Kapil is a bank employee and is my friend. He is working there as a manager, and his bank is nationalized. He is a sincere worker and a jolly fellow. His customers in the bank and his friends love him due to his cooperative nature. One day his bank opened a new branch in a posh area of Delhi. The bank made its new branch quite hi–fi, and the rent of the place was also in lakhs per month. Although, the branch was on a main road and in the mixed land use area, the parking facility was not adequate. He was sent there as in-charge cum manager of the branch. The total employees in the branch were only three including him. In one year time, the branch did the business of a few crores rupees.
The bank organized a meeting of the customers of the branch along with the staff. The meeting was held in the late afternoon and about sixty people attended the meeting. The general manager along with some other officers was present in the meeting. The bank wanted to get the feedback about working of the branch directly from the customers. I was also present in the meeting although I reached there late by twenty minutes yet the meeting had not started. In the beginning Kapil introduced his senior officers to the people attending the meeting. The GM welcomed the audience and narrated in brief about the bank. He asked the audience about the complaints and suggestions regarding the bank. An old man stood up and said that there was a shortage of staff so he felt inconvenience. ‘The staff should be increased to run the branch smoothly’, he added. One lady said, ‘There is a lack of security in the branch as no guard is standing on the gate, and as such customers feel insecure here.’ A gentle man praised the manager as polite, cooperative, and sincere. Meanwhile another man complained that as the manager did not have the power to sanction the loan of higher amount, so the big business clients don’t deal with this bank. Many other people also repeated more or less the same sentiments. In response to the same, the GM said, ‘This branch of the bank is already in loss, so we are unable to provide additional facilities to this branch.’ One business tycoon was also sitting there; he said that he could get the branch’s business increased many folds provided the bank improved its quality. The meeting was dispersed with a vote of thanks. There was an arrangement of tea and snacks in the last, and offered to all the guests.
After a fortnight, Kapil telephoned me and said that he had since been transferred to another NCR branch of the bank which was about fifty kilometers from his house. I asked him whether he got promotion along with transfer or it was due in normal course. He said in irony that it was the reward of that meeting.