There are a lot more "downsides" to US Bank, then "upsides". I have always prided myself on being an excellent worker, and somebody that treats his customers with the utmost respect and dignity. However, within the type of environment that I was exposed to (because it could be different at other branches/locations), it was very difficult to keep your cool, and much less WORK. I was located at a branch where the expectations were really HIGH, but the area didn't really help meet expectations. We were surrounded by a retirement community where 98% of our customers were above the age of 55. Even though this was basically a FACT, US Bank still held us to the same goals as other branches. We have to sell auto loans (old people don't need cars), HELOC & HEIL (old people don't owe money, and don't want to owe any money), Credit Cards (old people HATE credit cards), etc. These pressures really made this job flat out SUCK. I have worked in a traditional environment, where selling was (of course) very important, but it wasn't my jobs MAIN PRIORITY. US Bank is a numbers bank, therefore, selling is KING. It doesn't matter if you are a banker, senior banker, assistant branch manager (like me), or whatever your position might be....Your goal is SELL!
I seriously felt at one point like if i was a used car sales man standing at a BANK LOT. US Bank tells you during training, "don't sell products to customers they don't need!", however, this is damn nearly impossible if you need to meet your goals! I at one point was literally putting people in reserve lines & premier lines (lines of credit that could be used as OD Protection), without them even knowing about it! These lines gave me points, and if i would ask a good amount of my customers if they needed it they would simply (and kindly) say, "NO".
By the way, this all took place at an in-store location. For those of you who don't know what an IN-STORE is, it's basically a US Bank branch located inside of a supermarket. I would assume that the traditional locations might have different goals, and a manager is a manager, and an ABSM is an ABSM, and a teller is a teller, etc. etc. I say this because in the in-store you do a little bit of EVERYTHING. I was a teller, a banker, an assistant branch manager, a senior banker.....to me, this was unbearable. I had to juggle 3-4 things at a time...and OPERATIONS is always breathing down your damn neck! Which, needless to say, does not make the job anymore comfortable.
