Got a problem you’d like to share with Sidney? Write to her at: The Meridian Star, P.O. Box 1591, Meridian, MS 39301, or e-mail her at sidneycovington@comcast.net. All submissions are confidential and go directly to Sidney.



Dear Sidney,



My bank recently merged with another bank (I won’t name names) and as a result, I am now having to work with new employees and procedures.

Well, last week I went to make a deposit in my account and they would not accept my deposit because the wording on the check – a business check that they have deposited for years – was not exactly the same as the name on my account. The lady at the window said I must talk to the officer so, after waiting at the drive-up for 20 minutes, I drove around, parked and went inside to visit the officer. She had overheard the conversation at the window and briefly looked at the check and concurred with the teller.

After 12 years at that bank, this “person” would not even look at my account. She was rude, arrogant and didn’t seem to give two shakes about my business. Her only advice was for me to open another account.

I finally gave up and got up to leave her office and upon my exiting, she

coyly shouted “Have a nice day!”

Now, the heart of my question is this: When trying to transact business in a professional and ladylike manner, how does one respond to polite rudeness? It’s like an officer writing you a ticket for rolling through a stop sign and then saying, “Have a nice day.”

I have discussed this with friends at length and while some have come up with several great retorts, they weren’t very ladylike!

So, please, tell me your thoughts. How should a lady respond to a thinly

veiled sarcastic remark like that while maintaining her Southern composure?



Sincerely,

Lady with attitude



Dear Lady,



What a skunk!! Her, not you.

Nevermind the lesson she missed on customer service, how about the lesson on kindness and consideration?! In reading your letter, I get the impression that it didn’t matter as much about not being able to complete your banking transaction as much as it mattered the way you were disregarded, disrespected and dismissed.

In all my thinking and attempts at being objective about why the bank officer behaved in the manner in which she did, I simply can find absolutely NO excuse for it. But then, there’s no way to defend rudeness, is there?!

Basically, you’re wanting to know how to “get the last word.” You know what? Girl, you won this one! Number one: You handled it with class and dignity by NOT returning a snide or ugly remark. That would only have left you on a lower level of humanity.

Number two: Believe me, with this letter alone, you’re getting the last word! You can bet your deposit that everyone who works in a bank is thinking about this and wondering who it was – everyone except the guilty officer. She knows who she is. I’m sure the officer’s officer will not look too kindly on you choosing to move your account from their bank.

Now, how will her superior officer know about it? Well, here’s how. Do the bank a favor: Cut this out, laminate it and send it to the president of the bank. Do it with a kind, pleasant and professional note that simply says that you’re certain he’d want to know that, after having enjoyed doing business with them for some 12 years, you were going to do exactly what his employee suggested: You’re going to go and “Have a nice day” …. On the way to your new bank.



Sidney Covington has a master’s degree in counseling and is employed at Riley Hospital.