CASE 19

Good News, Bad News

Part I-The $3.75 Mistake

Background Information
Ted Banacek smiled as the "I've got some good news and I've got some bad
news" refrain kept repeating itself in his mind. "I can really appreciate it now,"
he thought to himself as he sat at this desk, looking out the window at the empty
parking lot.
The good news was that Ted had recently been promoted to the assistant
manager's job at State Bank's Westbury Mall Branch. The Westbury Mall
Branch, one of the larger, busier branches in State Bank's network, had seven
full-time tellers and three full-time new accounts personnel. It was something of
an honor to be made assistant manager after starting at the bank less than one
year ago.
For the past four months, Ted had really enjoyed his duties; he was learning
about new aspects of banking, meeting customers, working with employees.
Ted was particularly pleased that his time in the bank's Management Trainee
Program had finally paid off. Once in an assistant manager's spot, a branch
manager's job was just a matter of time. He wanted to do this job exceptionally
well.
The bad news was the job was a lot tougher than he had imagined, and now
he was sitting in boiling water with his job on the line-or so he thought. He
was upset, nervous, and just plain confused. As he stared out the window, he re­
called how it all began.

From the first day he worked for her, Ted thought his manager, Janice
Schuster,was a good boss: She was easy to talk to and gave Ted atten­
tion and advice. Over time, she had given him increasing responsibility
for running the day-to-day operations of the branch as she made more
and more sales calls on customers outside the branch. They both grew
extremely confident of Ted's ability, so there was no concern or fanfare
when Janice began her vacation two weeks ago. Indeed, during her first
week away, things went smoothly, and Ted had experienced no major
problems.
He thought the second week would be like the first, and it had been,
very briefly, until about 10:30 on Monday morning. A customer had just
found a charge on his checking account. The charge was four months
old, well beyond the normal grace period established by the bank. The
customer explained: "I just got around to looking at my statements and
found this charge. I've been a good customer here for a long time and
don't think I should have to pay for this one item. I'd like the amount
refunded to me."
Ted had handled these situations before. He knew the fee was a legiti­
mate one and that the notification period had elapsed. He also knew that
the bank wanted to increase fee income. He felt strongly that there was
no mistake on the bank's part and declined to reverse the charge. Ted
used his best business manner to explain the situation to the customer
nicely, but the customer was not pleased. Obviously upset, the customer
finally left Ted's desk and went to the teller line to cash a check.
Ted shrugged his shoulders. ''If you'd have brought this in sooner," he
thinks, "we might have done something. Tough luck." He then busied
himself with other things.
About 10 minutes later, Ted scanned the lobby during a work break. He
noticed that the displeased customer was talking to one of the tellers and
Judy Miller, a new accounts clerk. He could see that it was an animated
discussion. At one point, the customer pointed in Ted's direction. Both
the teller and Judy shook their heads in agreement. He notices that other
customers and tellers seemed to be listening in on their conversation. He
shrugged his shoulders and got back to work.
Later that day, after the branch closed, one of the other tellers asked to
talk to Ted privately. Ted listened as she told him: "I think you should
know what Judy was talking about with that customer today. The
customer was complaining that you did nol refund her $3.75 charge.
Judy just happened to overhear the complaint and then started agreeing
with the customer that you should have refunded the money and that it
was dumb that you didn't. I was embarrassed because some of the other
customers heard it, too. Some of the tellers also heard the tale, and now
they're making jokes and complaining about your '$3.75 mistake'!"
Ted said, "Thanks for telling me." He felt his stomach knot a little.

CASE QUESTIONS
I. Is there a problem here worth dealing with? If yes,
what is the problem and how should it be handled?
If no, why not?
2. What kinds of customer service standards should
exist for all employees in situations like this? How
should those standards be communicated and en­
forced?
3. Is Judy Miller "guilty" of insubordination?
4. Should Ted resond to the situation? If yes, how?