In Texas. I need a drink.

So I go to Nation's Bank/BOA to cash my paycheck. In line, I hear an employee on the phone who's on intercom & doesn't know it say "I hear the systems are down in South Carolina, power is down there."

When I get up to the (head) teller, I repeat that - "power down?" She says, loudly, too: "Oh, probably Y2K." At least 10 other customers can hear this.

I manage to croak something about Texas power looking pretty good, and she says she's preparing for two weeks, actually a month. I say something to the effect of "good, you probably have neighbors who won't, and you'll be able to help" and she delineates what and how she's stocking and what she won't be sharing. She's offering all this info, mind you.

I say "I'm worried about the banks" (meaning runs), she says "Oh, we're compliant, it's our vendors we're worried about".

I wanted to give her a pollyanna pep talk (no idea where that impulse came from) but I had cash in hand, and it was time to leave.

That was insane. But anyway, there you have it: BOA is compliant.

-- Lisa (work@no.thanks), April 16, 1999

Answers

I just heard they had horrible wind storms in South Carolina today. In addition to a tornado, there was 1 gust measured over 160 mph.

Not only Y2K, but now the jet stream . . . ?

yikes (ducking)

-- Margaret (janssm@aol.com), April 16, 1999.

Yeah, that's probably why we haven't seen "a" or Bill Solorzano at the bar today.......they live in SC.

-- Lisa (lisa@work.now), April 16, 1999.

In Texas. Yesterday at 4:45pm I deposited $1000 in GREEN CASH in my account at Wells Fargo bank. The receipt said it credited right then (I've done this before -- 5 minutes later on the teller it is evident). But at 2pm today it's still not there. This has never happened before. I called customer service and they were baffled as to why it hadn't showed up. I had to give them all the data from the receipt. The woman told me if I hadn't had the receipt it would have been bad news for me. Because I had the receipt data they are crediting my account -- but that won't go through until tomorrow morning.

This sounds like a connection issue if the storms are the reason. However, this is a good example of the telecommunications issues and how they could affect lots of things besides "your phone."

PJ in TX

-- PJ Gaenir (fire@firedocs.com), April 16, 1999.

Insane is right. How about telling the bank person: "Some folks are cautious about discussing their preperations in public. Fear of theft, fear of the gummint, fear of crazy neighbors, & so on, you know." It would be a kick to see her reaction. It might also put the idea into her head that she should maybe shut up already, in public at least.

-- just (a@little.suggestion), April 16, 1999.

PJ...

Sounds like it's a good time to find another source to "deposit" that cash...keep just enough in the bank to keep the account open

Texas Terri

-- Texas Terri (DeepInTheHeart@Texas.com), April 16, 1999.

Terri, you're in Austin, too. What is your impression of the awareness level here?

-- Lisa (lisa@work.now), April 16, 1999.

This thread is an excellent example of how people can turn nothing into something.

Pathetic. The credibility of this forum continues to spiral downward from what it once was.

-- larry b (forum@degrading.com), April 16, 1999.

Prediction: Within a week, Gary North will have an entry about Y2K causing a power outage in South Carolina which caused bank failures in Texas, thereby proving the fragile, interconnected nature of our economy.

-- RMS (rms_200@hotmail.com), April 16, 1999.

Lisa...

I think most people in Austin believe that "they" are fixing "it"...Austin's economy is dominated by the hi-tech industry...also, I think most people here live in their little "Utopian" bubbles, and think that if they go outside of their comfort zones it will all disappear...after all, those nasty, negative thoughts might alter their virtual reality

Texas Terri

-- Texas Terri (DeepInTheHeart@Texas.com), April 16, 1999.

Larryb and whoever the next guy was: the point is a F(*&NG bank teller brings up, without me saying ANYTHING, that's she's preparing for Y2K?

Has nothing to do with systems or SC or wind storms.

Walk your ass up to any teller and see if you can get them to divulge they're preparing. The topic is awareness - and mathematically, what happened to me is nearly (or it would seem) impossible.

-- Lisa (idiots@everywhere.now), April 16, 1999.

Lisa,

You are making a big deal out of nothing. So you ran into a person who is preparing for Y2K. Big Deal. Are you insinuating that a high powered teller making $20,000.00/year has a finger on the pulse of banking as it relates to Y2K?

The "I'm worried about our vendors line" has become a stock line about companies regarding Y2K. You're always going to be more concerned with your vendors in any event, because you have a good grasp on what you are doing but don't have the same information regarding vendors.

