Bank tellers occupy a fascinating role in daily life. They are trusted with countless peoples' financial information every single day.
As tellers accomplish all sorts of transactions, they become privy to a vast array of different activities. After all, how a person moves their money can say a lot about their personal lives and behavior.
music video teller closed GIF by Jason MrazGiphy
One Redditor learned the hard way that such a fascinating job demands a level of composure that may at times be tough to maintain. When a bank customer arrived to check on some flagged purchases, the teller struggled to check their impulsive reaction.
Sure, they did their very best to keep it professional. But a little laughter leaked through when they found out what the source of the problem was: an abundance of online transactions on OnlyFans, a webcam site commonly used by adult entertainers.
The slip up left triiiiiiiiiiiiiiina—as the teller is known on Reddit—on the wrong end of the customer's eventual complaint.
What else for triiiiiiiiiiiiiiina to do but turn to the "Today I F***ed Up (TIFU)" subReddit?
There, they gave the ins and outs of the entire transaction: how it began and—most importantly—how it went of the rails.
The incident was sparked by a familiar struggle—the ol' declined debit card.
"For context I'm a bank teller at one of the biggest banks in the U.S. This is also by far the highest paying job I've ever had as I only just graduated high school."
"This dude who looked to be on the older side came in and he wanted to know why his debit card kept declining. So I pulled up his account history and there was literally pages upon pages of online purchases."
As soon as the teller took a look at the nitty gritty details of all those purchases, a simple narrative became clear.
"The gag?"
"Every single one of the purchases was OnlyFans. I guess that he subscribed to many many pages......and the craziest part was that they were over the last few days directly after he got paid so he got a bunch of money then blew it all on OnlyFans subscriptions!"
Then came the first threat to professionalism.
"When I saw the account history I pretended to cough because I had the biggest urge to laugh but I managed to hold it in. I asked him if he had online banking or if he'd managed to look at his account history recently & he said no.
"I offered to print it out for him and he said yes please."
The struggle ensued when the customer was forced to engage about it all.
"When I handed the printouts to him, he just said ahhhh. And I came so close to laughing again but I managed to hold it in and be professional. Then I asked if he made those purchases and he just dejectedly said yes.
That defeated response was the last straw.
The slightest bit of that inner tidal wave came trickling out.
"And. I. Giggled. I couldn't help it. He gave me this weird look & left. Afterwards I had to excuse myself to the bathroom and laughed it all out of my system."
"I guess he called in to complain because after I came from my lunch break my manager called me into his office and now we've scheduled a call for HR tomorrow. I'm probably pretty f***ed.."
Many Redditors were quick to support the laughter response.
They assured the situation was objectively funny.
"As someone in my early 30s, I would've been giggling too. Probably even worse than you did. I giggle when I get nervous, and I got nervous just anticipating the awkwardness of you having to explain to an older gentleman what the charges were." -- bubblegumbombshell
"I have no issue with porn, but blowing your whole paycheck on porn and then going into your bank confused when your paycheck isn't there, is universally very funny." -- AppleSniffer
"I would've done the same props for not bursting out laughing and just giggles" -- Magicaldonkey132
"You should be promoted for not laughing in his face." -- Smokeydankington
Others with the same or similar jobs took the chance to emphasize just how crazy the discoveries at work can be.
"I have worked at a bank for 6 years and the things we see are unbelievable." -- Medical-Kick
"Working at a telecommunications company, I have had the pleasure (once) to read out adult titles to a parent to explain to them their son ordered which VOD titles. At the end, he said something along the lines of 'at least I know he isn't gay.' " -- Hi_Its_Salty
Fortunately, plenty of people gave practical advice for the impending meeting with HR.
"Used be be a bank manager. Just tell them the customer said 'yes' in a tone that you thought he was trying to joke with you. You misinterpreted. No tragedy." -- Davbret
"Delete this post, deny you giggled, admit to coughing, apologize profusely for somehow giving the customer the impression you had giggled."
"Assume they have the tape, when it shows you 'giggling' have a lightbulb moment and explain that after you'd coughed, you still had a tickle, and you'd stifled a sneeze there."
"Apologize again for it giving the customer the impression you'd giggled, because such a response would be absolutely unacceptable." -- ronearc
"Your best shot at keeping your job is probably to humble yourself and explain that you only just graduated high school, are sheltered and naïve, and are not yet used to being aware that other adults have sex lives."
"Tell them that you're aware this is a problem where it interferes with job performance and you'll work on it." -- TwoManyHorn2
"I'm guessing this is your first meeting with an HR rep. Usually things dont go as bad as youd expect. They will probably give you a warning and say something about how its very important to keep it professional."
"Worst case scenario you might have to call the guy and apologize but life goes on." -- Silverbackvg
The narrator took that advice to heart, and even added an update after the meeting occurred.
It turned out those Redditors gave some great advice.
"Update: wow thanks a lot for all your really nice messages. I just got done meeting with HR and I did exactly what you guys said, I took full responsibility for what happened."
"My manager asked why it was funny and I explained what OnlyFans is and the HR lady burst into laughter."
"They just let me off with a verbal warning and they said they appreciate the fact that I took responsibility but that I should try better control my laughter next time, which is definitely fair enough."
"I'm just glad I still have my job, thanks for the advice from all the lovely redditors and the supportive PM's that i received :) it really helped cause I was so anxious about being fired haha but thanks y'all :)"
It's always good when an important lesson can be learned without any serious consequences.
relieved relief GIFGiphy
