The Peanut Gallery

I have worked at a certain bank for 1 year and 3 months. (I know its obvious from the pics, but i just cant name them) When I was first employed there in December of 2011, it was as a 20 hour part time teller. It was an extremely different environment and type of sales than the retail setting I was used to at Best Buy. The training was 2 weeks long at a training facility in North Atlanta, with 31 other just hired tellers. The training was very interesting and the other trainees were a very mixed group of people that I enjoyed getting to know during the training period. On my first day at the branch in Conyers I had to be put straight on the window due to the Christmas holiday just a few short days away. Even with my two years of experience at Best Buy talking with customers, I was very timid and shy, not to mention probably the slowest teller employed by a bank. I had a good reason to be nervous as a teller had to be terminated due to unfound shortages…talk about a scary first day! After exactly six months of employment at that bank, Our thirty-seven hour commercial teller put in a two week notice that she was leaving the company to pursue a career in mortgages. (Two weeks after she joined this other mortgage company, my bank bought that company and she was reemployed by my bank, LOL.) I applied for the job and interviewed for it two days before PCC 2012. When we were on the bus heading back for the airport I had a voicemail saying I was being offered the job. I really lucked out when I found out that the thirty-seven hour position previously held was turned into a full-time forty hour position. This meant that I would have to be put into Saturday rotation and have every other Saturday off! I have thoroughly enjoyed this perk through the past nine months!

In January, I was taking a look at my budget and realized that I needed a promotion or to move to a different company in a higher position. With most banks, you need to start as a teller and work your way up. If you like sales then the path you take is teller, Customer Service & Sales Representative, and then Personal Banker 1. CSSRs are the exact same thing as a banker without the ability to do mortgages or loans. Different banks have different names for the positions but most national banks are structured about the same at this level. I had heard that it was impossible to skip the CSSR job and move straight to Personal Banker 1, especially in my district and region. Since I really liked the bank I am employed with now, I first looked for any open positions as a Personal Banker in the metro area. I found one in a city called Grayson, and decided to apply just to see what would happen. I didn’t hear anything about it and was about to give up on it and apply for a CSSR spot somewhere else when I received an email from a recruiter asking if I could interview that same Thursday with the Store Manager and the District Manager. I updated my resume and was basically going just for the experience of the interview since I could apply for the job but most likely not be hired since I was just a teller. The interview went fantastic as far as I could tell. If you have ever been interviewed for a job before you know there are always things that you wish you would have said or said differently. I texted my manager to tell him I was done with the interview and heading back to work. Thirty minutes later I received a text from him saying “I know; I just got off the phone with them”. That text sent chills up and down my spine but took it as a good sign. My manager told me that I would probably know in a week or two.

The very next day around 4:30 p.m. I received a call from the recruiter to tell me that I was being offered the job. I feel very grateful to my manager who vouched for me. Today was my last day at my old branch and it was a bittersweet time. Growth is something that is very necessary but at times painful. My sales as a teller have always been in the top three in my Atlanta district, but being a personal banker 1 is a very major task to take on. My District manager believes me to be the youngest banker in the corporation. When I look back at my time here, I can say most assuredly that my God is a good God and had a plan all along even when it didn’t look like it at times. He has helped me learn how to handle people and put me at the top of my peers. My training starts next week and is four weeks long. Here are some pictures of my coworkers I have grown to love. I will miss them so much!

My Store Manager: Mike. The best manger I have worked with in all of my jobs so far.

Starria, Teller

Pearlanne, AKA Pearlie, Personal Banker 2

Shandon: Teller

Wendy: Personal Banker 2, sat across from me

Constance, always smiling! Lead Teller

Chris, My service manager. Going to really miss her!

Cheryl: Personal Banker 1

Stacey, My cubicle mate, teller. We have a love hate relationship, I'm a messy worker and she isnt lol!

Dee, Lead teller, Miss Attitude Queen

They stole my camera and took some goofy pictures...

Wayne, teller and my best friend at work. We make a great sales team and hope to work together in the future. He was hired 1 month before me but we constantly swap from number 1 and 2 spot in sales in our Atlanta district every day. We arent allowed to sit next to each other when work has to get done when we arent selling.