In Y2K, when someone says "We're compliant, but it's our vendors that were worried about", the D&G crowd takes it to mean that the vendors will not be ready or that they are not doing enough. That is not necessarily true. Companies often shift blame towards their vendors, whether warranted or not.

Find the meaty stuff on Y2K, not useless junk like this. It makes you look like you're reaching.

-- CJS (onandon@andon.com), April 16, 1999.

Last week I was in a K-Mart in East TN. They had laundry detergent on sale. I bought a cart full. The restocking clerk looks at me and says, "Yep, get it while you can." and nodded to let me know that she knew. I replied, "Yep, it will keep." She knew and I knew what I was doing and why. Very interesting moment.

-- Les Holladay (holladayl@aol.com), April 16, 1999.

OK, CJS, I'll spell it out for ya.

Banks, more than any other industry, have to manage (spin) Y2K information. They at risk EVEN IF the entire banking industry proves compliant.

Of ALL the places you'd expect an employee to BRING UP Y2K, would it be a bank? I'd think that'd be the LAST place.

Some people on this forum track public awareness of Y2K - we want people to prepare, after all - and this is ONE DATA POINT on the awareness graph.

Put another way, I can absolutely guarantee you that her comments will never be heard by anybody else from their teller on this forum.

It's the unlikeliness that caused me to report it. But then, I'm sensitive to awareness levels... many don't care.

-- Lisa (@@.@.@), April 16, 1999.

Lisa - I appreciated the report.

PJ - Thanks for the reminder that it is already time to check and save receipts. For you this turned out to be (apparently) a bump in a road, but if that $1K had disappeared, that could have been a great hardship.

-- Brooks (brooksbie@hotmail.com), April 16, 1999.

Lisa,

Don't let the morons bother you. You're right. It was quite unusual.

-- RD. ->H (drherr@erols.com), April 16, 1999.

Thanks Lisa for sharing your experience. I too have had many same experiences and the seem to be happening more and more. I don't talk alot about y2k with none like minded people (who all seem to be on line) out of fear of ridicule, but it is truely amazing when someone just brings it up. Please continue the good work. Good luck to you Tonto

-- Tonto (Tonto@silver.com), April 16, 1999.

We were out of electricity for a while today. Storm...

-- Moore Dinty moore (not@thistime.com), April 16, 1999.

Lisa most of those negative posts were from the same person. Ignore.

-- Just me (keeping@track.now), April 16, 1999.

In light of your post, Lisa, and in light of what we know as far as banks searching for a spin to put on Y2K that will keep themselves open for business, maybe you can help me out with something that happened the other day. Dh & I have been planning for awhile to meet with our investment guy at our bank who is pretty sharp, at least I thought he was. Dh called him, the guy calls back the house when he can't reach dh, and I talked to him briefly. He started off with "I've been wanting to speak with you about changing your IRAs into higher risk accounts, since they are for retirement income which won't be for awhile." I was shocked and I told him we wanted to speak with him about restructuring our whole portfolio in view of Y2K, and that dh and I had both come into contact with the issue professionally enough to cause us great concern. He backed off and seemed quiet after that, though still friendly, almost like he really doesn't GI. That's what concerns me the most -- that he may not GI. The other thought is that he doesn't know he's supposed to GI. I'm truly puzzled as to his motivations in saying that. Any thoughts? Dh & I plan to blitzkrieg him with info at our meeting next week. Odd, also, because a few months ago a teller at that same branch brought up Y2K to me and said things were going to be very different around there after the new year.

Jeannie

-- jhollander (hollander@ij.net), April 16, 1999.

I have had an ongoing experience with my family broker. We directed him to get totally out of the stockmarket back in June '98 (about 3 weeks prior to the major downturn). He didn't like that I was doing that and that my reasoning was y2k based, however in choosing his words, he submitted a respect for women's intuition. Yeah, right.

Since then he has called (March '99) making such statements as "you know, we're 85% compliant now. There really is nothing to worry about, and by the way, I'm going to be in Italy during the changeover, so you see, I'm not worried). In other words, when our family decided to take action, it was a relatively uncommon for a client to call up and move their entire IRA to precious metals. These days, it is becoming quite a regular event and it's pissing him off. Can't make a commission on PM accounts.

-- Bumble Bee (bumble@icanect.com), April 17, 1999.