It is 11:00 a.m. An old man dressed in ordinary wornout clothes enters the largest and most luxurious bank in the downtown area of an American city, holding an old Manila envelope or folder in his hand. As soon as he enters the bank, all the elite customers and bank employees present inside start looking at him with strange expressions.
This old man’s name was Mr. Arthur. Mr. Arthur had a walking cane in one hand and that old envelope in the other. He slowly walks toward the teller counter set up for customer service. A female customer service representative was sitting at this counter whose name was Sarah. The eyes of everyone present inside the bank were fixed on Mr. Arthur. Slowly, Mr. Arthur reaches Sarah and says very politely, “Excuse me, miss. There is some problem with my account. It is not working properly.”
Saying this, Mr. Arthur hands the envelope over to Sarah. But Sarah, judging Mr. Arthur by his ordinary clothes, says, “Sir, it seems you have come to the wrong bank. I don’t think someone like you has an account in our bank.”
Then Mr. Arthur calmly says, “Miss, please check the system at least once. Perhaps my account is indeed in this bank.”
Annoyed, Sarah takes the envelope and says, “Sir, this will take a lot of time to look into. You have to wait in the lobby for a while.”
Saying this, Sarah and the other people present in the bank get busy with their work. Mr. Arthur stands there and waits. After a while, he says again, “Miss, if you are too busy, then please inform your branch manager. Actually, I have some business with him too. I will talk to him.”
After that, Sarah reluctantly calls branch manager David’s office on the intercom. She informs the manager that an old man wants to meet with him. Manager David looked at Mr. Arthur from a distance from his glass enclosed office. Mr. Arthur looked very ordinary. Manager David asks Sarah on the phone, “Is this person a premium client of our bank or did he just walk in off the street?”
Sarah says, “Sir, I do not know that, but he is asking to meet with you.”
Then manager David says in an annoyed tone, “I have no time for these kinds of people. Have him sit in the waiting area. He will leave on his own after sitting for a while.”
Following manager David’s instructions, Sarah seats Mr. Arthur in the waiting area. She says, “Sir, you sit over there. The branch manager will meet with you after he is free.”
Mr. Arthur walks from there toward the waiting area and sits on a chair placed in the corner. Everyone was still staring at Mr. Arthur. This was because everyone who came to this bank as a customer was a corporate person wearing an expensive business suit. But Mr. Arthur was wearing very ordinary clothes. Looking at him, it didn’t seem like he could have an account in this bank because this bank was primarily known for the city’s wealthy and corporate clients. For this reason, Mr. Arthur became the center of everyone’s attention, and everyone was turning to look at him and whispering various comments about him. These words also reached Mr. Arthur’s ears, but he ignores all this and continues to wait to be called. He thinks the manager will surely come after a while and he will talk to him.
There was another employee working in a junior position inside the bank whose name was Michael. Michael had gone out for a coffee break at the time. He returns to the bank and sees an old man sitting in the waiting area whom everyone is staring at and talking about. Someone is calling him homeless. Someone is saying there is no question of him having an account in this bank. How did he get in here? What was security doing? These kinds of conversations were going on. Michael overhears these words. After that, Michael goes directly to Mr. Arthur and very respectfully asks, “Sir, can I help you with anything? Why have you come here?”
Michael felt the atmosphere was very unwelcoming. He is a little disturbed seeing the old man’s condition and that is why he goes to help him. Mr. Arthur tells Michael, “Young man, I need to see the branch manager. I have some business with him.”
Hearing this, Michael says, “All right, sir. Please wait here for a bit. I will go talk to the manager right now.”
Then Michael goes to branch manager David’s office and speaks about the old man. But manager David already knew about the old man and starts saying, “I know I’m the one who told Sarah to have him sit there. He will get annoyed and leave on his own after sitting for a while.”
After that, manager David tells Michael about other work and scolds him, saying, “You go do your own work. There is no need for you to stick your nose into this matter.”
Obliged, Michael gets busy with other work. In this way, the old man spends almost an hour sitting there. After being patient for an hour, he can no longer tolerate this neglect. He stands up and heads straight toward manager David’s office. As he is walking toward the office, manager David sees that the old man is coming right at him. He immediately comes out of the office, stands in front of the old man, and asks arrogantly, “Yes, mister. Tell me what your business is.”
Mr. Arthur hands over the envelope, and starts saying, “Look, this folder contains my bank account details. No transactions can be made from my account. Please check and tell me what the problem is.”
Hearing this, manager David laughs dismissively without even looking at the envelope and says, “Look, mister, when a bank account has zero balance, this is what happens. I think you haven’t deposited any funds into your account. That is why your account transactions have been frozen.”
Then the old man begins to say in a very calm and firm voice, “Listen, you should check the account in the system at least once. It would be better if you told me something after that. How can you say such things without even looking?”
Then manager David says laughingly, “Sir, this is my years of experience in the banking sector. I have been doing this job for a long time. Just by looking at the faces and clothes of people like you, I can tell what kind of person someone is and how many dollars are deposited in their account. I don’t see any possibility of there being anything in your account. I want you to leave here right now before I call security. All the VIP customers are staring at you and the atmosphere inside the bank is being ruined.”
After that, Mr. Arthur places the envelope on David’s desk and says, “All right, young man. I’m leaving, but if you get the time, take a look at the details written in this envelope.”
Saying this, Mr. Arthur prepares to leave from there. And upon reaching the door on his way out, he suddenly turns back and says, “Remember, you will have to suffer a very terrible consequence for this behavior.”
With these words, Mr. Arthur walks out through the bank’s main doors. When manager David heard that he would have to suffer a consequence, he became a little worried for a moment, but the very next moment, he thought, “The old man just said that in a fit of rage. There’s no reason to worry about it.” David goes back to his work.
