Bu had eaten breakfast all her life and wanted to keep doing so even with the bank's frantic mornings. At the women's residence, she'd boil five eggs despite the rush to get ready. Eating alone felt awkward, so she'd make one each for Gu Ji-hye, Hong Hui-gyeong, and Kim Jin-ju, and two for herself.
But every morning, someone took two. She'd said one each, yet couldn't work out who was taking the extra. After a month of stolen eggs, she saw Hong enter the manager's office and place two boiled eggs on his desk before he'd even arrived. After that, she stopped boiling them. She skipped breakfast or bought eggs or a sandwich at a nearby convenience store.
When Hong casually asked why she wasn't boiling eggs anymore, Bu said she lacked the time and couldn't afford it. Hearing this, I initially couldn't understand Hong stealing a new recruit's breakfast to present to the manager. Besides, Hong had made an internal transfer (married another bank employee). Her husband worked at Sangcheon, if I remembered correctly, and they had two primary-school-aged sons. The manager had a wife and two daughters in their twenties.
Why do something so insane? Did he threaten to bully her unless she brought breakfast?
Bae laughed for several seconds at my guess, then asked me a question instead.
“Hong and the manager are having an affair, Officer Eun. Didn't you know?”
“......An affair?”
“Even the ATM and Goldlight probably know.”
“Was I the only one who didn't?”
“He never says anything when Hong misses her targets. He takes it out on us instead.”
Only two months after arriving did I learn that Hong was seeing Ma. Apparently, everyone already knew. That was why the staff let her unreasonable behavior pass without saying much. Only we officers who'd recently arrived hadn't known. I quietly asked Ji, who was guiding customers by the ticket machine.
“Geon-u. Did you know Hong and the manager were seeing each other?”
“Uh. Yes. For a while?”
“When did you find out? Was it just me?”
“When she lifted her skirt and dropped it again while passing his office?”
“......What are you talking about?”
Hong always wore skirts, unlike Bae, who always wore trousers. While bringing in and organizing deliveries, Ji had seen her suddenly lift the hem of her long skirt to her waist outside the manager's office, then lower it a few seconds later. Watching from a distance, he'd been so shocked he'd thought he was seeing things. ......This branch is even crazier than I thought.
Today, Hong had declared that anyone failing their targets should kill themselves before leaving work. Then she'd spent all day making calls without taking a single customer. Suddenly, she rang another branch and began screaming into the receiver. She was so loud that everyone in the lobby, including my customer, turned to stare. Bae was startled enough to drop the dollars she was carrying. I jumped up and looked behind me, only sitting again once I realized there was no danger.
From what I could gather, Hong had called her husband, Manager Jo Wi-seon, at his Sangcheon desk. He was away, and a female officer had picked up his unanswered extension. Hong asked whether he was there. On hearing he'd stepped away briefly, she began asking the same question three or four times. Who were you to pick up my husband's phone?
“Who are you to answer his caaaalls?!”
My customer jumped in fright. Unable to stand it any longer, I got up and went to Hong.
“Manager Hong. You're too loud. Every customer is looking at you. If you need to keep talking, please lower your voice or take the call elsewhere.”
Her face froze. She glared at me, looked around, then lowered her voice. She tried, anyway. Apparently, she was too worked up to know how loud she was. Her distinctive way of speaking carried every word to me. I was afraid my customer could hear it all too. Surely they won't think every Goldlight branch is like this?
Her point was that she'd called Jo twice before, and a female officer had answered while he was away. Now the same person had done it again. Three times already. She demanded to know what was going on between them. What utter bullshit.
As I removed the magnetic strip from a customer's matured and closed passbook, I listened in disbelief. At a desperately busy branch, picking up an absent coworker's calls and leaving messages was perfectly normal. Song was so busy playing phone games that he didn't even answer his own extension. Even seated there, he'd tell Bu or me to pick up for him. If he recognized a number he didn't want to answer, he'd openly disappear into the bathroom. Bae, Bu, or I took those calls. We didn't want to, but Kim shouted at us if we didn't.
According to Hong, the Sangcheon employee answering Jo's calls proved she was fooling around with him. By that logic, three people at Taecheon were having an affair with Song. After enduring Hong's ridiculous accusations and abuse, the poor woman at Sangcheon apparently couldn't take any more and said a few things back.
“You're calling me crazy?”
Hong followed that with something like Who the hell are you, you bXtch, then glanced around and hung up. She seemed to search for the other woman in the staff directory. Fuming and stamping her feet, she took her mobile into a meeting room.
Yes. Make your calls there. Stop broadcasting bullshit to the entire branch. As I renewed my customer's deposit, they kept smiling and asking questions.
“Who is she? She's really loud. Is her husband cheating?”
“I'm afraid I don't know about another employee's personal circumstances. While renewing your deposit, would you consider an investment fund? If you've never tried one, this could be an opportunity. Would you invest just 50,000 won from the interest on the deposit you've closed? AI-related funds are popular at the moment, and many customers are signing up.”
Thankfully, the customer agreed. One fund sale. Checking the account, I saw there was no credit card either, so I suggested one while processing the fund. They only used debit cards and were about to refuse, but I explained that issuance cost nothing. An extra card could be useful if the debit card's magnetic strip or chip failed, and this one had no annual fee. After a moment's thought, they agreed. Thank goodness. One credit card too. While I issued it on the spot, Hong's phone rang.
It rang insistently, but nobody picked up. Should I take it or not? Kim, who hated ringing phones, narrowed his eyes at the officers' desks. After a brief hesitation, I excused myself to my customer and answered Hong's extension.
“I'm answering on her behalf. Officer Eun Su-won, Goldlight Bank Taecheon branch.”
“Oh. So Taecheon does pick up other people's calls? From the way she talked, you'd think your branch had no phones at all. Where's that crazy woman?”
