“Yes.”
“Is that official branch policy?”
“No.”
“Regional policy?”
“I don’t think so.”
“Does he say why?”
“Productivity.”
The CEO leaned back.
The word had appeared in complaints.
He asked:
“What happens if a teller spends fifteen minutes helping someone with a small account problem?”
“He watches.”
“Then?”
“He asks why.”
“Sometimes he tells us we are ‘burning payroll on zero-value relationships.’”
The CEO’s jaw tightened.
“Those exact words?”
“Yes.”
“Have you heard him use them more than once?”
“Yes.”
“How many?”
“I don’t know.”
“Many.”
The teller nodded.
The CEO asked:
“Have employees complained?”
Silence.
“Have you?”
“No.”
“Why?”
She looked embarrassed.
“I need this job.”
The CEO nodded.
That was an answer.
Not cowardice.
Economics.
People with authority often tell employees to speak up while controlling rent, insurance, childcare, and references.
Courage costs differently depending on salary.
He asked:
“Has anyone who challenged him been punished?”
The teller took a long breath.
“One person transferred.”
“Voluntarily?”
“She said yes.”
“Did you believe her?”
“No.”
“What happened?”
“She questioned how he treated an elderly woman.”
The CEO’s face hardened.
“Black?”
The teller nodded.
The elderly woman had come in carrying a shoebox of paperwork after her husband died.
She did not understand which accounts were joint.
The teller had spent nearly forty minutes helping.
The manager later told her to “stop running a social-work office.”
Another employee objected.
Two weeks later, that employee’s schedule changed.
Saturday shifts.
Closing shifts.
Then a performance warning for “negative attitude.”
She transferred.
The CEO wrote nothing down.
He remembered.
“Anything else?”
The teller hesitated.
“Yes.”
“Tell me.”
“He tells us not to bother asking low-balance customers about appointments.”
“What appointments?”
“Financial reviews.”
“Mortgage consultations.”
“Small-business banking.”
The CEO stared.