Kids are already in their 30s, still depend on the parents, no credit history, no credit cards, still live with their parents and live on the parents’ allowance even though they have jobs. Parents come to the bank to open joint CDs with their kids and control their money. Kids are clueless about what they’re saving for, can’t answer simple questions about their personal finances.

Also same for younger parents whose kids are turning 18… won’t allow their kids to have credit card or build credit. Kids are 18-28 but still need their parents permission to do anything.

Why do they do that to their children 😭😭😭

I wanted to post here to give a perspective to people who only know retail banking and have no other job experience elsewhere, and may be feeling miserable with no way out.

I basically worked in branches since I entered the job force after university. Did 8 years at two major banks. I can't believe I did so much time in such a miserable environment. Life feels so much lighter now.

It's not normal to feel so stressed and emotionally drained every day. I should have listened to my husband tell me for years its not normal to have so much going on in a job for so little in return. To juggle being a teller, banker, manager all in one some days. To struggle to have your meetings with clients and meet your numbers, while also being expected to work on credit applications, assist with line ups, meet with complaint and fraud clients for far too long than you need to, hear the most horrendous financial abuse stories possible, open and close the branch and help with operations. To work full steam ahead every single day, 8 hours a day, and when you aren't, you're no longer "consistent enough". When having a doctor's appointment or another personal matter you must attend to destroys the entire branch schedule because it's so short staffed and a 1/3 of the branch called in sick yet again. The constant high emotion environment where nothing you ever do is good enough, because you always need to have higher numbers, higher customer satisfaction surveys, higher this, higher that. And then to see every year, the sketchiest people win all the awards, and there are always a handful who are fired right after receiving their awards because of code of conduct breaches or from committing fraud to make their results better.

I spent years miserable in all aspects of my life because of the environment every day, and even when I wasn't at work, I was still thinking about work constantly because of the insane amount of stuff that needed to be done.

I'm on the other side now working for family after I resigned in the spring. The work now is a bit boring, but there's zero stress, most days we don't work the full 8 hours, and I feel lighter than I have ever felt in my career.

I'm never going back again.

These experiences were what I dealt with in 4 different positions in retail banking from teller to manager, all in busy locations in a major Canadian city.

Hey y’all. I’ve been at WF for almost 3 years and I’m not really feeling it. I have a few friends that work at CUs and it doesn’t sound bad. I’m currently thinking about BELLCO, but I would like outside opinions about others and how they feel about it? Would a CU be a better place instead of a huge bank?

I’ve already tried applying to PB and 2 interviews fails and I gave up on it.

Hello, I'm gonna start my new job next week. This is my first job in the US as a Private Client Banker at a Chase branch. Please share your advice. What things do I need to make sure I learn need to know before I start? Also, after I start, how can I be a good employee?

Thank you.

Hi everyone, I have an update on the post I made a couple weeks ago. You can find the original story below. HR ended up giving me a final written warning with no specified end date. I don’t even really know how to react other than looking for new jobs. Any advice? Do you guys think this outcome was justified?

TL;DR: Coworker on a PIP asked me (via chat) to put their already-signed balancing sheet in the back room since they'd forgotten before clocking out. I did, and told my manager the full truth + showed the chat when asked. Coworker was terminated over it. I’ve been given a final written warning with no end date.

Original post:

I've worked as a universal banker for over 4 years, no prior write-ups or issues. A newer coworker started a while back and was struggling — they got written up for an error and were eventually put on a PIP. We became fairly close, and I gave them general advice on how to handle it (talk to HR, push back on the reasoning if they disagreed, etc.).

About a month ago, they left early for a personal issue. They came back a few hours later saying they needed to complete a transaction and print something. I helped them with the transaction, and they went to their station to finish up (technically already clocked out).

They then messaged me saying they'd forgotten to print their balancing sheet. Our policy is that everyone prints and signs their own balancing sheet and puts it in the back workroom at end of day. They asked if I could put theirs in the back once they printed and signed it, and I said sure. I was already helping another customer by the time they left, so we only communicated through chat — I never completed their balancing work, just walked their signed sheet to the back.

The next day, my manager asked me what happened. I told them the truth and showed them the chat log so there was no ambiguity about what was asked of me and what I actually did.
Long story short — my coworker was terminated over this. The PIP likely played some role, but HR told them this incident was the deciding factor, separate from their earlier performance issues.

My manager has said I'll likely face "some consequence" but that it's entirely in HR's hands now, not theirs. It's been about two weeks since the incident and roughly a week since my coworker was let go, and I still haven't heard anything directly from HR. I'm getting more anxious as time passes.
Has anyone dealt with something like this? Should I expect to be let go too, or does this sound more like a slap on the wrist? Anything I should be doing right now besides waiting?

