Another lesson in Southernese
def: A sudden outburst of temper, often used to describe female anger . Originally regional from American South. Thought to originate from contraction of “hysterical fit.”
A heightened emotional state that results in an animated fit of peak.
Only a Southerner knows the difference between a hissy fit and a conniption fit, and that you don’t have them, you pitch them.
We southern women are famous for what we call “hissy” fits. And yesterday, I pitched a grand one! It all started when I went to my BOA account online to pay bills. I found my account -.15 , not the healthy balance I had the night before, when I sent a check to my step daughter.
Let me explain to you how this all came to be. Last weekend, my hubby handed over his paycheck to me after endorsing it properly, I endorsed it as well with my bank account number and signature and promptly deposited it in the local BOA ATM. That handled, I was off to the grocery, dry cleaners, service station, you know the drill. Saturdays are made for errands.
Monday was a federal holiday, so the check I had deposited over the weekend was still marked pending, minus the few hundred dollars that they make available immediately. No problem, life is still good. Made the payment on the condo, purchased some adult refreshment. Tuesday was a regular day, my pay check (regular one) auto deposited at midnight & my freelance work deposits all posted as well. Still waiting on the ATM deposit to clear fully, until Wednesday. No problem. All is well.
Thursday morning rolls around, I sign on to my account to transfer funds to our savings account. I notice my available balance is -.15. After scrolling down the account screen seems the deposit I made on Saturday has been reversed. I’m in total disbelief that hubby’s payroll check wouldn’t have been good. By now I’m calculating what future overdraft charges are on the way and I’m feeling a migraine coming on.
I send a bank mail to customer service inquiring about the reversal. I’ve got loads of work to take care of for clients so I don’t check my email for several hours. When I get back to it, I have a pert, polite message from customer service. They’ve reversed the transaction, not because the check bounced mind you, but because my husband’s name is not on the household account to which I deposited the check. And, they continue to tell me that they have the option to accept or not accept it. Never mind that I have deposited these checks for years. What???
I won’t bore you with the 6 or so emails that I exchanged with them, stating all of my obvious astonishment at this practice, never mind the costs that I was about to incur. To sum it up, I was told by not one, but three, different agents that it did not matter, that was what was done and there was nothing else to talk about. Wrong. I picked up the phone. The first customer service agent, I’ll call “B”, that I spoke with gave me the same speil I got via email. I asked to speak to her supervisor, who I’ll call “C”, I explained the transaction to her again, and stated again that they had never refused these checks before, I didn’t get what the problem was. I’m having a hard time keeping my temper in check now, but I ask for her supervisor. I’m told that she’ll have to call me back, she’s at lunch. Time to cool off I think and I repeat my contact information to “C”. Back to tax work. I never receive a call from her supervisor. What is customer service coming to? I’m not asking for much, only that my friendly neighborhood bank honor a deposit that I made that was done properly.
Thank God for Google and Grape Nehi! I pop a cold drink and sit down to Google Bank Of America Contact information. No luck. I remember an “friend” the FDIC. Success! I find contact information for all the people I need. E-mail addresses and postal addresses in hand, its almost 4pm on the east coast. (BoA offices are in North Carolina) I need to craft a well written complaint letter to the powers that be. If I’m going to email a copy to all the parties, I need to get busy. I’m a writer. This can’t be too hard. Right ? 4:30 pm letter crafted, spell checked, edited and printed. I stamp and post the hard copy of my letter and I email the customer service department. I cc all the parties I think I should contact, (my old state senator is the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, Ranking Member ), so I cc him as well. Pull the trigger and hit the send key. Done. I’m feeling better about things now. I’m resigned to the fact that I’m going to owe hundreds in past due fees as well as overdraft fees before the end of next week, but I’ve had the opportunity to vent.
Fast forward to today 4:59 PM, email from BOA. Hmmmm. I open it, thinking only that they are acknowledging receipt of my email from yesterday. Surprisingly, the e-mail is from one of the parties I sent to yesterday! For some reason, they don’t have my phone number. Right. I type in the number and hit send. I won’t hear from this yayhoo until Monday I think. I haven’t even closed my email program and the phone rings. Its the party from the email! I’ll call him Mr. “X”. He seems very friendly and explains that he’s been trying to call me all day. (Now I’m confused. My phone number on my account is the only number I have) He explains how he’s Googled me, called the number on my account and any number of things he’s done to locate me. One hour and a lengthy discussion later, my issues were solved. I’m a little fish in a BIG pond in the grand scheme of things. But, a well crafted letter and some attached facts made a difference. Hissy Fit Over. Being a Southern Belle is a good thing.
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