Bank tellers

Malawians are used to the fact that there are queues everywhere. One can see queues at Admarc, voting centres, Road Traffic and even in banks. This is a country of queues.

However, some queues are not only man-made but deliberate. On Thursday, December 24 2015, Chief Kazingist was at the office at Ginnery Corner in Blantyre.

While working, he received a call from Mtenje, leader of the house of Nsanje Lalanje at Balaka Chibuku Tavern.

“I am on my way to Nsanje but I do not have enough transport money. Will you please help me?” Asked Mtenje.

“How much do you want?” Chief Kazingist asked.

“You can give me K20 000 if you do not mind,” said Mtenje.

The chief man of the skirt asked for 10 minutes to organise himself. He drove to the bank. After entering, he saw a long queue. He had no choice but to write a withdrawal form and join it.

There were four bank tellers which convinced him that he would not be in the banking hall for long.

An hour passed but Chief Kazingist was still on the queue. Then another one. When he was close to the tellers, the chief man of the skirt knew what delayed things.

The bank tellers were busy talking to one another about issues irrelevant to their work. They were discussing the excursions of the previous night.

“I was at Chez Ntemba yesterday till mid-night,” said one teller while facing a friend. “I was at Masm Clinic and it was all fun. The teller then started explaining how he met his old friend from secondary school days and they discussed their teacher who was asking cigarettes from students.

Another teller, a lady, explained how she met an old boyfriend. When a colleague asked whether she slept with him to which she responded, ‘Pajatu madzi saiwala khwawa’.

All this time they would start counting the money and stop to respond to questions while gesturing. The lady teller would then ask the client, ‘Paja munandipatsa ndalama zingati?’

A fourth teller was not part of the discussion but she was slow. One would wonder whether she was handling money or stones.

After two and half hours, Chief Kazingist left the bank and drove straight to Wenela Bus Depot. He found Mtenje outside the depot.

“Thanks for the money but the bus has gone. That means I will either spend another night here or catch a minibus to Nchalo,” said Mtenje.

Chief Kazingist apologised for the delay but told him about the slow pace at which tellers were serving people at the bank.

“I know what you are talking about. Banks stopped long ago employing people on merit but their relatives. This is the reason they can do anything because they know they cannot be fired,” said Mtenje. n