March 2019 by Louis M.
I went in, on a weekday morning. There were 15 employees, who all looked like they were standing around, doing nothing. I was the only customer there. The bank is on university property or directly adjacent. I take the bus and the bus doesn't go near there. I got to walk through university property in order to get to the branch. I get creeped out whenever I visit a university. The people are such snobs, and the campus police aren't really there for the benefit of poor people in the community who happen to be hanging out on their property without having a good reason. Even if they have a good reason, like visiting the food court or going to an event or using the library, I don't really expect campus police to be understanding. Why did the bank choose this location to build, out in the middle of nowhere? Why not build a smaller branch, maybe just for banking in a good spot, but with a smaller building? It's not their fault that you got to walk over some ice sheets on university property in order to get there. Just strange. And people don't get into a good mood when they visit other adjacent businesses, like that stupid convenience store attached to the gas station, that doesn't even serve fried chicken anymore and is definitely on university property. I decided to close my account, after visiting this branch. Even though I look poor, no one did anything wrong. I just got a funny feeling, like the bank was more for middle class people and I wouldn't fit in. Most banks are like that. People seem to leave more restaurant reviews on Yelp than for banks. But, where people put their money is important to them. They should express their feelings about it. Sometimes, banks will have more employees in business attire and fancy buildings in order to put on a good front, even if the branches aren't necessary. I'm not a big depositor, but someone is paying for these branches and these employees and it makes me wonder how carefully they are spending money, money that could be used for something that would more directly benefit the depositors. I wonder how well they can pay their employees and how good their benefits package is, if they have so many of them and pay so much for buildings. Maybe, it gets more business during peak times, to justify the expense. They do a lot of things at this financial institution, besides banking, from investing to insurance, which is fine, but can they really do so many things well? Wouldn't it make more sense to specialize? I opened an account with this 'bank', because they were mostly in small towns and I thought the sense of small town friendliness and customer service would be a feature, but I just don't notice it, around here.
