“Is this the High Street branch?” she demanded the moment the line connected, cutting straight through the automated dial tones.
“Not quite, madam,” a smooth, overly trained voice replied from miles away. “You’ve reached our centralized customer care hub. It is now company policy to handle all communications remotely.”
“Well, corporate policy won’t do,” the old lady sighed. “I desperately need to speak to someone actually standing inside the branch.”
The operator, puffed up with the absolute confidence of a man holding the keys to a million digital databases, smiled into his headset. “Madam, I assure you, there is absolutely nothing a local teller can do that my state-of-the-art system cannot handle. Just give me your query.”
“I highly doubt your system can handle this, young man. Just put me through.”
“Madam, it’s impossible,” the agent insisted, dug into his position. “There is nothing the branch can help you with that cannot be resolved by me right here.”
A heavy silence loaded the line.
“Very well then,” the old lady finally relented, her voice dripping with sweet defeat. “Could you just lean over the front counter for me? I need you to check if I left my gloves there when I came in this morning.”
