Blessed ATM
In today’s For Better or For Worse, Lynn Johnston really tapped into old feelings for as she shows Elly Patterson being laughed at by a bank teller as she rushes to the bank to do her business before it closes. I remember back in those days, when you had to go to a bank teller to get cash, and the lines to do so were quite long, especially on paydays. Bank teller jobs were often jobs that attracted women who liked to dress up to go to work in an air-conditioned office, and oftentimes they were quite attractive, well-dressed, and also condescending. Back in 1980 when this For Better or For Worse strip first appeared, Elly Patterson was probably tapping into an every day fear of being mocked by the pretty blonde girl working the teller’s desk.
I was fairly young at this time, and I had just gotten to the point where I was working, and depositing and withdrawing money from a bank. There were a number of occasions, I remember very clearly, where I received stern public lectures from bank tellers, who were astonished that I had not filled out the forms to deposit or receive money correctly. Eventually, I figured it out, but not before 2 or 3 quite humiliating incidents.
I remember one occasion in which I had not brought my bank card (card with my account number on it) with me to withdraw money from my account, and so I had to fill out a blank form to do so, with the teller’s assistance, since she could look up my account number by using my name. After having done this, the teller informed me that this was the third time she had done this for me, and she would not ever be doing this for me again. I had to bring my bank card, or receive no money. I found this lecture to be particularly disconcerting, because this was the first occasion I had ever done that. Thanks to the lecture, it was also my last.
ATM machines arrived in the early 1980s, but there were not many of them. In my college town, there was only one which worked for my bank, and I always made the long walk to visit it, instead of going into the bank to deal with the teller.
On a side note, I thought Lynn Johnston said in her interviews about the hybrid, she was going to have the old strips recoloured. This strip today, could really stand to be recoloured.
I was fairly young at this time, and I had just gotten to the point where I was working, and depositing and withdrawing money from a bank. There were a number of occasions, I remember very clearly, where I received stern public lectures from bank tellers, who were astonished that I had not filled out the forms to deposit or receive money correctly. Eventually, I figured it out, but not before 2 or 3 quite humiliating incidents.
I remember one occasion in which I had not brought my bank card (card with my account number on it) with me to withdraw money from my account, and so I had to fill out a blank form to do so, with the teller’s assistance, since she could look up my account number by using my name. After having done this, the teller informed me that this was the third time she had done this for me, and she would not ever be doing this for me again. I had to bring my bank card, or receive no money. I found this lecture to be particularly disconcerting, because this was the first occasion I had ever done that. Thanks to the lecture, it was also my last.
ATM machines arrived in the early 1980s, but there were not many of them. In my college town, there was only one which worked for my bank, and I always made the long walk to visit it, instead of going into the bank to deal with the teller.
On a side note, I thought Lynn Johnston said in her interviews about the hybrid, she was going to have the old strips recoloured. This strip today, could really stand to be recoloured.
posted by howard at 11:25 PM
5 Comments:
I had to deal with the same hat trick of fail(fairly attractive woman, condescending, likes to dress up to show you she's better than you) during my first days banking, too. Those same character traits tell me that someone we've seen shouldn't be wasting her time pretending to teach children; she's a natural born bank teller.
At least this wasn't one of those early Sunday strips where Lynn expressed emotion by coloring a character's face BRIGHT RED. This was a distressingly frequent tactic for her in the very early Sunday strips.
Actually, when you see her blowing the crud outta the hose, her face has taken on a bit of color that ain't due to the effort. Simply put, she's pissed off at having to do something she thinks is beneath her. That, sadly, is why she's in a rush. If she'd taken the time to pick up potential clogs before she vacuumed, she'd've had more time for the banking.
D'oh--you're right, dreadedcandiru2--the red-face technique appears in panel five.
Bright Red is one old technique now gone. I have also noticed she was very fond of occasionally giving Elly two sets of eyebrows, which I can only assume was some kind of misguided attempt to wrinkle her brow.
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