Hazing the new guy

It isn't unusual for the newest person to get the crappiest job--even when it is counter productive to the goals of the organization. In the 1970s, Wachovia noticed that it had a huge turnover in new tellers.

So some of the management-engineers went into the branches to see why. As it turns out, they found that the newest tellers were being assigned to the drive-in window as opposed to over the counter inside teller work. They also discovered that this was, by far, the most difficult place to be. The remote pneumatic tubes mean that the drive-in teller must work with two or more customers simultaneously, must learn how to work the mechanics of the pneumatic system, switch back and forth between the customers and keep the paperwork straight for each one. On top of that, because the speaker system isn't all that great, the teller must be able to communicate pleasantly, loudly without seeming to yell, and with absolutely clear diction. It actually requires a little showmanship...the teller must project a pleasant personality over the distance especially to the second and further pneumatic drive through stations.

This was obviously a difficult job and it was not a place that the new teller should be. But the other tellers had seniority and they didn't want the hard job. So they gave it to the new person who hadn't really mastered the normal procedures much less the more complex ones. This was totally counter productive to the goals of the organization, but the local branch managers never put a stop to it.

[Sequel: The bank restructured the teller grade system. A new teller was too low a grade to be assigned to the drive in window. The drive-in position was established as a special higher-skilled job requiring special additional personal skills (voice, diction, ability to project personality over distance) and mechanical skills, with higher pay and recognition. Because of the higher respect and better pay, experienced tellers then vied for the position instead of trying to avoid it.]