My extraordinary experiences in state owned banks.

The day started very well with an appointment at ANSES to start the PUAM application, but I'll go into that in more detail in this thread.

While at ANSES my main client, a private school, sent me messages to collect a box of electronics from an address in Martinez, try to find a replacement charger and then to pay a cheque into the dreaded Banco Nacion. So after a quick coffee, at 1330 I raced over to the store in Martinez only to find it was closed for lunch. From that moment I had a feeling things were going to go downhill.

Seeing as it was nearly 2 pm and banks close at three, I decided to leave the bank till the last minute because in my experience, there are fewer people. So I acquired a charger at my favourite electronics/gadget shop, Megatronica opposite the Quinta and rode at a leisurely pace to Banco Nacion, parked the bike and strolled into the bank.

To my utter amazement the waiting area was completely empty, so I tapped in my DNI at the terminal, expecting my number to appear immediately since the place was deserted.

I should add here that last year you took a paper number from a roller and the current number would display on the wall, so you would know how many people were before you, just to retain your sanity. There was also a melodic chime when numbers changed. The new system is atrocious because it displays the last four digits of your DNI on a huge TV when your number comes up but you have no way of knowing how long you will have to wait and no sound comes out of the TV. This means that you have to stare at the screen constantly because otherwise you'll miss your turn.

Still with me?

After ten minutes my number was still not called, so I strode past the screens that hide the cashiers and asked the nearest cashier why my number hadn't been called, bearing in mind that the bank was empty. Doing that is a cardinal sin which he pointed out very aggressively, so I asked him why he couldn't just take the cheque and bank it. He said he wouldn't do that because my number hadn't been called, so I said "Just tap my number in, then."

"No, you need to go back, sit down and wait or do some shopping or something."

"Why?" I asked.

At this point I could tell he was getting angry, shuffling papers about, with his face flushing and I knew I was never going to win this.

I went back to the waiting area, found two people waiting patiently and by this time I was furious, especially since within ten more minutes, their numbers were called before mine.

By 14.45 more people began to arrive and all were served before me and I could see where this was going, so I barged around the screens again and challenged a different cashier who again refused to take my cheque, insisting that I would have to wait for my number to come up.

"You have a job to do, so just do it." I said angrily, at which point he stood up and disappeared, leaving me to mumble at the glass partition. A few seconds later another cashier appeared, but he ignored me when I asked the same questions, so I returned to the waiting area incandescent with rage.

The time was now 3.10 pm, the security guard had locked the door, opening it for people leaving and I just knew that the last person there would be seen before me. I was right, with my number finally being called at 3.25 pm. Last man standing.

As luck would have it, I was confronted with the tattooed first cashier that I'd pissed off earlier, but I remained polite whilst gritting my teeth.

And here's the sting - the cheque was post dated and could not be banked until the following day. It was clear he enjoyed telling me that but it didn't faze me, so I told him that he had no right to be so bloody rude to me which made him madder than ever, at which he too simply disappeared.

I left the bank fuming, amazed that I hadn't completely lost control, only to find a woman standing next to my bike complaining that it was illegally parked, which it wasn't, at which she received all the Anglo-Saxon expletives that had been building up for the last hour.

I later informed the client that I would no longer be going to that bank ever again and they could please make their own arrangements.

I should add that tattooed cashier aggressively informed me that bank clients override all others and that cheque payments from non-clients always come last. Which doesn't explain how I was both first and last when the waiting area was completely empty.

Oh, hang on, it does. They just don't like people like me who question the system. It's not the first time and it won't be the last.

Quote from aficionado

All this time here I did not realize people use paper checks. In US most banks support the ability to deposit by scanning to upload, and now just take a picture with the bank app. Not here?

Is that one of your services? Motor bike delivery, I knew, but also charging by the hour for waiting at their bank? Sometimes now I use TaskRabbit app remote from Argentina for a person to do small errands that I need done in US. Is there an app like that here?

I have no idea why they use cheques but it's business for me anyway. I believe most of the cheques are union contributions.

Yes, I do motorcycle delivery, mainly for one client. During the pandemic I was run off my feet and it was very lucrative.

Quote from Rice

Splinter , our household awaits the detailed description of your experience —

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RE: My extraordinary experiences in state owned banks.

The day started very well with an appointment at ANSES to start the PUAM application, but I'll go into that in more detail in this thread.

While at ANSES my main client, a private school, sent me messages to collect a box of electronics from an address in Martinez, try to find a replacement charger and then to pay a cheque into the dreaded Banco Nacion. So after a quick coffee, at 1330 I raced over to the store in Martinez only to find it was closed for lunch. From that moment I had a feeling…

Splinter

November 12, 2025 at 8:54 AM

On Friday I had to pay two cheques for my client into Banco Provincia (BP) - online payments for this particular payment can't be done - so as usual I got to the Olivos branch half an hour before close of business at 3pm. Fortunately it was almost empty and I only had to wait ten minutes.

Now, each cheque, as per usual, had three A4 printouts detailing the cheque amounts, so I handed them over to the miserable clerk who took forever to process them. Eventually he bundled everything back up and thrust them over the counter, telling me that the printouts didn't add up to the cheques. I wasn't at all surprised by this because if something can go wrong in these banks, it inevitably will.

I then asked him to please double check, but he refused. I should have added them myself in front of him, so that's a lesson learned.

When I got home, my wife and I checked them and they did indeed add up correctly, but it was too late because on contacting the client (who was furious) I was told that they would have to issue new cheques and pay the fines/interest for late payment through no fault of theirs. They are meticulous with accounting procedures by the way.

Today I collected the new cheques and this time went to the San Isidro branch of BP and again, miraculously, I only had to wait ten minutes. This time I was confronted by a miserable woman clerk who didn't even reply to my 'good morning', so I handed over one cheque at a time, at which she told me rather rudely that the endorsement signatures on the back of the cheques should be right at the bottom of anything else written on the back. She then summoned a colleague to ask if she could accept the cheques and then told me that on this occasion she would do me this one favour.

At this, my blood was boiling over, mainly because of her hubris, high and mighty attitude and the glass panel was the only thing preventing me from punching her in her fat, ugly face.

Although I get paid to do this work, I have to say that in my entire life I have never come across such rude and disdainful employees.