Smelly Carol

I would honestly say that at least once a month I have a rather negative experience with a customer. This is never due to the fact that I have made a mistake most of the time it is because I follow a procedure correctly. The first upset customer I had ever had to deal with named Carol Mathews. She was the rudest person I had ever met.

At our bank we offer a cash advance for non-customers. For all of you people that don’t know what a cash advance is I will explain.  When you receive a credit card you are able to pull cash off of it. This sounds great and all but there is usually a fee and it creates a interest fee of about 23%. So if you use your credit card to perform a cash advance for $100 it would charge you a $5 fee along with a 23% interest rate. So you would have to pay $128 just to have $100. Sounds pretty stupid to me. But I guess if you are ever put in a situation where you need money fast, a cash advance really could make a difference.

Carol Mathews was large middle-aged smelly women. She wore penguin pajamas and a tattered red shirt. It looked like she had just returned from a dog fight as she strolled into the bank at 3:45PM on a quiet Thursday afternoon. A few of my co-workers mysteriously had to use the restroom or make a personal phone call immerged from the clear door. I had been working at the bank for a month. I had no clue what to expect.

“I can help you right here mam” I said with a fake smile. She approached me. I was suddenly no longer in my cinnamon apple smelling bank I was in the unseeable gravitational field of Carol with a mixture of smells consisting of cat urine and human feces on my nostrils.

“I would like to do a cash advance for $300.” She said as she threw her dirty MasterCard at me. “No problem, I just need your ID card for the transaction.” I said as my eyes began to water. In order to perform a cash advance we need a ID card with current information otherwise we would not be able to perform the transaction. “They all know me here” she replied loudly with her raspy voice.

“I understand that however we need it per bank procedure”

“They do it all the time without”

“Impossible mam we can not continue the transaction without it”

She began digging through her large violet purse. “Here you go” she said as she threw me an expired temporary license from 2005. “Mam, I need a current ID card, this expired in 2005” I said as my eyes began to tear up from the smell. “I NEED TO SPEAK TO YOUR MANAGER NOW” Carol said with anger. My manger came up and told her everything I had just told her. “IM TAKING ALL OF YOU BITCHES TO COURT” Carol proclaimed as she wobbled out of our lobby.

As soon as she was a safe distance away Greg threw me a can of Frebreeze and said “I got you man.” I must have used half a can to neutralize the smell. After the whole confrontation Shelly gave me some advice. “Every time a smelly person comes in put lotion under your nose it usually will give you two extra minutes of freshness.” That wasn’t the last time I would run into Carol Mathews.