Meanwhile, that envelope containing the old man’s bank account details was lying on David’s desk. Later, Michael notices that envelope. He picks it up, logs into his computer’s server, and starts searching for information according to the social security or account number given in the envelope. His eyes widen in shock after checking the old records in the system. He discovers that this person who had come in was not just an ordinary man. He is the majority shareholder and one of the principal owners of this bank. 60% of the bank’s shares are in his name.
Seeing this information, Michael is extremely surprised and starts reading the details more carefully. After reading the entire report, he is convinced that Mr. Arthur is indeed the main owner of this bank. Then, Michael prints out a copy of that report and takes it to manager David. David was sitting in his office having coffee with a wealthy corporate client at the time, explaining various investment schemes to him. When Michael enters the office, manager David asks him with a gesture, “What is the matter? Why have you come here?”
Michael tries to explain through gestures that this is the report of the old man you insulted and chased away a little while ago, and it is very important that you look at it once. Saying this, Michael places the report on David’s desk. But David says, “Excuse me,” for a moment, to his VIP client and tells Michael in a low voice, “Look, Michael, we do not have time to look at the folders of those beggars.”
Michael says respectfully, “Sir, it would be very good if you looked at this at least once. It is very important.”
But David pushes the report forward and says, “I do not want to see it. I have no interest in zero balance customers.”
Saying this, he throws the report toward Michael. Obliged, Michael takes the report and returns to his own desk. The atmosphere inside the bank had returned to normal by then, everyone busy with their work.
The next day, at exactly 11:00 a.m., Mr. Arthur enters the bank once again. However, this time, he was not alone. With him was a corporate attorney wearing a designer suit who had a leather briefcase in his hand. They draw everyone’s attention as soon as they enter the bank. After that, Mr. Arthur walks straight up and gestures for branch manager David to come to him. Seeing the attorney and Arthur’s confidence, David gets a bit nervous and fearfully steps out of his office to stand in front of Mr. Arthur.
Then Mr. Arthur says to David in a stern voice, “Mr. David, didn’t I tell you yesterday that the consequences of this behavior would be very heavy for you? The way you behaved with me yesterday is in no way professional or tolerable. Now get ready to suffer your punishment.”
Hearing this, David is somewhat dumbfounded, but still he thinks to himself, “What harm can this ordinary old man and his lawyer do to me?”
Then Mr. Arthur says, “You are being dismissed from the position of branch manager, and in your place, this bank’s junior employee, Michael, is being promoted as the branch manager, and from now on, you will have to oversee ordinary field jobs or loan recovery work.”
Hearing this, David gets angry and starts saying, “Who are you to remove me from my position like this?”
Then Mr. Arthur calmly says, “You can consider me the owner of this bank because I own 60% of the shares in this bank. If I wanted, I could not just demote you, but terminate you completely and put someone else in your place.”
Hearing this, all the employees and customers present in the bank keep staring at Mr. Arthur in utter amazement. After that, the corporate attorney who came with Mr. Arthur opens his briefcase and takes out an official document which was Michael’s promotion letter. He is officially announced as the branch manager. Then another letter is taken out and handed to David which read, “If you want to do field duty, you can stay in the company, but you can no longer sit in this chair as a manager.”
Seeing the official letter, sweat starts dripping from David’s forehead. To save his position, he folds his hands and starts apologizing to Mr. Arthur for his mistake yesterday. But then Mr. Arthur stops him and says, “What are you apologizing for? And why should I forgive you? The way you behaved with me is completely against our bank’s core policies. Don’t you know that any discrimination between rich and poor is forbidden in this bank? All customers must be treated with equal respect and professionalism.”
In fact, Mr. Arthur had founded this bank himself, and he had previously established rules in the board meetings that no one in this bank would be judged by their clothes or financial status. Everyone must be treated equally, and if any bank employee breaks this rule, a zero tolerance policy will be adopted against them.
Mr. Arthur also says, “I am doing you a favor by keeping you at least on a field job. Otherwise, I could have terminated you right now and ended your career if I wanted. Junior Michael, who works in your bank and had no power in his hands, still came to me and politely wanted to help. Therefore, he is truly deserving of this manager position. At least he knows how to respect customers and does not judge them by looking at their bank balances.”
Saying this, Mr. Arthur calls teller Sarah and reprimands her severely as well. He says, “I am forgiving you with a first warning, but in the future, if a client comes into the bank, do not judge them by their clothes or appearance. Professionally check their details in the system. If you had performed your duty properly yesterday, then I would not have had to unnecessarily go to that manager and face so much humiliation.”
Realizing her mistake, Sarah lowers her head and says, “Sir, please forgive me. I have made a very big mistake. I promise such unprofessional behavior will never happen again from now on.”
After that, Mr. Arthur steps forward to leave with his attorney. And before going, he addresses the entire staff and says, “You have a lot to learn from the new manager, Michael. Learn from him what professionalism is. It will be good for your careers. And remember, from now on, I will occasionally send secret auditors who will disguise themselves as ordinary customers and give me direct reports of your work.”
Saying this, Mr. Arthur leaves from there. The entire bank staff learns a massive lesson from this incident and discusses among themselves that they must do their duties properly from now on, otherwise they might lose their jobs next time. After this incident, the environment of the entire bank changes and everyone starts behaving extremely respectfully with the customers. News of Mr. Arthur’s actions spreads throughout the downtown corporate circle and everyone starts praising his leadership. Everyone says to each other, “This is how a bank owner should be. Most shareholders are only busy with profits. They do not have a headache over how employees are behaving with clients.”
But Mr. Arthur fulfilled his duty completely and taught a good lesson against corporate arrogance.
