[Bank Clerk Tragedy①] "Threatened to Stab Me Multiple Times"... Tearful Note

["Enduring Again Today"... The Cruel Story of Bank Employees] Series

<1> "Threatened with a Knife" Tearful Memo
<2> Good Branch Manager, Bad Branch Manager
<3> Harassment Complaints Are Increasing

[Asia Economy Reporters Seungseop Song and Nayoung Shim] The fingers of Seo Ju-yeon (31, pseudonym), a fourth-year bank employee, trembled over the keyboard. Although a field to enter customer’s special notes awaited on the monitor, her mind went blank. After barely writing two lines?'Repeated threats during consultation to stab and kill. Angry because a bank employee laughed at her three years ago'?Seo covered her face with her hands in distress. “She didn’t really bring a knife. We’re all safe, so just forget about it,” a senior colleague nearby offered what felt like an unconvincing consolation.

Among bank employees, there is a memo used exclusively for dealing with black consumers. Called 'Bimang (備忘)', this memo is used to record malicious customer misconduct. Originally, it was intended to note customers’ personal information or inquiries relevant to employment, job changes, marriage, or home purchases. However, as disruptions caused by problematic customers increased, Bimang has become an essential resource that bank employees circulate among themselves.

Preparing for Problematic Customers by Sharing Bimang

Kang Seon-jae (28, pseudonym), a second-year bank employee, said, “Because the stress is intense, bank workers tend to write down troublesome customers to help each other out. Just knowing in advance helps us be cautious and less flustered.” Once black consumer information is recorded, not only the individual but also colleagues at other branches can view it, allowing them to prepare mentally. It is also used when filing police reports and during investigations.

“When I called a customer with a loan delinquency to inform them, the next day they came to the counter and took out a sickle. They warned me to be careful at night because they had prepared gasoline and sulfur powder.” (Cha Hyun-joo, 30, pseudonym, third-year bank employee) Along with this case, there are frequent incidents of harassment by black consumers such as: 'Write 200 apology letters by hand, and have the bank president write a separate apology letter, get it notarized with a seal, and send it. Otherwise, I will file a complaint with the Financial Supervisory Service'; 'I am a power blogger. If you don’t do as I say, I will post it on my blog'; 'I was a victim of voice phishing because of the bank. I will report the bank president'; 'I had to use internet banking during the bank’s inspection time but couldn’t. Compensate me with money for damages.'

The main targets are usually female new employees. A complaint team manager at a commercial bank said, “We receive reports of incidents mostly from female new employees who have been with the bank for only a few years. Black consumers typically pick on those who seem vulnerable.”

Poor Employee Protection, Quiet Handling to Avoid Score Penalties When Complaints Are Filed

The reason bank employees try to distinguish problematic customers even if only through memos is due to inadequate employee protection systems. Kim Seok-ju (36, pseudonym), who has worked at a branch in the Gyeonggi region for five years, said, “There are no specific measures to protect employees. When counter staff are in trouble, a senior manager at the assistant branch manager level or higher comes to help. Dealing with black consumers essentially depends on the problem-solving ability of the branch’s responsible senior managers.”

Even when suffering mental harm, employees cannot respond aggressively because complaints affect their evaluations. Most banks score their employees using Key Performance Indicators (KPI), and if a complaint is filed, the KPI score is likely to be reduced, negatively impacting the branch as well. Bank employees say that branches with deputy branch managers and branch managers aiming for promotion are especially vulnerable to being manipulated by problematic customers.

Meanwhile, the mental health of bank employees has deteriorated significantly. According to last year’s report on 'The Reality and Response to Work-Related Mental Illness Among Office Financial Workers' (by Yoo Min Lee, occupational environmental medicine specialist at Seoul St. Mary’s Hospital, and Youngsun Kim, research fellow at the Labor Time Center), 91.8% of bank employees working in 'branch, field sales, and compensation' roles showed 'symptoms of emotional dissonance.' Among respondents, 40.2% suffered from sleep disorders, 27.0% from depression, and 22.6% from anxiety disorders.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.