I’m a bank teller earning $13 an hour. I don’t mind the work, but customer service is very draining. I’m introverted, and although I acknowledge that any job I’m in, I have to talk to people, I just would prefer something else that’s more work-oriented.
Before I got this job, I looked into becoming a real estate agent. My family comes from a background of contractors, architects, and real estate agents, but I became disinterested when I realized that everyone and their mom is now a real estate agent. However, I have no hate for real estate agents. I know a lot of them, and they’re great people, but I started looking into a job that people don’t talk about as much.
At the same company I work for, I applied for an appraisal specialist position for commercial work. I have a very basic level of understanding of appraisal and their methods of determining an appraisal value, but I was interested because this crosses over real estate and banking. However, I’m not sure if this is the role for me. I’ve also looked into working in the fraud department; however, that position is not open right now. I would like a job that has steady income and also a little bit better pay, but I’m not sure what to do. I’m also open to working jobs outside of the bank, but of course, that’s the first thing I look at. I have a little work experience outside of the bank. I’m a reseller, but that doesn’t really count but that does make up like 60% of my income. I plan to quit doing that, though once I find a much better job. I’m also quite young. I’ve not had enough time to have a lot of work experience.

edit:
spelling and grammar

You know what’s really annoying is when customer tosses out your CEOs name to impress but I don’t give a fuck that you know his name it has no relevance to the business we are conducting. I still need your ID, Jerob.

Or when the customer says “you know what, (ceos name) isn’t getting that business,” as a response to me pitching a product as if that was in any way a reflection of that product’s merits. Like sure, as if my company’s executive needed you to do a credit card with me so I can pay my mortgage this month.

Unless it’s my regional exec or tied to my LOB directly then I barely know who you’re talking about and unless it pertains to what you came in for, I don’t care who’s name you can spot off.

Usually it’s some kind of special request too, like waive more fees than I can, or give you a better rate on your account, or discuss something I shouldn’t be saying. And they’ll just drop it casually as if they are in some way connected or as important

My branch is only a few years old. We combined two locations into one new address where there are seveal banks in a row. Well from the beginning the NEW branch was supposed to be a becon of light for the bank. New location, clean looking and was to be fully staffed. Well the "fully staffed" never happened. Resently they moved the only male employee, an ahole lender, to another location. Even though he was an ahole, his presence sometimes deterred confrontation from customers. Now he's gone it's just three women working.

Today our manager had a BOM meeting so that left me and a teller in that branch alone for hours. Only two cars in the employee parking lot. I told my kids to sue their a$$ if I get robbed and get hurt or killed.

I would never expect 2 people especially 2 women to be in the bank alone this time of year with the doors unlocked. With just two people working we should just have the drive thru open and the lobby closed. I told the other teller we have to keep our head on a swivel, acknowledge every person loudly that enters the bank. I pray we don't get robbed. My fragile heart can't take it. 🙏🏽

A few Fridays ago a bank behind us had a carjacking at gun point. An officer came over to see if we caught any footage. The bank that it happened at had no outside cameras. Are you freaking kidding me? We contacted our security officer and our cameras had clear recording of the incident. So the officer gave us a link to upload the footage. I wonder if the caught the person?

Sometimes I think upper management has lost their damn minds. No outside cameras??? You got to be a total idiot not to have outside cameras at a bank. We have a total of 16 cameras inside and out. You will have to be invisible to not get your face on one of them. Be safe everyone. 🙏🏽

I’m starting my fourth year in banking and have had a couple of different branch managers come and go. One common theme I’ve noticed is that they always seem to have something going on outside the branch, whether it’s a bank community event, a doctor's appointment, something involving their kids, or some other obligation. It's gotten to the point where I wonder, is it just me, or do branch managers rarely actually work in the branch?

I understand that managers have responsibilities outside the branch, and I know their jobs involve more than just overseeing daily operations. However, it feels like my managers have rarely been present to actually manage the branch and support their bankers and tellers, which feels like their core responsibility.

I’m curious if this is just my experience or if other bankers have noticed the same thing. Do you have managers who are consistently present and actively involved in running the branch, or is this pretty common across banking?

AS AN SBI EMPLOYEE I SUGGEST DON'T JOIN BANKING SECTOR.

BANKING SECTOR IS HIGHLY OVERRATED BUT REALITY HITS WHEN YOU WORK MORE THAN 10 HRS AND STILL WORK IS NOT COMPLETD YOU WORK OVERTIME AND NOT GET PAID,YOU FOLLOW GUIDELINES BUT GET HATE FROM PUBLIC, YOU WORK FOR PUBLIC BUT GOT SCOLDED FOR THE TARGETS THAT ARE BEYOND COMPLETION. IN LAST YOU ARE SO FRUSTRATED THAT YOU WANT TO QUIT BUT YOUR RESPONSIBILITY STOPS YOU.

