About six months ago, my bank was robbed and of course, I happened to be right there in the middle of it. Thankfully I was so caught up in my laptop and cell phone that I didn’t realize what was happening. The robber was standing in line directly behind me waiting for the teller. I had my laptop, my purse and a pile of paperwork spread out in front of me. The other teller lines were open but this teller was the farthest away from the other people working in the bank. The robber must have realized that my transaction would take awhile, so he bravely stepped over to the next teller booth and pulled out a note and pointed towards his waistband and she turned over the money. I was so caught up in my bank transaction that I didn’t even know the guy was ever standing behind me, let alone that he just robbed the bank! He walked out the door and my teller calmly picked up the phone and told the police they had been robbed after telling me to wait a minute because I may not be able to leave. My first thought was to run, but wait, why did I want to go the same way the robber did? I asked if we were all locked in and she said everyone would remain locked inside until the police came. So, I took a seat in the lobby, was offered a drink and I sat and waited until the police and investigators showed up.
Now you can imagine all of the things that were going through my head, but the most prominent thought was a conversation that my husband and I just had about a week ago. Our bank had been robbed a year ago and he had told me that he wanted me to change banks. I had told him that it would take way too much time to transfer all our accounts and that everything would be fine. He had brought up the question about what would happen if I had the kids inside the bank and it was robbed. How would I feel if something happened to them and we had talked about moving banks but I hadn’t taken the time to do it. Thank goodness the kids weren’t with me and thank goodness the robber left quickly with no problems in his escape. Right now the last thing I wanted to do was to call and tell my husband that I was in a bank lock down because it had been robbed. The police showed up, questioned everyone and dusted for fingerprints. I was released to my van and a parking lot full of cop cars and flashing lights where I called my husband to tell him what had happened.
Since then, I have become a “drive-thru” only bank customer and always scan the parking lot while in the drive thru line, but haven’t worried about swapping banks, until last night. I received a text from a friend who told me the bank had been robbed again, so here we go again, now is time to for me to transfer accounts. The bank never tells its’ customers they were robbed, it is a “hush hush” thing so as not to scare anyone away.
Do you feel safe in your bank? Has it ever been robbed? Do you bank inside or in the drive thru? Is there a security guard in your bank?