Going up

For two weeks, I had been trying to go to the bank. I needed to change my account and apply for a mini cash ISA (which is a high yield savings account with tax-free interest). I popped into the bank mid-afternoon on Monday and found myself in a queue.

‘Hi!’ a customer service person said. ‘What can we help you with today?’

‘I usually see Scott,’ I said, naming the customer manager who had opened my Gold account. ‘Is he available?’

‘Yes, he is. But there will be a fifteen to twenty minute wait.’

Certain that she was understating the waiting time, I said, ‘I’ll come back another time. When’s the least busiest time at the bank?’

‘Before 11 in the morning,’ was the reply. She added, ‘If you want to see Scott, you need to come in this week. He’s changing jobs. Friday’s his last day.’

I intended to go to get to the bank the following day but insane deadlines chained me to my desk all of Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

On Friday morning, as I dozed in the Tube carriage, I thought ‘Right. Today’s my last chance. I don’t want to go through the hassle of breaking in another bank person.’

I got off at my stop and headed to the lift. I was the first one in so I moved right down to the end. I was quickly surrounded by other commuters. Despite the crowd, travelling in a Tube station lift is the only guaranteed 45 seconds of silence you will get in the middle of London.

I was all ready to be silent when I looked to my right and jumped up with a start.

‘Scott!’ It was my account manager.

‘Hello!’ he said, obviously recognising me but not remembering my name.

‘Uh. I’m coming to see you this morning,’ I said.

‘Oh! Good. Well, it’s my last day, you know.’

‘Yes, I do, they told me. Congratulations on the new job.’

‘I’m very happy, yes, it’s a promotion. I’ll be closer to home, so I won’t need to take the Tube anymore, it’ll be just a 30 minute bus trip to work after today.’

‘That’s good…’ I murmured.

‘…And it’s more of a client management role, more responsbilities. I wasn’t keen on managing a team, I don’t want to deal with HR problems so this is perfect. It’s almost an extra £5000 a year, too.’

‘Wow, that’s worked out well, then…’

‘Yeah, I’ve been at my current branch for a quite a while now so it’s probably a good time to move on, it makes sense…’

We reached the ground floor. Our fellow silent lift travellers had probably been listening to the entire story of Scott’s career progress.

‘Great,’ I said. ‘I’ll probably see you later this morning!’

‘Bye!’

Going up (version 1)

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