This is more of a rant so sorry in advance, i hit my breaking point after being out of balance today

I've been in branch banking for almost a year as a college student for a tough degree. Doing this shit with clubs and two educations then worrying about compliance, accuracy, AND sales nearly full time (BOTH sides) is driving me insane, especially when i could've made the same as a SBUX shift leader instead of a UB. It breaks me watching people withdraw the last bit of money to their name and then being told to throw credit cards and savings accounts at people with either no money, or people that just want to be left alone. I just moved branches to be "closer" to school but with traffic it really didn't make a difference other than my sales goals doubling. I feel like i'm in the same predicament as when i left SBUX, i wanted an office job that could get me in the door for a "real" job (somewhere?) that wasn't food service but honestly, this doesn't feel too different from my last job with upward momentum being mediocre at best. especially when my degree isn't really business related, i'd be a better engineer, analytst, or IT specialist and now i feel like i should quit and focus on school and STEM internships rather than waste my time climbing a latter that caps well before any back office position. I wandered into a corporate office one morning and had never been more jealous of the employees and the quiet client-free lobby. Does it ever get better?

Hi Reddit, I just passed my 1 year mark with Chase being a RB, and made 85k in the year. I’m in a moderate income area in the East Coast surrounded by new immigrants. Before Chase I was a Wells Fargo personal banker for 20months. Tbh, I just started to see the big increase in my PVCs in the past quarter and start to be one of the top performers in my area(about 3k PVCs/month) and thought it could be a decent gig. My manager has been dangling the PCB promotion in my face for a few weeks but we all know it’s not gonna happen until my current PCB leaves. Frankly in the past quarter I made a lot more PVCs than he did… everyone keeps talking about non-cap incentive for PCBs but I barely see my branch closes any lump deals nearing the caps. And if I do become a PCB, it’s just another glorified customer service/ sales job imo…I can see my PCB stressed out on a daily.

After 3 years, I’m getting tired of retail banking. The long hours, calls, working on Saturdays, stupid management and power trips… I feel this job will eventually suck me dry.

For those who’re in the same shoes, what are you actively doing to get out? For those who are already out, what are you doing right now? I have a business degree here and came from another country, any advice would be appreciated.

It is diabolical that the bank that rhymes with race is open today, like what are we doing here

Hi everyone. I’m thinking of quitting the teller job. I’m just gonna call my boss and quit on the phone. It’s a long story. Will I still get paid for the vacation that was unused?

Teller referrals are really low at this branch. I’m a senior banker that’s worked at multiple branches with multiple tellers and I always gave them tips on how to make referrals. Most of them do really well. However the tellers at this branch are just not listening despite me repeatedly giving them new tips every week. The tellers make like 1 referral total a week to the bankers (we have 6 bankers). There’s just not any motivation for these young kids because they don’t get anything for making referrals, and also don’t want to be promoted. Other tellers I worked with before really tried to become better at this because they wanted to grow and advance, however my current tellers are just ok with whatever.

Now BM blames it on me, saying I’m not social enough and need to spend time with the tellers. Like come chit chat with them on my free time so they like me more and make more referrals. While bank’s expectation is for the bankers to be on the phone calling if you’re not with a customer. And isn’t coaching them the manager’s job and not mine? So it is my fault that the tellers are not doing their job? And it’s because I’m a quiet and reserved person? It just doesn’t make sense 😭 BM is basically telling me to do her job for her omg

Deadass my bank has signs saying that we'll be closed for "The Legal Holiday" on Monday.

Last year we were sent 2 different signs saying either Columbus Day or Indigenous Peoples' Day.

Is this something that was required federally somehow or is my bank in particular being weird 💀

A. CD shoppers

B. Crypto Bros/conspiracy lunatics

C. Boomers that like talking about the "old days" or manager from 20 years ago

D. The people that think they are wealth management or private banking clients based off of social circles but are not.

Hi all, current personal banker here. I generally enjoy my job, I like working with customers and I work with a really great branch team. Our branch extended our Saturday hours from 9-12 to 9-2 a few months back (not sure if this is for all WF branches with Saturday hours or just something in my district.) I didn’t think it would bother me much, but it’s making me DREAD the weeks that I have to work Saturdays now. My coworkers and I are all in the same boat, it feels like this extra two hours is making the day terrible. The last two hours of the day are almost completely empty and dead. This is the largest drop in employee morale I have ever seen at any job I’ve worked. It’s insane how much this has affected us- we all feel like our entire weekend is gone and we just live at work. I’ve had multiple coworkers say that this is pushing them to work elsewhere.
I just want to vent I guess lol. I’m sure they won’t be going back to 3 hour Saturday shifts but I REALLY wish they would. I also wanted to see if this is just my branch overreacting, or if others are feeling this as well.

