What the smile on your bank teller’s face is hiding

It almost creeps me out 🙂

That overly eager “How-are-you-can-I-get-you-a-bottle-of water-while-I-validate-your-parking” face behind the glass is exhausting just to watch. (And I used to be a cheerleader who had to look excited the. whole. game.)

Ever since the recession a few years ago I’ve noticed that the people working at the bank are SUPER DUPER freaking nice.

Don’t get me wrong, customer service is great and I appreciate when companies do their best to provide a pleasurable guest experience. But let’s get real here. They know something (a lot of something) that you don’t.

Here’s what you need to remember. The bankers, tellers and greeters are sales people. I do not in any way intend to be derogatory to sales people AT ALL. I have tremendous respect for ethical sales people. And there’s nothing wrong with banks selling, they are businesses, after all. But most people get taken advantage of because they don’t even recognize that these friendly, eager-to-please, smiling, helpful people are trying to (eventually) sell them something — and every once in a while they’re selling “products” that are actually costly to consumers.

“Um, Chelsea…” you might be thinking to yourself, “…I don’t buy anything at the bank. I just put my money in and take my money out.”

And that’s why it’s so slick. You don’t identify the people as salespeople and the accounts you open, as products – but they are – and boy are they good at their jobs. The question is, are you good at your job of being informed about how banks work?

So remember to keep it simple. One checking account and one savings account is all most people need. And please, no lines of credit.