Today I had an interesting experience at the BBVA branch near my apartment. I say “interesting” because it was a mixed experience. I wouldn’t say it was a bad experience as the woman who helped me was nice; however, there were several things that went on during this interaction that were just basic customer service 101s gone wrong. Overall the employee was efficient and helped me to complete my transaction with a smile (minus one snafu – #7 below), but as with any experience with a bank here there are areas for improvement… :

1. Loudly chewing gum in your customer’s face. This is a classic customer-facing no-no. I was happy when the woman decided to get rid of the gum, but I don’t know if spitting it out in a piece of paper in front of me was quite appropriate either.
2. Continuously yelling across the branch to another employee. All I have to say is that if I were the customer they were talking about, I wouldn’t be so thrilled at my confidentiality.
3. Checking your phone messages, laughing and writing back to whatsapps while the customer is sitting in front of you. No comment necessary.
4. Discouraging the customer from conducting the transaction today. I went into the bank to open up a savings account and had to almost justify three times to the woman why I wanted to do it today. As far as I remember when I was a bank teller at 16 years old, it was a good thing to open up accounts for the bank’s income…
5. Assuming personal details without any reason. The topic came up that I had been recently laid off (that was the extent of what I said). What I’m not sure of is how or why the woman felt it was right to say “You were an English teacher, right?” To which I responded back, “No, I was working for five years in marketing at a multinational consumer goods company.” I thought that would end the line of ignorant questioning. However… then the next question was “So you’re not going to go back home?”. To which I politely responded, “Well, since I’ve been here almost nine years now and have my husband and baby here, I don’t think so.” And that was the end of that. I should have asked her where she learned flamenco.
6. Assuming I don’t understand a legal contract. After handing me the new account contract to sign, as I started to read it, the woman quickly told me that I just had to go to the last page to sign it (assuming I didn’t understand that I had to sign at the end). I said thanks, I know, but I always read things before signing them.
7. Not knowing how your products work cross-channel. After opening up the account I asked if I could make transfers between the new account and my old one to which the woman responded that she had no idea, but that I should try it out later at home and see.

Overall a good attitude is the most important thing, and the woman helping me was nice, but a few quick fixes could go a long way to the overall experience here.