At the Bank

I've never seen a more systematic and bureaucratic system than the banks in Venezuela. I've been to two banks, and they work quite different:

The Bank of Venezuela (Banco de Venezuela) reminds me of the American Department of Motor Vehicles (the DMV). The first thing you do when you walk in is pick up a ticket, sit, and wait. But it's not just a sequential number that everyone gets; depending on what kind of business you' re performing and whether or not you' re a client of the bank (checked through your ATM card), you get a number based on priority from an unnecessarily fancy ticket machine. So, when you look at the screen with the current number, it seems that it's just coming up with totally random numbers assigned to different counters. Nobody calls your number; you have to pay attention to the numbers because all you hear is a doorbell sound (and I bet they use a regular doorbell box for that.)

Banesco is a bit more traditional. They have a single long line wrapped around "red tape". Very classic. Mom says that it's one of the few that still works this way, though.

Once you get your turn, you try to perform your task as fast as possible. The clerk stamps the stub like 7 or 8 times, and then gives you or takes your cash depending on what you're doing. Once you' re done, get out of the way because the bank is so busy that they really don't have time for a "thank you"; they'll only tell you "Could you move for the next client, please?" and when you turn around there's the next person in line, right behind you.

At the ATM, you can't take too long either. You don't enter your pin fast enough and it will kick you out, and if you try too many times then it will take away your card, for security reasons. You can never withdraw more than approximately USD $125.

Finally, you never, ever, want to go to the bank on a Friday afternoon because it's when the working man, the blue collar man, gets paid and they get the afternoon off to go deposit or cash their checks. The bank closes at around 3:00 pm but they actually stop working when everyone inside the bank gets their turn. The reason why workers get the afternoons off is because one person used to withdraw the money from the bank and pay it in cash at the construction sites but it turns out that the one guy who did it always got robbed on the way back.