An interesting thing happened the other day on the way to the bank. Well, actually it happened at the bank. As part of my duties as the new CSS Treasurer, I set about opening a new checking account at my local credit union (they offered us a better deal than our previous bank). I gathered together all the paperwork and called my sister for a ride.
I’ve used this credit union for the past couple of years and my sister has been a member for over 7 years. In all that time we’ve always had good experiences. That is, until Wednesday...
We entered the bank and walked up to one of the tellers, her name was Wendy. I told her I was there to open a checking account and showed her my paperwork. She was very friendly, until she took a look at the name of my group: Corvallis Secular Society. Her mood immediately changed and she walked away without a word to talk to another teller. That teller told Wendy to open the account and she got even more upset and went to a second teller. Again, she was told to open the account. She refused and so the second teller took over. After we had opened the account and were leaving, Wendy gave us the “evil eye” as we were walking out.
The only thing I can think of, is she either did not know what the word “secular” meant (and, like a lot of people I talk to, assume secular means sect, as in a cult). Or, she really DID know what the word meant and was upset. Either way her behavior was inappropriate.
All of this was a real eye opener for my Catholic sister. While she has heard me tell about incidences of discrimination because of my or another’s Atheism, she has never witnessed it first hand. She was shocked. All this prompted a nice discussion about how many people jump to conclusions about atheists. I related to her the story about how Reed (your humble Editor) was putting up posters for one of the Symposiums. Upon hearing that he was an atheist a woman remarked “Oh, you’re one of those Devil Worshippers”. I explained to my sister that if we don’t believe in god, why do people, like the teller, assume we would believe in the devil? She’d never thought of that before and agreed it was a silly assumption.
In all fairness to the credit union, I must say that the teller who took over was sweet and wonderful. I called the bank Supervisor the next day to express my concerns and she was extremely nice and apologetic. She informed me that the offending teller was already quitting her job the following week.
I related this story to several people including CSS member Dan Wilcox. I think he said it best in an email he sent me: “It is always nice to hear when the nice people are in charge and the Wendys of the world are rare and on their way out.” Indeed it is....
Hello. My name is Angela Christine Byers (yes, my mother actually named me “Angel of Christ”), and I am an atheist.
Copyright © 1996 - 2002 Angela C. Byers
Email comments to:
Angela C. Byers