Lions, Dragons, Ethical Dilemmas, Oh my!

I have a confession… I leave a job off my resume.

I am not proud to have worked somewhere less than a month, so I leave it off. But I recently shared this experience in my coursework discussions regarding ethical dilemmas and feel it’s time to put it ‘on my resume’.

So here we are, Internet. I leave a job off my resume.

I was told by the Bank Manager it would “reflect poorly on my record” when I quit with no notice at the start of a shift. I finished the whole shift with pride.

If I’m being totally honest, I don’t even remember their name, but I do remember each day at my very first job after graduating with my BA. The job which asked me to remove my nose ring before starting. I should have quit then…

I don't have a funny meme for this story, so have a concept I made with Midjourney Bot of a bejeweled beetle instead.

I worked for Wells Fargo for barely 15 days in 2013.

The first 8 days I was trained in the ethical, legal, and practical expectations on how to perform transactions. At the time I was excited to learn about new regulations, and considered myself a SME on Reg D after being fascinated by it in training.

The last 7 days I worked in the lobby as a teller. I enjoyed the work of a teller overall; speaking with people about their financial goals wasn’t difficult. Mostly the work was cashing checks, depositing really stinky money from the Subway nearby, and smiling a lot at customers.

Customer service isn’t difficult, and Wells Fargo (WF) had a very clearly defined set of expectations for processes. However, in 2013 WF was still pushing an “Eight is Great” marketing campaign (read more) which encouraged ‘selling’ various services for anyone who had fewer than eight (E.g. One checking, one savings, a debit card and a car loan were considered four different types of services). The concept communicated to us in training was by ensuring customers had these products, WF was helping them gain financial independence, or something along those line.

It was the expectation that tellers would assist with ‘selling’ accounts to customers to assist them with their financial needs as well as filling the societal role as a supportive banking partner. This expectation was tracked and tallied against the local and national branches, and ‘good work’ was always counted as more tallies.

My second day as a teller, I was assisting a customer with depositing their weekly paycheck over their lunch break. Seeing they had no other accounts or services, I kindly asked if they’d be interested in speaking with a Bank representative to open a savings account to help their financial needs in saving for the future - basically word for word what I was trained to do. The customer politely declined, stating maintaining a positive balance of their one account was hard enough. I responded with a kind understanding and proceeded to complete the transaction to get them on their way; except a banker overheard our conversation and insisted they could set up a savings account ASAP. This banker took control of my station to send ‘referral’ information through the system, and said “I’ll be right back with papers to sign” leaving us both kind of stunned.

My training kicked in, and while I completed the deposit I assured her “the bankers had her best interest in mind” and “the account would be helpful”.

The banker returned with a small stack of papers to sign, basically pushing a pen into the client's hands… and just like that, a savings account was made for someone who did not enthusiastically consent. I watched as the customer left with her papers, and a confused look.

The Banker’s response to me afterward was “send me more referrals like that”. A manager complimented me for finding the opportunity, as they listened-in behind me.

But I immediately felt like I wronged that individual.

I went home that day feeling dirty.

I did not feel right about the interaction, what I felt I had to say, or the response from the branch manager. I did not feel I had done anything to genuinely benefit the customer, and felt sick regarding the compliments.

I quit a few days later, after more and more of these experiences.

Institutionally, the bank was not filling its role in ethical or moral duties and I was violating my own as their teller. They were violating the trust of customers, and cultivating poor virtues internally. It was not until 2015 that this practice was shamed by the public, and 2016 that Wells Fargo was ordered to pay restitution and “officially stopped the practice”.

I have had many ethical dilemmas in my career, but this was my worst.

I have found a need over the years to communicate why working for a small organization is my preference, and why I will prioritize customers and humans before income or even “following orders”. This experience is one reason, but also my belief that working for an organization should fill you up as a human, and bring value to a community.

Thankfully, now I work for a small business that hasn’t made me pick priorities. So why keep this off my resume?

Meh. I think I’ll use the space to let another experience shine.

Thanks for reading, friend.

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