THREE BANKERS AND A BOUNCER
I walked into my local Chase…read morebranch to deposit a check into one of my Chase accounts. The teller said she needed to check with her manager. The manager refused the deposit because the check, from a local business that has always known me by my nickname, a name I've had since birth, was made out to that name. I wasn't trying to cash the check or withdraw money. I just wanted to deposit it.
I've banked with Chase for years, and I was stunned they wouldn't accept it. When I pushed back, the manager called in her bouncer, a young man in his 30s, physically fit, in plain clothes with no uniform or ID. He approached me, a 79 year old man, in a threatening manner, told me to leave or he'd call the police, and started moving me toward the door. A young, strong man closing in on a senior and physically threatening him is a threat, plain and simple.
As he paused, a wealth manager I'd worked with before recognized me and stepped out of his office. I asked him, "You treat a good customer like this, and you want to manage my money?" He had no answer.
I tried to photograph the manager, but she held up a file folder to hide her face, safe behind the bulletproof teller glass. The bouncer backed off as I left. I don't know if anyone called the police. I have never in my life been asked to leave a business, let alone one I trust with my money. Would the manager refuse access to funds I entrusted with the bank? Who knows?
Epilogue: still shaken, I got home, tried to relax, and decided to try the Chase mobile app instead. Deposit submitted in under a minute. Later that afternoon, an email arrived: "We accepted your check deposit." Thanks, Chase!
So the Chase app did in sixty seconds, civilly, without threat or disrespect, what four Chase employees (a teller, a manager, a wealth manager, and a plain-clothes bouncer) could not do.
Worth noting, Chase has been cutting jobs all year, including roughly 250 in Texas and 475 in New Jersey, and CEO Jamie Dimon says AI has already trimmed headcount 30 to 40 percent in some areas. Here's a thought for Mr. Dimon: your app did what three bankers and a bouncer couldn't: help a loyal customer deposit money. Pull the security footage if it still exists and tell me if this is how Chase cares for its customers.
Maybe this is how the bank got its name: by Chase'ing out its customers.