Efficiency vs. Intimacy

For the last month and a half, I have been employed as a bank teller, and it has been a frightening introduction to the pace and expectations of service jobs. Let me preface all of this by saying the last customer service job was also my first: a grocery bagger. Back then, my job performance was entirely about efficiency and effectiveness in processing a customer's grocery assortment. Ask whether the customer prefers paper or plastic, keep the eggs and bread near the top, build off a foundation of cereal boxes and soup cans, pack perishables separately, and always keep cleaning products separately: these were the fundamental rules of a bagger.

Nowadays, I live by different, yet similar rules: enter various computer codes for various transactions, ask to see a driver's license for any cash withdrawal, keep focused on one transaction at a time, and always count money three times. Like my job as a bagger, the goal is efficiency and effectiveness, and there's two different ways I can know if I'm not hitting these marks. First of all, some customers have an incredible if annoying habit of letting me know when I am not processing their transactions quickly enough. The security glass between myself and members can prevent bullets from ending my life, but it can't protect me from angry glares and critical comments. Sticks and stones, right? Secondly, the managerial side of the branch is continually gauging my accuracy and speed in helping member's perform their banking needs. The ultimate test comes at the end of the day - is my cash drawer balanced or not? So there I sit as a bank teller, positioned obediently between the ongoing demands of personal finance and the ever-seeing eye of a security camera over my right shoulder. Both sides expect excellent service. I am essentially a conduit between consumer and producer - a middle man between those with financial needs and those with financial answers.

So the question I have to ask myself is why does a human being fill this job? If I am correct in that the necessities and goals of my position are effectiveness and efficiency, than it seems a computer would be a better employee. Not surprisingly, that is becoming more of the standard in the customer service world. Automated phone services and internet outlets are beginning to dominate as the only option for speaking to a company.

But the credit union I work for has decided that customer service is how they are going to differentiate themselves in a sea of financial options. The credit union realizes that regardless of how many mistakes a human being will make (about five a day for me), some people would much prefer driving ten miles to wait in a ten minute line to speak to a human being than getting on the internet and making an ebranch transfer.

Consequently, I find myself in the middle of a much larger struggle occurring in our world - a struggle between efficiency and intimacy. And I find my current employment situation to be a good reflection of these two forces. As a bank teller, I am challenged by forces of depersonalization and utilitarianism. As a disciple of Christ and as a pastor of God's people, I am challenged to make life ever more personal and to treat all peoples as God's children - regardless of a persons social value.

I am seeking that place Bonhoeffer said is where "your deep gladness and the world's deep hunger meet." Whatever it is that I am called to, I hope and believe that it will mean an enlargement of my spirit and personality.

Wes