Guy walks in around 2pm on a Tuesday. No appointment, no phone call ahead, nothing. He walks straight up to my window and says he needs to withdraw $10,000 in cash. Right now.
I smile and ask if he called ahead to arrange the withdrawal. He looks at me like I just asked him to solve a calculus problem.
"Why would I need to call ahead? It's my money."
I explain, as politely as possible, that we're a smaller branch and we don't keep that much cash in our drawers or even in the vault most days. For large cash withdrawals, we ask customers to give us 24-48 hours notice so we can make sure we have the funds available. Standard banking stuff. Every bank does this.
He is not having it.
"So you're telling me I can't access my money that I deposited in your bank?"
I try to explain that he absolutely can access his money, we just need a little time to physically get the cash here. I offer to do a cashier's check right now, or we could arrange the cash withdrawal for tomorrow, or he could try our main branch downtown which might have more on hand.
"This is theft. You are literally holding my money hostage."
Sir, it's logistics. We are not a vault. We don't have scrooge mcduck piles of cash in the back room.
He demanded to speak to my manager. Manager came out and said the exact same thing I did. He demanded the district manager's number. Called them right there in the lobby. They said the same thing.
He left screaming that he was going to report us to the authorities for stealing from him. His $10,000 is still sitting peacefully in his account. Completely accessible. Just not in the form of a brick of cash within 30 seconds of him demanding it.
Some people really think banks are just giant piggy banks with their name on a specific pile of bills in the back.
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