by Tibor Vanyó

A couple of years ago I visited the Erste Bank’s office at the university with my friend. It was a pleasant, hot summer day on Friday, and we arrived just before lunchtime. I have never had business with this bank before. My friend, who was my ex-roommate, had drunk too much on Thursday night at the Rocky, and he asked me to visit the office with him. "I have some problem with my credit card," he said, and because he was in a day after the situation, I went with him. When we stepped in the administrator was talking to someone on the phone, and she mentioned she could not join them for lunch because customers were still in the office.

In general, banks are friendly places, because the air conditioner is always on during the hot summer days, and you can drink free mineral water and take some sweets from the desk. People have to be kind with you; of course, they want your money.

Although there are lots of advantages of visiting a bank, that day was totally unpleasant for us. My friend began his story about his credit card, and the lady realized that she could not go for lunch that day. My friend’s story was a bit unclear for me, but at the end I understood everything. He had only some money, about 400 forints. Obviously, the cash machine was not able to give coins to him. So the only way to get his money was this personal visit. The lady mentioned that by this kind of payment the bank could not give him all the money because of the fee. Both of them became a bit angry, so my friend did not understand the situation and the lady missed her daily lunch with her mates. In the back I was just drinking free water, and I did not understand why my friend needed me for this undertaking. Probably that visit was his first one also. At the end he got some money, less than 250 forints, which was not enough for a bus ticket home, but for another beer at the Rocky.