A woman's voice, furious to the point of boiling over. The number was an internal Goldlight extension. This is driving me mad.
“By the crazy woman, do you mean Manager Hong Hui-gyeong?”
“She's already famous. Since you've answered her phone, Officer Eun, are you having an affair with her too?”
I shouldn't have picked up. Walked right into it.
“That's absurd. Please observe a minimum of courtesy. Manager Hong has been in a meeting room talking to someone on her mobile for twenty minutes. May I ask whether you're Assistant Manager Lee Se-ra at Sangcheon?”
I searched the displayed branch number in the directory and found Lee Se-ra. She answered a little more calmly.
“Yes. Hong said she'd call me back, but she hasn't, so I'm calling.”
Apparently, Lee couldn't even bring herself to add an honorific for her senior. My customer seemed more interested in this call than the card I was issuing. I could feel them watching me, barely glancing at the pamphlet I'd given them.
“She's unavailable. Would you like to leave a message?”
“Yes. Tell her I don't know why I should have to put up with this. Tell her I wouldn't take a man like Jo if he were given away. If she's crazy, she should go to a psychiatric hospital. Stop taking her stress out on younger female staff! God, this is infuriating.”
She hung up. While issuing the card, I began a message for Hong with the time, caller's name, number, and what she'd said, then sighed inwardly. I didn't care how they fought over my message, but I was worried about getting dragged in. I told Bae exactly what had happened through messenger and asked whether I could really pass on Lee's words unchanged. Apparently incredulous, Bae filled the chat with laughter before answering.
[Leave it exactly as she said. That Lee Se-ra at Sangcheon sounds like quite a character too. Let them fight. Let Lee get fed up and report workplace harassment.]
[Thank you for the advice.]
I sent Hong the message without softening or exaggerating a single word. My customer, who'd come to renew a matured deposit, left with a deposit passbook, a savings passbook, a fund passbook, and a credit card. Apparently, the utter chaos at their main branch was entertaining. Good. At least my customer had enjoyed it.
Eight customers were waiting. What a well-run branch. When I called the next number, the customer was already furious, demanding what the previous one had been doing for thirty minutes. They shouted that all they wanted was Vietnamese dong (VND). Why should that take so much waiting? They were right. Some employees worked; others wasted time spewing bullshit. I apologized immediately.
“I'm sorry to have kept you waiting. I'll process this as quickly as I can.”
“That's a given! Of course you should! Why can't you?! Do you know how many minutes I've been waiting in this bank?”
“You've had a long wait. I'll be as quick as possible. Please take a seat.”
“Does nobody here call numbers? Huh? Are you all playing around?”
Bae and I were alternating, but the queue wasn't moving very quickly. We each had a rookie to train. I didn't expect speed from either. Accuracy and fewer mishaps would do. Rookies inevitably made mistakes. That was what rookies did. Fix them quickly and learn. Learn never to do the same thing again. Bae was busy calming an irritated customer while explaining pension savings, and I felt Kim looking between us. She seemed at a loss, so I beckoned. Telling my customer I'd quickly fetch the currency, I stepped away and called her over. She came almost at light speed.
“What's wrong?”
“I think I processed a currency exchange backward. The customer wanted an exchange, but I think I sold foreign currency instead of buying it.”
Her face was dark. A common rookie mistake. The screen for selling foreign currency (the customer took it away) looked similar to the screen for buying it (the customer brought it in). Customers came to exchange either foreign money for won or won for foreign money, and people confused the screens. At least she'd realized quickly. Some didn't notice until the four o'clock closing. Maybe the final prompt, asking whether she'd given the customer their currency or received it, had alerted her. Pale, she asked me what to do.
“Officer Eun. How do I fix this? Is there a reversal screen?”
“Not for foreign currency. You have to do another transaction on the opposite screen. What did the customer come for?”
“To exchange dollars for won.”
“Then you need to buy foreign currency.”
“I've processed it once on the sell screen.”
“Then you need two transactions on the buy screen. One to offset the original, then another purchase. There may be a difference in the amount, and you'll have to cover it yourself. It's your mistake. Might cost you a few hundred won?”
I spoke as I counted the Vietnamese dong in my hands.
“Officer Kim. Call me over and show me before you press Complete on the buy screen.”
“Yes.”
She flew back to her desk. I heard her ask the customer to wait a moment. I told my customer the Goldlight app offered a ninety-percent discount on the exchange fee. They said they didn't know about apps and wanted it done at the desk. I asked whether a fifty-percent discount at the counter would be all right.
“What if I say it isn't? Will you give me ninety percent?”
Explaining that I didn't set the fee policy, I exchanged the money, debited the account, and handed over the currency, asking the customer to count it. While they counted twice, I felt Kim glance over. She'd probably entered the amount and personal details. I thanked my customer for waiting and offered promotional candy. They left, saying they wouldn't eat it even for free. The moment I got out of my chair, I went to Kim, checked the screen, told her to enter it exactly the same way once more, and returned.
I messaged her to print all the slips for that exchange and bring them over. She served another customer, then brought them to me. I'd seen four in the meantime. I wanted to check the exchange difference. Perhaps the dollar had fallen just as she bought it, because the system showed a 400-won gain. Lucky. Usually, bad luck meant paying in 1,000 or 2,000. She strangely had these strokes of luck. If it had been Bu, the customer would have been shrieking like a dolphin about the delay. Kim's customer had apparently been kind enough not to complain once while she made and fixed the mistake.
“That's a relief. No cash shortage to cover. You were lucky. Check carefully next time.”
“Yes.”
I returned the slips, and she took them back to her desk. I called the next number, and another customer approached.
“Hello. I'm Officer Eun Su-won, Goldlight Bank.”