In a computerised public sector bank in the heart of the city, I expected the task to be over in a jiffy. My heart sank when I found myself standing at the end of a serpentine queue in the ‘single window’ counter.
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As part of the process of filing my income tax return, needless to say, at the eleventh hour, I rushed to the bank to get my savings account passbook updated. In a computerised public sector bank in the heart of the city, I expected the task to be over in a jiffy. My heart sank when I found myself standing at the end of a serpentine queue in the ‘single window’ counter. A cursory glance at the people standing before me clearly showed that they were there to remit or withdraw cash as well.
My only comfort lay in the fact that the cashier was my neighbour. All that I could gain from my acquaintance was stepping out of the queue and standing at hand-shaking distance from him while waiting for my turn, as there was strict surveillance on my movement by all those standing before me.
When my turn came, I handed over the passbook. He mechanically accepted all the books, tapped them gently and put them under a huge pile of passbooks already given to him, requesting that the customers be seated. Meanwhile, he also accepted tokens from the customers who wanted to transact, accepting only three tokens at a time, then pausing to update five passbooks before resuming.
As we waited, one customer butted in with a query on the updation of know -your-customer or KYC, although there was a separate counter with the ‘May I help you’ board at the entrance of the branch. Not to be left out, the assistant branch manager, tapped the cashier’s shoulder from behind, handing over a bunch of papers to be attended to.
“This is the condition every day, from 10 am to 3 pm. Two clerical staff members retired a month ago, but no signs of replacements so far,” my friend muttered while mechanically counting the notes before placing them in the note counting machine for the third time, as it showed a different figure every time.
He then proceeded to update the passbook before handing it over to the customer, who, perusing it, wryly remarked, “It’s time you replaced the toner; hope you have one!”
“Post pandemic, many in the IT sector have an option to work from home, if only we had something like that,” he lamented, looking at the huge pile of cash that needed to be bundled and kept in the vault. Some wishful thinking on his part.