Hello. I am a banker at a Texas based bank and I am looking into becoming an RB at chase to get my licenses and some better pay. I’m fine with sales and whatever, but could anyone who has experience with this role give me info how it was for them? How was the monthly incentive? I make about $46k right now and could definitely use better pay and bonus. I’ve heard this job can suck but I’m rlly trying to do it to get licenses and maybe jump after a year or so. Thank you !

Today I had a client come in to deposit about $1000 in hundreds, loudly declares so that basically the whole lobby could hear him with a big grin "YEP I'M HERE TO DEPOSIT SOME FAKE CASH" and per our SOP if anything feels off or a client even mentions something not being legitimate we have to check it, no exceptions. And it's happened before, I helped a different client sort out some $50s she got in tips because she felt some weren't legitimate (and two did fail the UV test).

So I go, "haha, of course, let me go double check it."

He stops smiling and goes "hey that was a joke you don't actually need to check it."

I tell him we just gotta double check. He says it was a joke and he has places to go. I explain procedure wants us to check it. He says he's a regular (none of the other tellers recognize him) and he shouldn't have to go through this. Manager comes over, asks the issue, and he yells that I'm making things difficult for him. I tell the manager what he said, she says I need to go verify the cash. The client says he'll close his accounts and take his business elsewhere and the manager tells him about our procedures and he says the procedures are stupid.

One of the hundred dollar bills did fail the UV test, and the scratch test, but it was very old and faded (1984 iirc) as my manager explained but due to what the client had said we could no longer take that particular bill.

I finish depositing the cash after checking it and ask if there's anything else I could help with and he throws down a check saying "deposit this, it's FRAUD too, are you gonna make me stand here another 20 minutes while you check it?" but before I could respond he puts it back into his pocket, yells he's going to close his account tomorrow, and storms off.

All of this could have been avoided if he just didn't joke about trying to deposit some fake money.

I have been working as a Private Client Banker since February of 2025. I have had success in this role but I had a manager that I just couldn’t stand. That was at a busy branch where I made good money, but was over the toxic environment. Come October, another branch manager is talking up a new build branch and asked me to be a part of the team. I joined excitedly. The branch was promised to be successful, affluent, and had visibility from the higher ups as far as mobility opportunities.

The new branch has been SLOW. I mean, slow slow. I open two accounts a month. Cash flow report has nothing on it we didn’t already expect. I can’t make a living here. I don’t exactly regret my choice to move as it has been better for my mental health. I started interviewing for internal positions. One lead is going really well.

My manager has been all over me since then. I was forced to tell her about the opportunity because the internal hiring manager wanted me to shadow during business hours. Everything went great but my direct manager is constantly forcing me to give her updates and wants to be in the know on every single communication. This morning I had the actual phone interview and my managers had me balance the vault beforehand, knowing I had this coming up. It made me 9 minutes late, which was whatever, then my manager pops in while I’m still on the call having a conversation asking me to help a customer. I simply said “I’m in an interview?” and she said “well Bob Joe Bob asked for you specifically.” And what, pray tell, did the customer need? He had a fee on his account.

Ever since then I have been giving her the silence treatment and she keeps asking me “what’s wrong? What’s wrong?” and lecturing me about how the firm supports my mental health yadayadah. She’s therapizing me as if something else is bothering me and she’s just pretending to care to get me to say something. She has been sitting in my office since she interrupted me this morning all the way through 1:30 pm when she finally left to go have lunch with her husband. I honestly don’t know how she has enough energy to be doing this. I don’t know what she wants me to say to her. Nothing I have told her has been enough to satisfy her need to know what is “wrong” with me that’s caused me to not put on a show for her. Is her sitting in bothering me, the punishment for me wanting to leave? Am I missing something here?

My second day in commercial after a decade in the branches. Yes, I'm having to learn a whole new set of programs, regulations, terms, and skills, but it's interesting. My boss is like, "Oh good, you came back! We didn't scare you away!" Later she says something about how I must have been exhausted at the end of my first day.

And I'm just like, "I didn't have to answer the phones, deal with angry customers, I wasn't on my feet all day in a short staffed branch trying to find a time to cram in my lunch when no one needs me... and you think I was exhausted?"

Essentially the title. What made you say you deserve more than the slog that is branch banking?
Mine was being forced to come in on a SATURDAY shift for 3 hours, asked to shovel the parking lot after a 10 inch snow day in Wisconsin after breaking my knee a couple of weeks ago just to see 2 people. I said, “never again” after working in the branches for 10 years.

Hi everyone. Just a quick question has anyone ever filed a complaint about the coworker at work to HR. Will the manager know. Also was the problem resolved?