It’s common to find different customers testing the patience of those in the customer service industry, from raging at return policies to making bold attempts at shoplifting. But at banks, one TikToker claims trying to get an identification card from older white men, in particular, makes them lose their minds.
“I have worked in customer service in some form or another for my entire adult life,” Laura Malaurakey (@malaurakey) rants in the TikTok clip. “But there is nothing that will prepare you for the vitriol that you will receive when you work at a bank and you ask an older white man to provide identification.”
Yet, the simple request is often explosive.
Asking for ID is one of the most basic security precautions banks take but after Malaurakey waived this extra step for one of her regulars, she says her next customer became enraged when he learned he would not get the same privilege.
“You and I are just meeting today for the first time, but once we get to know each other a little better, I’ll be able to extend you the same courtesy,” Malaurakey, a former bank worker, says she explained to the older white man. “He goes, ‘take a look at my face right now because I do not want to have to provide ID when I come back again.’”
Malaurakey says she politely refused, as he was just one in a sea of faces she helped daily. In response, she claims the man launched into an exhaustingly long argument. The Daily Dot reached out to Malaurakey via TikTok comment.
@malaurakey Not my normal content but I need to commiserate with others #customerservice #customerserviceproblems #bankinglife ♬ original sound – Laura Malaurakey
“In the back of my head, I am always wondering, do you want your account to be so un-secure that you can just tell me your account number, and I’m going to automatically wire $10,000 from your account?” Malaurakey says in the video which has been viewed over 299,000 times as of Monday.
Several bankers came together in the comments to confirm this unique pattern found among older white men.
“I had a guy throw his ID across the counter when I asked for it,” one viewer claimed. “When I was done, I threw it back.”
And for some viewers, the persistent conflict made them require ID for everyone or give up on long explanations.
“OMFG YES! Got to the point where I just rolled my eyes and said ‘bank policy,’” another viewer wrote.
“They don’t want convenience,” another viewer speculated. “They want to feel important/impressive.”
