You Are Always Late

Friction at cash counters is not an uncommon sight in bank branches. Modren technology has rendered counting of cash and detection of fake notes much simpler than what it used to be some forty years ago. When cash counting machines had not yet made their debut, and digital banking and Alternate Delivery Channels (ADCs) like ATMs, internet and mobile banking were not heard of, large volume of cash had to be examined and counted by cashiers each day. Cash was to be first counted and received, then sorted into issuable and soiled notes, stitched into packets of 100 notes each and bundled at 10 packets per bundle. All this took the required amount of time and could not be dispensed with. Handling cash is different from other banking chores and a cashier is accountable for every single piece of currency note he handles. Any shortage is to be made good by the handling cashier immediately. Small denomination notes and cut and mutilated notes add to the problem. "Clean Note Policy" has brought some semblance of discipline in handling currency notes by the general public nowadays. The most important development is routing of large number and volume of transactions through paper-based and electronic payment systems. Despite all this cash handling is still a sensitive issue at bank branches.

Many branches in those days (around 1980) were working in two shifts, for the convenience of customers mostly in residential areas. Branches in market and industrial areas were working between 10 AM to 5 PM with business hours up to 2 PM. Residential area branches were working in two shifts; say 8.30 AM to 12 Noon and again from 4.30 PM to 7.30 PM. Business hours in such branches was restricted to first two hours in each session, say 8.30 AM to 10.30 AM and again from 4.30 PM to 6.30 PM. These branches worked for half a day (morning session) on Sundays and had holidays on Mondays. This was the general pattern of working hours with margins of half an hour on either side. These timings were convenient to working people and housewives as they could finish their banking transactions before going to office or in the evening free time. It also suited many staff members for various reasons. Bank managements were also considerate in posting staff in these branches. A small allowance titled "Split Duty Allowance" was also paid to the staff members to compensate travel to the branch one more time each day. 

Customer inflow (Footfall is the word used used for this nowadays) used to be high in such branches in the first hour in the morning and last hour in the evening. Staff were keen to finish the work and go home as early as possible in the evening. Transport facilities were not this advanced then. Of course, there were not such traffic jams as well. Finishing work was relatively easy in other sections as some things could be carried over to the next day. But not so in cash department as all the prescribed steps had to be completed before the cash is closed for the day and stored in the strong room. Head Cashier and Cash in-charge were the last people to leave the branch in the evening.

A customer bringing large amount of cash, that too in small denominations, was like a Red Rag before the Cashier Bull. There would be some violent exchanges. The intensity depended on the nature of both the customer and the cashier and the chemistry between them. In one of the branches where I was working as Assistant Manager and Cash-in-charge, there used to be a small exchange between the cashier and some customers almost every day. A mother does not always interfere when her small children have fights at home. She keeps a watch and interferes only when the fight tends to go out of control and one of the kids is likely to be injured. I had followed the same policy. Things were working out fine generally, except a few occasions when some action was required to cool the frayed tempers. Branch Manager usually was away in the evenings on business development calls and not available to handle such situations.

There was one customer who always came in the evening twice a week; on Wednesdays and Saturdays. He would come just before closing time in the evening and remit large amount of cash for purchase of DDs. His appearance at the branch door would immediately create some tension for the cashier and the DD writer. DD writer would manage to find the amount and prepare the DD in advance, place it on my table and go home. But cashier did not have this luxury. He had to receive, count and close the cash systematically. One Saturday evening things went out of control. "You are always late. You bring large amount of cash and always in small denominations. Why can't you come early? Why don't you bring high denomination notes?  You are always making my home going very late", he was telling the customer in a raised voice. The cashier was recently married. Had he been married for several years, he would have probably welcomed the idea of going home late.

There was indeed a need for interfering now. I called the customer and enquired what was the nature of his business. He was the proprietor of a Poultry Farm situate some 20 miles from our branch. He told me that Wednesday and Saturday were his collection days. He would be busy entire mornings in his farm looking after the birds, feeding them, collecting eggs and segregating broiler birds for delivery. After loading the eggs and birds into his delivery van after lunch, he would come into the city for delivering them and collecting payments for supplies made during the previous visits. This work would be over by sunset. With all the cash collections he would come to the branch, tender cash and buy DD for purchase of poultry feed for the next cycle. He had no control over the denomination of notes given by his customers. He politely said that he wants to come early, but his strict schedule does not allow him to come earlier than this.

I had a talk with the Branch Manager on the next day. I suggested that the cashier can be taken to the Poultry Farm during his next visit to enable the cashier to understand the problem of the customer. BM liked the idea and arranged for a visit to the poultry farm for the entire branch staff on a Sunday afternoon. This brought about a big change in the attitude of the cashier and the angry exchanges stopped. The customer and the cashier would greet each other now and carry on with their respective work. There was no early going for the cashier even now, but tension was reduced thereafter.

This episode gave a valuable lesson in people management at the branches. In the later years, during my field visits I took one or two staff members to the units, be they manufacturing units, trading ones or units of any other type. This brought staff at branch nearer to the customers and helped in appreciating the needs and constraints of the customers. 

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Empathy develops by seeing and experiencing things, not by mere words. People management skills are not a fixed schedule; they have to be invented and adapted depending on the given situations. Each delicate situation does indeed have some solution. These solutions have to be found by a little effort and imagination.