This week was the first week of my Community Bank Customer Service Representative training. I’m staying in a four star hotel in Mainz, and I go to class daily at the Community Bank headquarters on the Mainz-Kastel post, a tiny, sad army post. There is a teller class too, but this was their second week and they’re done with school. In the CSR school we have 6 girls, 3 in the Germany class and 3 in the UK class. We are in separate classes because the UK has a sterling pound account to learn about, and of course in Germany we don’t have a pound account! We’ve been learning and creating accounts and such all week, everything is starting to make sense and go well.
The first things we learned about were the Community Bank values, spirit, seven key drivers, and lots of theory behind the way we work with customers. It was a nice review, but we were excited to start getting into the practical, on the job stuff! We have been opening accounts, which involves creating and signing forms, creating customer files, and adding the accounts on the computer. We’ve also gone through adding overdraft protection, and ordering VISA check cards and checks. Today we did standing payment orders, which are essential because that’s how we pay our German bills automatically in euros each month from our Community Bank accounts!
The 6 CSRs have really hit it off, we hang out all the time! We eat breakfast and dinner together daily, and do other fun stuff like exploring the hotel and town. Our hotel is amazing!!! In addition to fancy rooms, it has a few restaurants, a spa, overlooks the Rhine river, and is right on the edge of the city park. Sunday night when Maggie and I arrived (we carpooled from Ramstein) we walked through the big wine fest going on in the park. It of course included Germans singing old ‘80s songs in English, they’re big fans. Monday night we found fun things in the hotel, there is a bunny hotel, a huge aquarium, a large tropical room with palm trees and such, an amazing pool, a sauna, a solarium (fancy German word for the tanning bed Maggie utilizes), and a massage room. On Wednesday night I had a massage. That’s right, I was rubbed down by a burly German man, and it was great! I haven’t felt so relaxed in years, he rubbed out all the kinks and tension I’ve been carrying for so long. Thursday Maggie and I enjoyed the rooftop hot tub, we watched the sunset and enjoyed the not-too-hot-just-right temperature of the water.
It’s a lot of fun to feel like a part of a group again! Maggie and I have hit it off great, we do everything together. Rebecca is fun, and we joke about Missouri because that’s where her husband is from. She was surprised and thought I was joking when I said I had been to his hometown, Boonville, but I’ve been there tons. Jennifer is from Missouri too! She’s from West Plains, down by Arkansas. She’s super sweet. Katrina is the most hilarious person I’ve met in a long time. She’s from Carrolton, GA which Chris says is near Newnan. She’s so innocent, and says the best things! One of the questions she asked was “are unicorns real? I’ve always wondered” and so much more. Amie-Leigh is British married to an Italian American, and she lived in Idaho for 6 years. She is a nut and we love it! She tried to convince our waiter to let her keep her beer glass the other night, and then pointed out she couldn’t steal it because her purse was too small anyway.
I found the coolest book in Maggie’s hotel room, it’s a book full of sheep. Very few words, just sheep. Pictures and pictures of sheep. The purpose is to look at it when you get in bed and it will make you sleepy! I wonder if the Germans count sheep. I love it!
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