The lead story today in the Boston Globe is about 1500 Bank employees (exact number not revealed) being fired at the end of the day, to provide 'customer delight' to New England Banking customers.    By the way of background, there used to be a suite of New England banks competing here. Bank of Boston, the oldest, gobbled up Bank of New England and a number of smaller banks. Each time a merger occurred, more   bank workers were laid off. A few months ago, North Carolina's Bank of America bought out Fleet, with a promise as some remember it, that there wouldn't be layoffs in New England. Hah. This article describes how 1500 workers are getting the axe today, being told that they layoffs are needed to provide 'customer delight.'     This will hurt these workers in the MA economy, which lost a higher percentage of jobs than any other state, mainly in financial services. MA has been slow to recover from the recession. I drive by the huge new Scudder financial services building in my home town. Built just a few years ago with a parking lot for 800 cars. They used to run 2 shifts daily. It's been empty for 2 years and it's for sale cheap. http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2004/08/18/hundreds_of_fleet_... In a set of talking points that branch managers are supposed to use while informing Fleet tellers of the decision, question number one deals with a hypothetical bank employee who says, Originally, we were told not to expect impact to customer-facing positions. The bank's answer does not refute that statement, but goes on to talk about the need for optimal staffing levels necessary to provide customer delight at Fleet. ... The layoffs are likely to happen at the end of the day, with one-on-one meetings between the branch manager and the affected workers. Employees who are not offered comparable jobs will receive two weeks' notice plus a severance package more generous than average, but they will be asked to leave the premises soon after being told of the decision, according to the documents. Employees making under $75,000 will receive between 17 and 48 weeks of severance pay, depending on their length of service with the bank. I want to let you know that you have not been selected for a position with the company, Bank of America managers are supposed to tell displaced employees, according to the talking points. Please understand that we will be making this your last day in the banking center. . . . I will need to collect all bank property from you before you leave today.

I want to let you know that you have not been selected for a position with the company, Bank of America managers are supposed to tell displaced employees, according to the talking points. Please understand that we will be making this your last day in the banking center. . . . I will need to collect all bank property from you before you leave today. Sounds like somebody needs a Fleet enema  -  starting with the festering turd who wrote the talking points .

The lead story today in the Boston Globe is about 1500 Bank employees (exact number not revealed) being fired at the end of the day, to provide 'customer delight' to New England Banking customers. Yep, we've turned the corner alright. Geoffrey

The lead story today in the Boston Globe is about 1500 Bank employees (exact number not revealed) being fired at the end of the day, to provide 'customer delight' to New England Banking customers. Yep, we've turned the corner alright. Geoffrey You'd have to bank with BofA to understand this spin completely;  when you call customer service, they are required to say to each-and-every caller (with all sincerity, of course) How may I provide you with excellent customer service today? It's worse than the Safeway Smile dictate, and the Thank you for shopping at K-Mart !

You'd have to bank with BofA to understand this spin completely;  when you call customer service, they are required to say to each-and-every caller (with all sincerity, of course) How may I provide you with excellent customer service today? Reply: to start with by replacing that greeting with something less idiotic. Eric

I want to let you know that you have not been selected for a position with the company, Bank of America managers are supposed to tell displaced employees, according to the talking points. Please understand that we will be making this your last day in the banking center. . . . I will need to collect all bank property from you before you leave today. Sounds like somebody needs a Fleet enema  -  starting with the festering turd who wrote the talking points . The layoffs did occur yesterday. The new Bank of America model is to fire the full-time bank employees and to bring in part timers on reduced benefits that will work a few hours at a time during peak hours. That will create more Bush-type jobs (recall that most of the new jobs created by Bush are part-time jobs).