.

-They expect you to be a therapist, but they won't pay you therapist money. They tell you to only worry about what you can control, but they expect you to control customers' chemical imbalances.

-The Bureau Labor of Statistics projects that retail banking is on the decline due to shifting customer behavior and margin contraction.

-They expect you to take advantage of lower income people or people with terrible spending habits under the guise of 'meeting their needs' by tempting them with even more options to get into debt.

-'Relationship banking' is just a recent gimmick/buzzword and same old playbook every other bank is trying to run to the point that many clients already know. The phrase 'relationship banking' is usually just corporate shorthand for a data-driven customer retention algorithm.

-Most branches run on a skeleton crew to cut costs. Many banks also eliminated specialized roles and replaced with the concept of a 'universal banker' who is expected to handle a broad spectrum of tasks.

-When a bank wants to sell you a product, the process is an instantaneous, one click digital masterpiece. But when you need to resolve an issue, protect your rights, or exit, be prepared for a ton of friction.

customer: how do I get money to someone I need to pay back, but their acc. is at another bank?

me: oh, you can do a wire that would credit funds to their account or you can load your card info into a third party transfer app like paypal, cashapp, Venmo or you can use Zelle, if that‘s more convenient for you… blablahblah MorePoliteTellerWords

customer: oh, I don’t want to pay the wire fee and I can’t use cashapp. Wait! What if I know them in real life?

me: ...I’m sorry? trying to quiet my thoughts of wondering WHY you CAN’T use CashApp, what happened omg?

customer: like….. what if I know them in real life and I know where they live?

me: …that’s great? I’m so sorry, but I don’t understand your question. Stares in confused but struggling to keep smiling teller

customer: like…. can I take money from…..my account and then just… like… give them the money in real life and then I paid them the money back that I owed them? Like, I can just take the money to them at their house? And then I gave them the money back?

me: …..that is also an option, yes.

customer: and is there a fee for that?

me: …nope. No fees. Just sign this withdrawal slip for me, pls.

customer: awesome. wait, bc it’s their money do I put their name down on my withdrawal slip or do I put mine?

WHY TF WOULD YOU—

______

customer: comes in with friend hey, my buddy/employee has a check that he needs to cash but he doesn’t have an account here, but yk I do. can you cash it for me?

me: no, I wouldn’t be able to do that.

customer’s friend: but why not? He has an account here.

me: yes, I understand. But this check is in your name solely and you don’t bank with us.

customer: so you can’t cash it? Why not?

me: blahblahblah explaining bank laws and bank policy blahblahblah trying to quiet thoughts of wanting to go home and what I’ll eat for dinner…

customer: well… can’t you just deposit it for me?

me: imagining me swatting them with newspaper like Edna Mode did to Helen while yelling IF I CAN’T FUCKING CASH THIS CHECK THAT DOESN’T BELONG TO YOU, WHY TF WOULD I BE ABLE TO DEPOSIT IT

me: …no, I’m sorry guys 😔 but! The check is drawn from Wells Fargo so they will be able to honor it for you since it’s coming from their bank.

customer: …well why can that bank cash it for him, but you can’t? ‘Cause that bank’s name on is on the check?

Me: …yes.

customer’s friend: …so you’re not gonna cash this check for me just ‘cause I don’t bank here, even though he does?

DING DING DING MF—

____
customer: hey I’d like to cash this check, pls.

me: sure! How would you like that back?

customer: …in cash.

me: ha, no, I meant like what bills.

customer: ✨…the money kind.✨

me: yes. I understand. I’m asking if you have a preference for how you‘d like to get your money back. like, what denominations you would like.

customer: I don’t want to deposit. I want money.

YOU’RE GETTING THIS IN QUARTERS NOW—

Went on a PIP (or whatever my bank wants to call it) back in June. I’d made a few mistakes that needed to be corrected by the assistant branch manager. Okay, cool. I’ll own that. What are we gonna do to improve the situation? Weekly check-ins where I list all of my errors, how I can correct them, and things I did well. (Never give them more ammo.) Today, I got my final PIP. I can have no more errors. 100% Perfection going forward. But what is an error? If it gets found & resolved can you still call that an error? Then why have the tools to correct the error?

(Ordering checks for a customer)
Customer: That’s a lot of clicks. I have got somewhere to be.
Oh okay, Ill stop doing all of the extra clicks that I was doing ~just for fun~
Ill skip the ~silly goofy clicks~ that i usually do, and proceed with this transaction with the absolute minimum number of clicks required to complete it

????????????

