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Modesty blazes streak of glory in teller of a bank

By Mark Hughes (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-08-21 07:57

The young bank teller's eyes gazed at me in what I probably optimistically misinterpreted as an imploring manner before switching to the electronic board on my side of the counter.

Looking down I noticed the words "Satisfactory", "Average" and "Dissatisfied" with corresponding buttons beside them.

Clearly I had to judge the performance the clerk had delivered.

Personally, I was elated that, after the fourth attempt, I had correctly negotiated the form, with its reams of copies, to transfer funds from one bank account to another. I had overcome my blunderingly inept Putonghua to partly alleviate the pain of an overdraft some 8,000 km away. The color of ink I used had been the right shade of black to satisfy the directive of the "ministry of writing utensils" on the dissemination of bureaucratic tedium.

I had paid the correct, if somewhat extortionate fine (I mean fee) for processing the paperwork.

I had accurately written my passport number on the form when it asked for my identity number.

If the electronic keyboard had offered the option "kiss me" I would have swept the young lady up in my arms and made the classic movie Gone With The Wind look as passionate as a documentary about tractor production in the erstwhile Soviet Union between 1952 and 1954, with special regard to the number and type of rivets used.

Yes, I was a happy bunny quite ready to hand out lollipops and red envelopes to all and sundry.

So how to evaluate clerk number 15 who, according to the badge adorning her starched regulation blouse, was on the second stage of her advancement in the subtle skills of form-filling and counting?

I had been mightily impressed with the "touch-typing" calculator adroitness of the young lady in front of me.

She had also proved to be a mean hand with her much-used, red-inked chop. When her documents were chopped, they stayed chopped, no exceptions.

She appeared to do her job diligently, reading and re-reading the form like one might dwell over a love letter, and indicating in perfect and polite English what I needed to do.

She was smartly attired, her manner was brisk and efficient and, hell's bells, she was easy on the eye. She hadn't smiled but that was probably against "bank rule number 672 subsection C": When and when not to smile in the presence of busy customers.

So why was there no option to applaud her as downright excellent?

In the United States, the choices would surely have ranged from "Awesome" through "So, so" to "Sucks".

Satisfactory seemed plain mean-spirited, a begrudging acknowledgement that I had come armed with a task for her to accomplish on my behalf and she had simply gone through the correct motions conscientiously but without investing anything more than what duty warranted.

True, this is exactly what she had done and would continue to do for countless customers to come, but it made no reference to the delight with which I perceived it or the personal benefit I gained.

At this stage I would like to say the following quotation from Chairman Mao sprang to mind but, to be honest, I looked it up afterwards: "We should be modest and prudent, guard against arrogance and rashness, and serve the Chinese people heart and soul...."

(For those interested, it's from China's Two Possible Destinies, April 23, 1945, Selected Works, Volume III, page 253. At least, that's what my crib says.)

And while I had the Oxford Dictionary of Quotations out, I decided to look up what Confucius had to say on a few things. One quote in particular caught my eye: "What you do not want done to yourself, do not do to others."

The character encapsulated by the first quote seems as good as any to describe the behavior of most Beijingers I have encountered, and it was perfectly represented by my humble bank servant.

The exhortation in the second compelled me to pretend to look for a button on the electronic board that read "Amazing, and damned good looking, too" and to appear disappointed when I failed to find one.

It was at this point that junior clerk number 15 permitted herself a smile, albeit a brief one that made her blush and then cast about for the disapproving glare of a boss.

"Chuse. Brilliant," I said as I hypocritically pressed "Satisfactory".

Life is indeed incredibly satisfactory here.

(China Daily 08/21/2009 page9)