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For what it's worth, I just had an interesting bank experience two weeks ago. I was buying a motorcycle from a
classified ad, and the guy wanted an $1800 cashier's check. So I went to the bank, asked the teller for the check, and proceeded
to wait there for five minutes while he stared at his terminal. Finally I asked, "is everything okay?"
"Oh
it's just routine, I'm trying to figure out where you get your money."
I
didn't really go any further, since I just assumed that this was because of the PATRIOT Act (though he never outright said
that).
Afterwards, he says everything looks okay, and now needs to know why I
need the cashier's check (he said that for an amount this big, this is standard procedure). I debated long and hard about
putting up a fight on the grounds that this is my money, and I don't need to give them a reason to withdraw it. At first I
was thinking of just saying "drugs" to see what the reaction would be, and if they would actually prevent me from withdrawing
my money because they don't approve of how I'm going to spend it. But instead I told the truth.
I
later relayed this story to my adviser here at CMU (this happened at PNC). She said I should have said something like "it's
for my girlfriend to get an abortion." While it would have been interesting to see the teller's response, this brings up a
very serious point: bank tellers are now in the same position as pharmacists in that they can deny you service because of
differing ideologies. The difference though, is that the bank scenario is a lot more serious as they are sitting on your money
(whereas in many cases you can go to a different pharmacy).
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