My Life as a Banker: A Life worth Living
by
, 08-01-2014 at 10:10 PM (4954 Views)
The following is an extract from the book, "My Life as a Banker."
"I was transferred to the High Street, San Fernando Branch, because of bank policy. My fiance and I had plans to marry the following year and husband and wife were not allowed to work at the same branch.
High Street Branch being a big branch was quite different to Couva branch. There were separate departments for Savings, Current Accounts, Clearings, Foreign Trade, Credit, and Securities. The Accountant discussed my new job with me on my first day. I was not introduced to the Manager. I was told by one of my fellow workers that he never spoke to junior staff members and that I would only see him when my annual staff report was due and when I was required to sign it in his presence. He was an Englishman.
The Accountant advised that I would be responsible for Clearings. This entailed obtaining all cheques from the waste clerk who collected all the vouchers from the cashier. I then had to list them on forms in accordance with the branches or banks on which they were drawn to be sent for collection to the respective banks. There were no computers in those days and I had to use an adding machine with a pull-handle. The totals were agreed against the waste sheets, which were done on a huge waste machine by another clerk. In spite of the large volume of cheques, I balanced the figures quite easily. First - shot was the term used. The tedious part was getting the finished product signed by two signatories. The signatories were supervisors of other departments, and although I placed the completed clearings on their desks by 2.00 pm each day, they only signed them when the work in their departments was completed, and this was almost always after 4.00 pm. Many evenings I had to stay back quite late to insert them in their respective envelopes.
The Accountant soon recognized my ability for getting the job done quickly and efficiently and she transferred me to the Credit and Securities Department as a Securities clerk. My supervisor was very clear in her instructions and quite easy to understand. I admired the patience she exercised with customers, the way she dressed, as well as her graceful manner. I enjoyed working with her very much. There was one other staff member in the department and she was an experienced security clerk. She taught me everything about securities and we got along extremely well. My supervisor who also dealt with loan customers requested our assistance to interview customers and complete Statement of Affairs forms. I considered that as a learning opportunity and willingly found the time to do so, When my supervisor resigned her job to go abroad to reside, she was replaced by another amicable person. Although she was firm, she was knowledgeable and very jovial and it was a pleasure to work with her."
Read the book to find out more.
Kindle Version
Paperback Version