Sorry to keep going on about this, but I work in Social Care with people who have Learning Disabilities and Autism.
I've been doing some online training tonight and it was a module on health inequalities, the treatment of people with Learning Disabilities and Autism within a clinical setting, and putting them at the centre of their care having established their capacity to understand and make informed decisions.
As I was listening to people relate their real-life experiences of not being listened to, of feeling disempowered, of people not being patient nor making reasonable adjustments to their capacities, and of not fitting into society's expectations of acceptable behaviour, I was reminded again of my conversation with a member of the Fraud department when I went into my branch on Saturday.
This man said hello, asked how I was, then immediately launched into a long spiel about how suspicious my behaviour was when I spoke to his colleague the previous day, how suspect the company was from whom I was buying and when I burst out laughing at his paranoia, made a veiled threat to not unblock my Debit card if I did not cooperate with him.
Now, I don't know anything about this person and he may have just been responding in kind to me, but I just felt so humiliated, so disempowered and would never have started a conversation like that with a customer.
I would not have come from a place of suspicion and probably would've begun something like this:
"Hello Mr S-H, or can I call you Derek?
Derek (I prefer informality).
I appreciate you coming into the bank on a Saturday and I'm very sorry we have blocked your card, but my job is to protect your money and I am here to work with you and have your best interests at heart.
Okay, thank you.
Now, would you mind explaining to me what you are buying, who you are buying from, how much you know about them and whether you feel confident that you will receive what you are paying for, please?"
And then we could just go from there - I wouldn't feel defensive, I would've been treated with respect and care, and I would've been at the centre of the interaction, not that their fraud process was more important than me.
If this is the future, then I hope we keep cash for as long as possible.