CHICAGO–It’s Valentine’s Day, and in the spirit of the day CUToday.info asked, “Don’t you just love it when…,” and then asked credit unions to finish the sentence.
The result? Cupid’s arrow landed in all sorts of places, ranging from the heartwarming experiences that are part of helping members, to the heartburning experiences that just come with working with people.
And in the spirit of secret admirers, we also promised anonymity. Many respondents also offered a response to the question, “Don’t you just hate it when…” You’ll find those responses at the bottom.
Here’s what credit unions had to say:
Don’t You Just Love It When:
- You bring something to your managers, and they start asking questions about it that you weren’t prepared to answer. They never seem to ask you the questions you are prepared to answer.
- You think members just don’t care about how much effort you put into service, and a member comes from out of the blue and shows an incredible appreciation for what you did for them.
- Your credit union is everything you dreamt it would be.
- You see your members outside of the credit union and they are so excited to see you!
- A member calls their checking account “my checking.”
- A phone call comes in to report a lost debit card and they are a member of another credit union and then gets mad because we won’t order them a new card.
- You ask the member, “How would you like your cash back?,” and they reply “Yes.”
- You ask the member, “How would you like your cash back?,” and they reply “Green.”
- A member walks in wanting a loan to get caught up on bills, because they don’t have the money to pay said bills, and probably not enough to pay the loan they’re applying for.
- You count out brand new, crispy, sticky bills to a member and the member says, “What did you do, make those in the back?”
- Members only want you to handle their accounts…loyalty.
- You get a new examiner every year three years in a row.
- You steer a friend to the credit union and they call to tell you how amazingly good the experience was.
- You proof-read something three times, and still miss an obvious typo that you see AFTER you send the electronic newsletter.
- The member asks to hug you after approving their loan and “making their day”!
- The ECD is about to time out and as you “talk nice to it” it finally spits the money out!
- You are able to grant the loan request for someone who never thought they would get the loan.
- You are able to accomplish more than you gave yourself credit for!
- The member says, “So you mean it’s my job to make sure there is money in my account?”
- You go to McDonald’s and the person ahead has already paid for your order!
- When a member gets angry at you when they are not able to complete their loan request because they did not bring the required documents with them.
- A member brings the required documents with them so that you can complete their loan request.
- A member gives you a deposit slip with the amount on the cash back line and think it’s a withdrawal slip.
- You can spread a little pixie dust!
- During the tax season the member calls every day for their balance looking for their return and you tell them $5. Then one day they call for their balance and it is $10,518 and they say “Did my income tax come in?”
- A member calls so upset they are crying, but by the end of the phone call they are crying because they are so happy that you were able to help them.
- You get an email that says the credit union is buying lunch for a job well done by all.
- You take an loan application by phone and you are able to approve it and the member wants to come in right away to sign for the loan because you have just helped them out of a difficult situation and made their life a little easier.
- A member comes in and gets a cup of coffee for themselves and four other people in their car.
- You are able to help a member so much that they shed tears of joy!
- You say, “Hello, can I help you?,” and someone flings their debit card at you angrily.
- A member compliments how great you look today … then asks, “Are you sick or something?”
- The members drive off with the drive thru tube.
- At a Super Saturday Tax event participant hugs you and tells you the program saved them $150.
- Every piece of technology in the branch breaks in one day.
- You are able to help people get back on their feet.
- The business member comes during lunch hour with a week’s worth of transactions.
- You are able to help a member get back on their feet after a long delinquency!
- Members come in with cash to deposit, then want you to cash their check.
- A member gives you wet money and wants you to count it for them?
- A member tells you that you made their day.
- The more a member wants/needs your help, the more impatient they are.
- A member is able to teach you something new by asking a question you don’t immediately know the answer to.
- You receive a loan application less than five minutes before closing that has to be completed that night.
- You help that one member who is struggling and they hug you and say thank you and they couldn’t have done it without you.
- You are training a new employee and you can tell by the look on their face it just “Clicked.”
- When your boss tells you that you are a valuable asset to the team!
- Someone with a loan tells you they are out of work with an injury and you check their loan and they have disability insurance on it.
- A member calls up who is negative in their checking, because, “You people allowed Time Warner Cable to take money from my account!”
- You get to work 20 minutes early and then realize--you had the morning off!
- You say, “Hello, how are you today?” and get no response back.
- A member comes in to show pictures of the dream home you helped them finance.
- You can “share the moment’ with your members.
- A member tells you (with tearful eyes) that you have changed their life for the better because you just gave them a loan for a vehicle.
- You get to see the look on a young member’s face when you approve their first new car loan
- The provision for loan losses is half of what you budgeted it to be.
- A member brings you chocolate to say thanks for a job well done.
- A member calls just to say hi.
- Your examiner starts your exam with a hug.
- Your free checking account generates over $100 a month in courtesy pay income.
- You advise your member checks are bouncing and they respond by saying, “But I still have more in my check book.”
- Your member complains their February direct deposit does not appear on their January statement mailing.
- Your NCUA Capital Market Specialist tells you to stay short on investments while the NCUSIF goes long.
- A late employee calls in the minute they were already due to arrive.
- The board arbitrarily decides on the bonus amount based on how things are handled in their own industry.
- People focus on the positive, even in the presence of not-so-positive.
Don't You Just Hate It When...
Many readers also offered responses to a similar question: Don’t you just hate it when. Here’s what they had to say.
Don’t you just hate it when…
- When you didn’t fall in love with YOUR credit union sooner.
- Your member takes your last pen.
- You leave the credit union restroom with toilet paper stuck to your shoe.
- A circumstance beyond our control forces the credit union to close (power outage, weather) and the members get upset with us.
- You see a member for the first time ever and they even comment to you “You must be new…” (since they’ve never seen you before) and when you ask them for their ID to give them their cash back they get mad at you because you should already know who they are, regardless of if you’ve never seen them before or not. “I’ve been banking here for 30 years! Why would you ask for my ID?”
- You ask a member how they’d like their cash back and they reply, “It doesn’t matter,” and when you give it back to them they ask you to change it completely and give them change.
- A member comes in at two minutes until close and wants to do ALL the banking.
- Members wait until the last minute to speed into the drive thru and don’t know their number.