I just found this story from Fox News about a man in Tampa, Florida, who was not allowed to cash a check at Bank of America. The reason was failure to provide a thumbprint. The thing is, this man was born without arms, and has never has a thumb to print.
He presented a check to cash, which was from his wife on a account that she has there, to a teller at a Bank of America in Tampa. The teller refused, acknowledging that Steve Valdez physically could not provide the required thumbprint and asked a supervisor what to do. The supervisor also refused to cash the check, citing company policy. The supervisor told Valdez if he wanted the cash, either his wife needed to come to the bank or he could open an account with the check. All this even after Valdez had provided two different photo IDs. According to Valdez, the bank remained firm when reminded of the Americans with Disabilites Act and the potential problems that could result from their refusal.
Well, Valdez never was allowed to cash the check, although he did recieve a phone call days later from a regional manager with an apology.
My first thought when I read the headline was, "Seriously, how can they do that to an armless man? Are they asking for a lawsuit?"
Then I read the entire article and my thoughts are pretty much the same after reading.
I work in a bank and I can't imagine, in a million years, not cashing this check. He provided more than sufficient photo ID and it's blatantly obvious that he is unable to provide the print as ID. Really, why would they need it anyway. He was born armless. What do they hope to find in their database to compare to?
I will say that we don't require fingerprints at the bank where I work but this would not have happened even if we did. I actually asked a friend of mine who does work in a bank where they use fingerprinting for identification and she asked her supervisor if they would have turned him away. Her answer? Absolutely not. The TWO different forms of photo ID were plenty, given the circumstances.
I really hope that Bank of America has enough of that bailout money left to pay for the lawsuits that this kind of customer service is going to bring about.
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I agree with you in that Bank Of America is just asking for a lawsuit. I know that banks have alot of regulations and manuals that they must follow and surely somewhere around there a dusty copy of the ADA is laying around. I doubt that the employees were ever properly trained on how to handle a situation like this. I wonder how many of them are too lazy to push open the door and probably hit the handicap button out front? I think if they require you to have arms, they should change their name to the Bank of ARMerica.
ReplyDeleteThis is entirely crazy. Why in the world would you not think of the ADA and how much trouble you could get yourself into for not properly serving someone with a disability? I just think that they were not thinking at all that day. I would have to agree in that it is a lawsuit waiting to happen.
ReplyDeleteMuch of the time, those immured in a bureaucracy are there because they can't think, and don't want to try.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, you need to hit "enter" an extra time between paragraphs. You can click on a preview function in the upper right hand corner of the post window to see what your post will look like to your readers.
I totally agree as well. I would not have been able to sleep if I was the one turning that man away. That is just plain crazy. I mean even if the TWO forms of ID wasn't enough for them, they could have called the account owner and verify. They are asking for a law suit, just like you said.
ReplyDeleteIt is so repulsive that something like this could happen to anyone! And good point about the govt. bailing them out. The bank can do whatever no matter who they hurt, but a poor guy who has a hard enough time in life can't even cash a check? The fact that he provided two forms of ID should be more than plenty. I am not a big fan of lawsuits, because they have become sooo ridiculous in recent years, however, this kind of incident is the reason lawsuits are available! I hope this man shows this bank he's going to stand up for his rights and help others going through the same kind of discrimination.
ReplyDeleteI thought you brought the proper attention this story deserves. Some people just cannot think for themselves. Like you said, “He provided more than sufficient photo ID and it's blatantly obvious that he is unable to provide the print as ID”. What more did they want from the man that he could reasonable offer.
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