Bank of China....Bank of Civility

Hello there Gentle readers. How are you all doing on this fine day? If there is anything I can do to help you, please be sure to ask in the comments. It would be my pleasure to assist you in any way I can.

I know what you are probably thinking...."WTF has he been smoking?"

But I am being Civil and Civility is one of the Core Socialist values of China. As someone once said "It's nice to be nice."

The reason I decided to write about Civility today is because today, for what seems like the 500th time in 3 months, I was at the bank......actually 2 banks and one of them 3 times. If that seems excessive you should understand that I arrived at the first bank at 8.45 in the morning and finally left there at 12.35 in the afternoon.

Every month Lena and I like to transfer money back to our Latvian bank account. Previously we have been lucky enough to have our Chinese colleagues help us but this time I decided I would go it alone.

The Bank of China is the only bank that allows people to transfer money out of China. Last week I had transfered money from our main bank, NRC Bank, into my BOC account and today I went with my passport, employment contract and tax document to transfer the cash back to Latvia.

I arrived at the bank about 10 minutes before it opened and when it did I was welcomed warmly.
"Good Morning Sir. How can I help?"
Theres the civility right there.
The staff of Bank of China will always be nice and smile and do their best to make you feel welcome.

Unfortunately their civility is not exactly matched by their competence.

I had to convert my Chinese currency to Euros before transfering it to Europe. Believe it or not gentle reader it took over 2 hours just to do that. I had to go to the NRC bank along the street at one point but the Assistant manager of Bank of China came with me and translated so we would be done quicker. See, civility.

When we returned he civilly asked me to sit while he dealt with my request. Then I noticed something strange. 2 people were helping him, then 3, eventually 4 other, all female by the way, members of staff were helping him. Thats what I call service....I am glad the bank wasn't busy.

4 bank workers were needed to convert my currency.

By 11.00 I was getting really fed up but the staff kept smiling and apologising...."computer problem....very sorry"....they kept saying.

At 11.30 I was just about ready to give up but the assistant manager gave me a cheery thumbs up and I thought "Super, Free at last". Can you imagine my disappointment when he said "Currency is converted. now we transfer. Do you have your code card generator?"

I didn't and had to ride my scooter the 5km back home then drive back again to the bank.  When I returned everyone smiled so nicely all I could think was they must be sick of the sight of me. But they smiled (civility) and helped me do the transfer.

Within an hour the money was in my Latvian bank account. Strange to think it took nearly 3 to convert it.

Civility is important....but sometimes civility without competence is just people grinning and apologising for their incompetence.

The Bank of China staff were friendly and civil. True exponents of the Core Socialist Values and they should be praised for that.
Sometimes though however I prefer efficiency and competence.

#civility #coresocialistvalues #bankofchina