There shouldn't be stress with banking services if they are adequate and operated in the right way, but if they aren't properly handled in the right way, it is a serious stress irrespective of what you went there for. In Nigeria, everything is stressful. If you want to deposit your hard-earned money in the bank for safekeeping, it's stressful, and if you want to collect your money from the bank, it's stressful.
Ever since I became an account owner, I haven't had a stress-free day at the bank, but I once had my worst experience when I had to stay in the bank as early as they resumed until they closed late in the evening. I ran a smart kid account at the prestigious Guaranty Trust Bank plc as a teenager before I upgraded my account into an adult account when I came of age. I have been managing the smart kid account ever since I became an adult because I don't want to go through the stress of queuing in the bank just to get my account upgraded, but I guess I had no choice but to dedicate a day to get it done because the bank sent several emails repeatedly to remind me of the upgrade before the kid account is blocked.
On a Monday morning, which I had thought would be the best day to get my little issue sorted out, I decided to go to the bank as early as possible so that I could get attended to by the first set of people, not knowing I was deceiving myself. Monday, which was the first day of the working week when every service should be fast and accurate, went wrong the day I chose to visit the bank. I got to the bank earlier, therefore I had to wait for the employees, that is, the bank officials, to start the day's work before any customer could get access to the bank. After waiting for some minutes, their resumption time was due, the bank was opened, and every one of them was situated in their position to start the day's work.
Walking up to one of the staff portions to handle cases similar to mine, I explained my reason for coming, and he gave me a form to fill out, which I did correctly. After giving it to him, I was expecting him to input it into the system and then, after some minutes, discharge me that it had been settled, but that wasn't the case. He asked for a recommendation letter, which I didn't come with, and then he explained, "Because you were running a kid account before, to upgrade your account to an adult account, you will need a referral letter from someone that stood in as your guidance when you opened the kid account." The sound of that alone pissed me off because I didn't come with it.
I had to quickly run back home to get the letter because my dad was the one that stood in for me. On getting back to the bank, the staff, to whom I told I would be back in a jiffy with the letter, wasn't longer on the seat, and I met a different person, to whom I had to narrate my situation all over again. He checked the form I filled out, which was placed on one side of the table, and then he requested the recommendation letter, which I gave to him.
I was asked to go queue on the line for a while, which I obliged. After a while, I noticed the queue wasn't moving. I stepped forward to ask the reason behind the delay, and I was told the server for that procedure was down. Instantly, I started feeling headaches because anytime you are told a server is down or they are having network issues, don't expect anything positive.
I stood in the queue for hours; there isn't a provision for customers who will sit, so I had to stand, which I find so tiring. My legs started aching with discomfort, and I had to excuse myself for a while. I went outside and took a walk for a few minutes, found something to munch on, and then returned inside to meet the situation just as I left it some minutes ago. Those that couldn't be patient anymore left the bank without succeeding in what they came for that day. I waited for so long, thinking I would be able to get it sorted that day, but it didn't work as I thought.
After waiting for hours with no positive result, one of the bank staff walked up to our queue to apologize for the delay and ask us to come back the following day as they were about to close for the day. With so much disappointment, I left the bank feeling so tired and having wasted almost a day without achieving anything. That is how Nigerian banking services can be so annoying and unpredictable.
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