Money & finances » Hip to be Mom

Train them well

Posted by Clairity Comments Off

Nov 282010

Recently I blogged about being at the bank, and truly worried about the people staffing it. I wonder how they handle those who want to buy gold bullion with their bank or make a hefty investment. Will they still be as clueless as when I was trying to deposit a check?

If the staff are clueless, I think the bank should invest in sending their staff for training till they know their jobs so well they can do it with their eyes closed. I mean, how else can the public trust them with their money, especially in these times of economic instability?

There’s good reason why I hate going to the bank. This bank in particular. Judging from the last entry in my passbook, the last time I stepped in there was way back in March and I certainly wouldn’t have gone there if I didn’t have a check to deposit.

I’m greeted at the information desk by not 1, not 2 but 3 staff who’ve probably been chit-chatting about acsonix reviews right up till then. I ask if I need to get a number to wait in line. The guy asks what I want to do and when he hears I need to deposit a check, he points me over to the machine.

Now I’ve never trusted any machine that sucks up my money. So I make up this story about having some other stuff to take care of and hope they’ll just give me a number. But no, he now asks me what else I want to do. As if that’s any business of his!

So I mumble something about a time deposit account. The lady behind the desk whips out a form and the guy points me to a free-standing counter to fill it up. By this time, I’m wondering why I even bothered making up that story about the time deposit.

So I march back to the information desk to demand for a number. Are you done filling the form? the guy asks in disbelief. Yup, I lied through my teeth. I don’t think he was convinced. But enough is enough!

The lady behind the desk reluctantly presses a button on her machine to generate a number slip for me. Remember the joke about how many men it takes to change a light bulb? Well, the joke here is how many empty barrels does it take a press a button? And the answer is 3!

Thankfully the wait was short. I hand the bank teller my check. He whips it out of my hand and says OK. I’m like, OK what? That’s it? He stares at me blankly. So where’s my receipt? as if that wasn’t obvious enough to him.

Oh! He slowly awakens and hands me the slip. Okay, so tell me, why am I, the customer, having to tell him what to do? If I know his job better than him, why the heck is he sitting there handling my money? Herein lies an even better reason why I call this the completely idiotic and moronic bank.

For the record, I’ve only been banking with them because they’re located so conveniently near by. When I come back from my vacation, am I going to continue banking with them? Um, I’d say don’t bank on it!

Pirates’ gold!

Posted by Clairity Comments Off

Nov 272010

I’m reading on many blogs that folks are not planning to go anywhere for the holidays this year. Maybe they’re saving up to buy gold but as for us, the only gold we will be able to afford is pirates’ gold. Be warned, Davy Jones of the piano-playing tentacles fame, we be after your treasure chests of gold medallions and chains!!

Already my girls have started trying to be thrifty (key word, trying) so they can save up and hit the Disneyland store like a hurricane when they get there. I see them checking out sites for ideas on what to buy and I’m shivering, or rather, my wallet is shivering in fright!!

Nice thought but…

Posted by Clairity Comments Off

Nov 042010

Now why didn’t I buy gold bars when my friend mentioned it to us years ago? At the time, I treated it as a joke and laughed it off. I mean, come on, I have three kids, the only thing that I would buy is milk powder, definitely not gold!

Now that I think about it though, it would’ve made a lot of sense to have bought gold back then. Imagine with my kids going to college one by one, that gold would be just about starting to ripen and sparkle. Hmmm. Nice thought! Wish I’d thought of it like that way back when !

Were you a gold coin collector when you were a kid? And did you lately make such collectors of your kids as well? I think it’s more likely that you, like me, were an ardent stamp collector, and as for our kids, we probably never even tried to make them collectors of anything, except maybe for computer games.

Instead of wasting our time on stamps, we might as well have collected gold coins instead, huh? I have some bronze coins, but no gold ones. But who knows, after I’m done doing research at the United States Gold Bureau, I might just want to start dealing in gold coins. I think that might’ve been a favorite pastime of Uncle Scrooge?

I walked past a jewelry store at the mall and was reminded of the days when giving gold bullion as gifts for weddings and birthdays was such a common thing. These days, it’s only given to close family members and even then, it may be too expensive a gift for some to afford.

Hopefully the economy will recover quickly and then we won’t have to be so watchful of how we spend. I think there’s a certain joy to receiving gold as a gift, don’t you? I mean, it’s like wow, check out my piece of gold, it probably cost a fortune and now I can build my little empire . Nice thought!