"It's Company Policy"

I had a frustrating conversation with my personal bank last night.

I had written a cheque to myself from my business (different bank) and deposited into my personal account through my phone last Friday. The same day I deposited the cheque, the money was removed from my business account.

I figured, "Great! That hold that's showing on the personal side should be lifted quickly."

I was wrong... By last night, the hold on the cheque was still showing so I called the bank.

The first person I spoke with could not help me.

The second person I spoke with said some very interesting comments.

"Sorry sir. I can't do anything. The cheque will be held for up to 5 business days. It's company policy."

I underlined the words in those sentences that stand out to me.

First of all, he could do something but he was choosing not to. The money was already in the bank's possession as it was released from my business bank. When I dug into why he could not do this, I realized that he was really just protecting himself from potentially getting in trouble if the cheque were to bounce. He also said that "this policy is in place to protect you and the bank."

How does this protect me?

Did I mention the money already came out of my business account?

Second. The cheque does not need to be held for 5 business days but the bank chooses to exercise this right whenever they want. Because...

"This is company policy."

That line got my blood boiling. When the individual I was speaking with said this, I cut him off (yes, I know it's rude) and replied with "Does your company policy mention anything about retaining customers of 29 years?"

He did not have an answer. Probably because it's not in the policy...

If you're going to implement a policy, understand the implications of this.

Policies are great, until they're not.

Policies force people to think a certain way. Policies kill creativity. Policies put everybody in the same box.

In this case, policies lost a long standing customer.

Perhaps we should look into guidelines or suggestions instead of policies.