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Slightly disturbing encounter at bank today (Update: Luke let go)

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    sparky64sparky64 Posts: 7,063 ✭✭✭✭✭


    << <i>As far as I am concerned, this is no longer an issue. >>



    AMEN!!!

    "If I say something in the woods and my wife isn't there to hear it.....am I still wrong?"

    My Washington Quarter Registry set...in progress

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    tradedollarnuttradedollarnut Posts: 20,610 ✭✭✭✭✭


    << <i>I don't think it's abnormal to look into something that stimulates your interest and/or suspicion. In many cases I have done extensive research into the background of realtors, home owners, neighbors, family members, students, and even two bankers that I have had a slightly unsettling feeling with. Disclosing to them that you have searched their history online for court records, property information, education history, or just general google histories do not provide you with any benefit other than people may be freaked out. >>



    Uhmmmm.....okkkkkkk
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    shylockshylock Posts: 4,288 ✭✭✭
    Fascinating thread to read through, and personally I feel you made the right choice.

    The forum allowed you to vent, consider, then make a very well thought out decision.

    When's the last time a poster can claim that?
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    WestySteveWestySteve Posts: 567 ✭✭✭


    << <i>I confess to reading only the first few posts.

    I'd have said something to the employee to the effect that coin collectors are very sensitive to
    privacy because of the risks of theft and various mayhem (which is why we use safety deposit
    boxes). If he didn't seem to take it seriously, only then would I try to mention it casually to the
    banker. The damage is done and can't be undone. It's more important to prevent future damage. >>



    x2. Times are tough and my Dad taught me that you never, ever mess with a man's livelihood if you can help it. He probably didn't know better, and maybe he's really into coins. I confess that if I saw something like "Great Collections", as a consumate collector myself, I'd have also googled it out of curiousity. And if I was a die hard coin collector, I'd have had a hard time not attempting a connection. Hey, maybe RYK looks friendly.
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    wondercoinwondercoin Posts: 17,130 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Just tell them you collect state quarters and beanie babies. That should solve the concern. image

    Wondercoin
    Please visit my website at www.wondercoins.com and my ebay auctions under my user name www.wondercoin.com.
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    RYKRYK Posts: 35,802 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Sorry to continue the saga...

    Since my August entry to this thread, I have had additional encounters with Luke, and he has brought up the coins on multiple occasions. I had pretty much become accustomed to the annoying chatterbox and sought the other tellers when possible.

    I had not noticed him there on my last couple visits and asked my favorite teller where he was. She indicated that he was "no longer working here" and tried to change the subject.

    Only then did I tell her of my concern about Luke, and she told me that she had witnessed the same behavior, on multiple occasions, including once when a woman was getting visibly upset with his inquiries. She seemed astonished when I told her that he had googled payers to me to find out what business they were in and then informed me of such, and she told me that I should have brought it up to management.

    Unless Luke breaks into my house tomorrow night image , this should be the end of the story
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    MsMorrisineMsMorrisine Posts: 39,504 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I agree with the person at the bank.
    Once is a correctable mistake, continued mistakes should have led to his firing.
    The person shouldn't have a job in a bank nor any other with a database of customer info and transactions.

    Current maintainer of Stone's Master List of Favorite Websites // My BST transactions
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    MGLICKERMGLICKER Posts: 7,995 ✭✭✭


    << <i>Unless Luke breaks into my house tomorrow night , this should be the end of the story >>



    I fairly freely share my coin occupation with the personnel at my small bank. As a collector though, I would protect my privacy as well as possible. I am sure that you have taken the proper steps to insure home protection in the event that one of the employees goes rogue.
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    RYKRYK Posts: 35,802 ✭✭✭✭✭


    << <i>

    << <i>Unless Luke breaks into my house tomorrow night , this should be the end of the story >>



    I fairly freely share my coin occupation with the personnel at my small bank. As a collector though, I would protect my privacy as well as possible. I am sure that you have taken the proper steps to insure home protection in the event that one of the employees goes rogue. >>


    Without going into great detail, it's something that I have not lost a wink of sleep over. image
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    numismanumisma Posts: 3,877 ✭✭✭✭

    UPDATE: I think that Luke now works at my local UPS office. When I went to pick up a box from the Mint last week, the guy asked me if the coins in the box were gold or silver. It was a heavy box, and he knew it was from the Mint by the address on the label. 20 people standing behind me at the time. I will tell Luke you said "hello."
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    << <i>I bank at a smaller, local bank in which I have a personal and business relationship. I have accounts and my SDBs at this location, which is conveniently located near my home. I personally know the long tenured tellers and the officers of this branch (and am coincidentally having dinner with my banker tomorrow evening).

    Today, I dropped by the bank to deposit a check from Great Collections and to grab some coins from the SDB to sell at the show. As I customarily do, I deposited the check and then asked the teller to take me to the SDB. The teller was a newer one, a young man, who was very friendly and accommodating. As I was returning the box to the vault, he said to me that he saw that I was a coin collector. I did not immediately respond, but he then said that he googled "Great Collections" from my deposited check and that was how he knew. I was a little bit taken aback, but I played along and mostly downplayed it, we chatted about searching rolls and the like, and I left.

    I tend not to be paranoid about stuff, but I also try to be discreet about my interest in coins among strangers. How would you feel about this? Would you mention anything to your banker at dinner tomorrow? >>



    After take a deposit of a check from great collection and helping you access your SDB, I would have thought you were a coin collector without googling anything.
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    RYKRYK Posts: 35,802 ✭✭✭✭✭


    << <i>

    << <i>I bank at a smaller, local bank in which I have a personal and business relationship. I have accounts and my SDBs at this location, which is conveniently located near my home. I personally know the long tenured tellers and the officers of this branch (and am coincidentally having dinner with my banker tomorrow evening).

