By Staff
YEARS OF SERVICE- Trustmark Bank teller Stacey Davis helps a customer at the bank's downtown Meridian office. Davis, the head teller for Trustmark's main office on 23rd Avenue, has been with the financial institution for more than 17 years.Photo by Kyle Carter / The Meridian Star
By Ida Brown /special sections editor
October 5, 2003
Among a banking institution's many employees, one has more contact with its customers than any other: the teller.
While loans, estate planning and investments are services offered by most banks, deposits and withdrawals are the most frequent transactions. In appreciation of tellers' contributions to financial institutions, Oct. 6-10 has been designated National Teller Appreciation Week.
Locally, the observance will be low-key, with most bank presidents planning to express their appreciation by treating tellers to breakfast or lunch or presenting each a single rose. However, most tellers will probably agree they are rewarded on a daily basis.
Pat Connerly, a teller at Trustmark for more than four years, agrees.
And while cashing checks, receiving deposits and paying out withdrawals are among the duties tellers perform, their responsibilities are much broader.
Other tasks performed by tellers include customer research, exchanging foreign currency, accepting loan payments, opening and closing accounts, sorting checks and deposit slips, counting cash on hand and balancing day's accounts.
Davis noted that a friend, unaware of the numerous responsibilities of bank tellers, applied for a post as a teller and received a rude awakening.
Like their job responsibilities, bank tellers' contact with the public is also extended.