ARE ALL BANKS BASTARDS?
by
STEPHANIE RETCHLESS
ARE ALL BANKS BASTARDS?
Copyright © Stephanie Retchless 2011
All Rights Reserved
Published in eBook format by eBookIt.com
First published in 2005 by
Zeus publications
P.O. Box 2554
Burleigh MDC. Qld. 4220
Australia
National Library of Australia listing:
Retchless, S.
Are All Banks Bastards?
ISBN-13: 978-1-4566-0462-2
No part of this book may be reproduced in form, by photocopying or by electronic or mechanical means, including information storage or retrieval systems without permission in writing from both the author and the publisher of this book.
This book is a work of non-fiction.
About the author:
Stephanie first joined the Commonwealth Banking Corporation (as it was known then) in 1967. She was sixteen years old, a virgin, did not smoke, had never travelled, had never done drugs, believed in dignity and honour, to the exclusion of all other traits, and never used profanities. All that was about to change. Some changes took a while!
Her career started in New South Wales, primarily on the lower north shore of Sydney. In the next thirty-six years, her career teetered on the brink of success and failure. Why? Because she was outspoken, sassy, loud, intelligent and did not suffer fools gladly – by her own admission.
Stephanie met misogynists; male chauvinists; sugar daddies, who had ‘casting’ couches; drunks, some of whom were managers; men who sought sexual favours for her own advancement; sycophants; fools and clowns. She also met people of great integrity and knowledge, (and willing to share it), customer service giants and some honest and honourable people.
Stephanie was threatened with ‘play the game or move on’. She played the game until, in 2003, the rules became untenable. And the rules allowed for no winners.
She wishes to share with you part of herself, her innermost thoughts and feelings. This book is not an exposé of her life, but of the life she had whilst employed as a banker.
Stephanie left the Commonwealth Bank of Australia in 2003, after thirty-six years, five months and one day. At the time of her departure she was a bank manager and had been for ten years.
It is not her intent to harm anybody. But neither can she sit back and not tell it like it is - or was. She has been threatened with litigation; she is also aware that the bank/s may attempt to prevent publication of this book. This is the risk she takes. But below, and above it all, Stephanie does this for all those who have ever said to her “Do it for us, do it for all the bankers and tell it like it is.”
Acknowledgments:
In the writing of this book I have been on a journey through my past career. I owe thanks to many people.
Particularly to Dr Liisa Laakso, my dearest friend, who gave me the motivation to use my knowledge and to speak the truth.
As a reader, you are entitled to truths. Never, ever stop looking for them.
I wish to express my sincere thanks to those who really helped when I needed it the most: to the lovely Bill Green, Lyn Messenger, Tina Bajwa, Geoff Smith, Tracy West, Wendy Phillips, Marie Madden, Johnson Tsai, Pam Brogan, Tammy Longdon, Tricia Huntress, Colin Lamont, Peter Presdee and my beloved family. From my heart, to yours.
And lastly, thanks to Zeus Publications for their willingness to relay the truth.
Dedicated to the word ‘synteresis’: conscience viewed as the internal repository of the laws of duty.
Foreword
I first met Stephanie Retchless when she became manager of the local branch of my bank. I was struck by the fact that not only was she a friendly smiling manager, but once she arrived, her staff changed and emulated these virtues too. They were noticeably cheerier – read, happier? - than before.
My business needs required regular meetings with my manager. Over the years, I never met Stephanie other than inside the bank, but when I married again a few years ago, she was not only invited but also sat at the top table as a close friend. How one can establish that level of friendship just over a counter or across a desk is still a matter of wonder to me, but we did.
My favorite story, which I have related to dozens of people, including other bank managers, to illustrate my idea of a first-class, problem-solving manager, involved my youngest son leaving home to work in a restaurant on Hamilton Island. At around 11 a.m. I received a call. He was in panic because all he had was an ATM withdrawal card and, as he told me, “They don't have a branch on Hammo.”
I told him to ring me back in an hour. I phoned Stephanie. Knowing there was no point in him remaining with a bank offering no access to funds on the island, she offered to withdraw the funds from his account, draw a bank cheque and, in her own time, walk across the road to another bank and persuade the manager, whom she knew personally, to open an account in my son's name on her guarantee. When Lachlan rang me an hour later, I assured him he would have funds by mid-afternoon. He did. Her performance almost certainly broke all the rules her employers expected of her, but what a hell of a performance! Older customers remember it nostalgically these days as ‘customer service’. Some say to me, “But she did that because you have this special friendship.” I tell them, “I have this special friendship because that’s what she does.”
Ask the guy who lost his wallet when he was in the Gobi desert. His own bank manager failed him, but he knew Stephanie was the manager at a different branch, so he gambled on a second ISD call from central Asia. Problem solved. That was her trademark. That’s why my account went with her wherever she was posted: Biloela to Birdsville, Coolangatta to the Cape or wherever.
In those days I used to enjoy Friday afternoon drinks at the Carindale tavern, as did several other local business people who were her clients in real estate, stationery, pharmacy and so on. Every now and again one of us had a ‘Stephanie’ story to tell. She was the unanimous choice as best customer service operator in the area.
Stephanie Retchless never believed that to increase efficiency you had to sacrifice service. Nor did she believe that the only loyalty in her office had to be to the employer and the shareholders. She set a standard of loyalty in the way she treated her staff and defended them to her own masters.
I personally place loyalty very high on the list of qualities I value in life. I give loyalty and I treasure it in others, as one does with any rare quality, especially when you have been bitten too often by the reverse. It is unfortunately a very rare quality. I am cynical about loyalty, probably because I have spent a great part of my life in and around politics and political organisations.
I was chairman of a hundred and thirty strong branch of a political party at nineteen and have experience in various roles since then, including a stint in Parliament, a longer stint on the Central Executive of a political party, and the past two and a half decades as a political lobbyist. From politics I learnt that loyalty almost always flows upwards. I also learnt, as did Stephanie in her career, that there is a corollary to that maxim. The fact