    Today, I dropped by the bank to deposit a check from Great Collections and to grab some coins from the SDB to sell at the show. As I customarily do, I deposited the check and then asked the teller to take me to the SDB. The teller was a newer one, a young man, who was very friendly and accommodating. As I was returning the box to the vault, he said to me that he saw that I was a coin collector. I did not immediately respond, but he then said that he googled "Great Collections" from my deposited check and that was how he knew. I was a little bit taken aback, but I played along and mostly downplayed it, we chatted about searching rolls and the like, and I left.

    I tend not to be paranoid about stuff, but I also try to be discreet about my interest in coins among strangers. How would you feel about this? Would you mention anything to your banker at dinner tomorrow? >>



    After take a deposit of a check from great collection and helping you access your SDB, I would have thought you were a coin collector without googling anything. >>


    Well, I guess you are smarter than a fifth grader! Not everyone knows what business Great Collections is in.
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    MGLICKERMGLICKER Posts: 7,995 ✭✭✭


    << <i>UPDATE: I think that Luke now works at my local UPS office. When I went to pick up a box from the Mint last week, the guy asked me if the coins in the box were gold or silver. It was a heavy box, and he knew it was from the Mint by the address on the label. 20 people standing behind me at the time. I will tell Luke you said "hello." >>



    His sister Lukella works at my post office. Not believing the $15K insured amount on a registered package, she must, at 110 decibels recite the amount and ask me if that is correct. image
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    The logical outcome of reporting him to higher-ups seems to be what happened - out of work, though maybe making more $ in this case . There was an opportunity IMO - now gone - that if you had a discrete talk with him about when to keep his mouth shut, that you could have asked him to share silver or old rolls that came across his desk - that you would be grateful and would share your coin knowledge (and maybe some coins) but emphasizing it had to be between the 2 of you. I had a favorite teller at Wells Fargo who would set aside old (junk) quarters and halves, including some Ikes and wheats for me, but WF and I came to a parting of the ways, unrelated to any of this, but my point is that a personal relationship may transcend the "letter of the law" to your benefit. Something I don't know is whether bank employees are allowed to cherry pick their coins - swapping like for like? I suppose if you ask the answer is no. IMO
    "If someone says 'A penny for your thoughts' and you give them your 2 cents worth, what happens to the extra penny?" G.Carlin
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    BAJJERFANBAJJERFAN Posts: 31,626 ✭✭✭✭✭


    << <i>

    << <i>UPDATE: I think that Luke now works at my local UPS office. When I went to pick up a box from the Mint last week, the guy asked me if the coins in the box were gold or silver. It was a heavy box, and he knew it was from the Mint by the address on the label. 20 people standing behind me at the time. I will tell Luke you said "hello." >>



    His sister Lukella works at my post office. Not believing the $15K insured amount on a registered package, she must, at 110 decibels recite the amount and ask me if that is correct. image >>



    I think he has a half-sister name Lukellina too.image
    theknowitalltroll;
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    lkrarecoinslkrarecoins Posts: 2,137 ✭✭✭
    I was shopping around for another SDB a few months back and stopped into a TD Bank not far from where I live. The bank manager brought me into the vault and showed me the various boxes that were available and told me what each costs yearly. He also mentioned that "lots of people store stuff in here and the boxes are so damn heavy, I wonder what people keep in them?". I told him most likely "gold bricks" and proceeded to go to another bank where the manager wasn't as nosy. Call me paranoid but don't call me Francis image
    In Loving Memory of my Dad......My best friend, My inspiration, and My Coin Collecting Partner

    "La Vostra Nonna Ha Faccia Del Fungo"
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    kazkaz Posts: 9,350 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Hopefully Luke will find a job that rewards his chattiness and curiosity. At my little bank branch they look away when I take the sdb to the desk and open the lid. Nobody comments on why the box is so heavy (all those SBA dollars!) and they pretty much ignore me until I ask for help. I like that.
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    sparky64sparky64 Posts: 7,063 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Your new teller is going to tell your bank manager friend about you not being comfortable with Luke.
    He's may want some answers as to why you didn't say something over dinner that day.
    ..........or this is a minor speed bump and we move on.

    "If I say something in the woods and my wife isn't there to hear it.....am I still wrong?"

    My Washington Quarter Registry set...in progress

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    cladkingcladking Posts: 30,026 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Now days every time you spend a $100 bill the clerk holds it up like a trophy.
    tempus fugit extra philosophiam.
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    TwoSides2aCoinTwoSides2aCoin Posts: 45,041 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Chatty Cathy said : " Silence is golden.Duct tape is silver." I believed her. Things have a way of working themselves out, and out of a job eventually.
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    BryceMBryceM Posts: 11,933 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I live in a small town. There really isn't much expectation of privacy here. Everyone is a busybody but most people are innocent enough in their inquiries.

    I'm virtually certain the USPS guys know what's in the packages that come and go. They've mentioned several times that I'm the only person who sends or receives registered mail. I have a PO box, but the second I step in the door, I get the "We've got a package for you!". Slightly annoying, especially with 100 other people in line, but they also move heaven and earth to help me look for lost mail and once called me at home when a perishable package arrived on a Saturday after the counter was closed.

    All in all, chances of robbery or theft here are probably a little lower than urban centers, but I know plenty of people who have had things "go missing".

    Discretion is such a undervalued quality.

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