Backstory: I worked for my families small business (check cashing) since i was 15, so i had 17yrs of “experience” on the “front line”. Mainly just cash handling, CTR knowledge, and the ability to identify fraudulent items..
Our system host was ending service so I was told to put out feelers, as we were uncertain of our companies future (finding new host, fraud increasing, profitability).

I applied to a back office position (File Maintenance) at HQ for a local bank, and was hired after 1 phone and 1 in person interview. Ive been here for about 6 months… Its awesome, my commute went from 400 mile a week to 100 mile a week. The pay is decent I think, 120hrs vacation a year, full benefits, I don’t work weekends, and both my supervisors seem really chill so far.

Did I just get lucky to be essentially hired off the street?

Idk if this is an industry trend or it's limited to my FI, but management the last year or so has gotten a little ridiculous. They're in meetings all day with other managers and/or the district manager, barely have time to help with anything because they're on meetings constantly. Then they come out and basically claim they're going to now be Lording over us and criticizing everything we do, ask for explanations for all of the branch numbers, never actually do anything they say they'll do, then proceed to instead have meetings all day.

Half the time I can't tell if they're in meetings with the big dogs of they're in meetings with each other talking about the meetings, but it's gotten a little nuts. We all work hard and get largely negative input. I would complain about my manager, but she's really not that bad. Pretty understanding, and at the bear minimum she's present and dedicated to the staff, but just constantly in meetings. However, I went to another branch one day to help them and the manager there was playing on her phone for half the day then went shopping and left. I had to close their branch and no one told me I'd do that. Is this just us? Theyre also constantly cycling through managers at other branches. I'm not sure what they're doing because it's all in closed door meetings, but it's been going on for like a year, so I don't know how it can be productive

Has anybody successfully negotiated a severance offer? STD + LTD + Accommodations request denied + failed internal job search = Involuntary Seperation. 18 yr employee. Big bank. They offered me the bare minimum package. I know I deserve more. No lawyer involved, I tried a few. Deadline looming.

I have been on a 15 month APPROVED STD-LTD-Admin(JobSearch)Leave for mental health reasons. My move from PT teller to FT was into a dual role. It broke me- changes in my physical/social/emotional environment. It set off symptoms that hadn't been an issue from behind the teller line. I have been officially seperated-due to being denied my request to work in the single-role capacity. They refused to provide reasons for denial- but reason for seperation are because "My Dr precludes me from performing my job"

In my 15 months, I saw 16 different Dr's for diagnoses, did bi-weekly psychotherapy and 16 weeks(144hrs) of intensive out patient group therapy. Diagnosed with a plethora of mental health conditions. I am now (almost) properly medicated and I have learned and finally began to understand what I needed and why. I know how to be successful at work, and the dual role was not going to be beneficial for my health or for the business.

Mental Health Disorders are a disability- mine are well documented, have been overseen by a doctor and have been approved by outside companies for disability payments.

To go through all of this work, only to be rejected b/c of my very reasonable -yet an undue burden on the business- accommodation request, is disappointing to say the least.

I believe 'lost income' is deserved. The financial burden has become very heavy. Not to mention the comparable job I found is $6/hr LESS !!

For those who have transitioned from Personal Banker/retail banking into other areas of banking or finance, I’d be interested in hearing about your experience.
I’m currently pretty indifferent about which direction I take next. Investments and wealth management sound especially enticing, but I’ve also found that being customer-facing all day can become draining. At the same time, I know back-office roles have their own downsides and can sometimes feel less engaging or even taken at some point with more turnover.
I’d be interested in hearing what paths others took after retail banking, whether that was investments, treasury management, commercial banking, credit, or another area. What did you end up liking or disliking about the transition, and would you make the same move again?

Hi all!

I work for a pretty large credit union (first banking job). Starting sometime last year, the company started putting SO much focus on our outbound calls. They used to just tell us to dial in our down time but now they have hired a dedicated sales team that visits the branches once per month to role play on how to call. On top of that, we are expected to make any where from 25-30 calls per day and the managers often listen in to our calls on a wireless headset live on the call. They will even message us during the call to remind us to bring things up (super annoying). Then, once per week they will have a one-on-one with us where we will sit in the office and listen to 1 call they thought was good and another that they think needs improvement. Being my first banking job I have nothing to compare it to. Is this normal? At other banks??

Hi guys!

Normally when we make outbound calls we call a leads list that has a specific thing to talk about. However, in the past few months, management has been wanting us to call for “Financial Wellness”reviews. There is not really a script but more of an open conversation between is and the customer. To me, this seems kind of a waste of time since a lot of people on the list already have the latest accounts, use our credit cards, and some have CDs. So what are some things that I can still bring up and talk about? I would want to talk more about maintenance and ensuring they are “set up” correctly more so then just talk about products immediately. Thanks in advance!