I was at one of the major financial institution’s head offices today. It is located in what used to be one of the original banks in the city.
It is a historical landmark – and it is well preserved.
The entrances look like doors leading to prison cells, they have big thick brass railed bar gates surrounding them. The ceilings are exceptionally high and held up with pillars which are thick, and made of solid marble. The attention to detail on the ceiling, the floors, the pillars, the doors – hell everything is amazing.
There are faces at the top of each pillar – presumably of the original bank’s executives. Carved lines, circles, squares and other shapes follow the lines of the pillars, doors, ceilings and everything else.
The floors are solid marble, with extensively detailed thick, plush runners in the center. There are accents of brass, metal and glass everywhere.
When I first walked in, I thought that it looked familiar. Remember the scene inside the bank in Mary Poppin’s? The bank I was in today resembled very closely the bank in that scene in Mary Poppin’s – the one where the magical nanny takes the kids to see their father at work and he scorns them for playing instead of investing their money.
Banks are historically and presently – greedy. They charge us to put our money into their institutions. They again charge us to take it out of their institutions – even though without our investment, they wouldn’t exist. Then, they charge us all those wonderful service charges for just about anything that you and I don’t get paid to do normally at work – like breathing.
The gaudy nature of this gigantic structure shows just how greedy the banks were back then. Sitting in the reception area, I actually felt somewhat uncomfortable, and I couldn’t figure out why. At first – then it hit me – the whole design of this place is supposed to make you feel small, weak, and uncomfortable.
Those with money rule the roost. But those with enough money and greed to go with it, often use that money to make you feel powerless in their wake.
The high ceilings, the sculptures of the executives, the extensive use of expensive materials, the railings – which looked like bars on a jail cell – all of these things are designed to intimidate and make those not connected with the bank feel awkward, poor, small and uncomfortable.
Funny thing these days – the banks still make those of us that don’t consider a couple of grand “pocket change” feel uncomfortable.
The big banks bully us into paying service charges, waiting for ever on the phone or at the teller to actually talk to someone, and they charge astronomical interest rates on anything which pays them – and extremely low interest rates on anything that pays you and me back for investing in them in the first place.
To bad there isn’t much choice when it comes to picking a bank that won’t bully you. I’m pretty satisfied overall with my bank, but it is still one which makes you feel small, and insignificant.
Oh well, maybe I’ll just paper my walls with my money to keep it out of the big bad bank’s wallets. Why should some banker drive around in a BMW with interest earned on my money?
Naw, that wouldn’t work. Then the property management would easily claim my money-papered walls were now part of their building and in turn, part of their wallets.
Just can’t win.
It is a historical landmark – and it is well preserved.
The entrances look like doors leading to prison cells, they have big thick brass railed bar gates surrounding them. The ceilings are exceptionally high and held up with pillars which are thick, and made of solid marble. The attention to detail on the ceiling, the floors, the pillars, the doors – hell everything is amazing.
There are faces at the top of each pillar – presumably of the original bank’s executives. Carved lines, circles, squares and other shapes follow the lines of the pillars, doors, ceilings and everything else.
The floors are solid marble, with extensively detailed thick, plush runners in the center. There are accents of brass, metal and glass everywhere.
When I first walked in, I thought that it looked familiar. Remember the scene inside the bank in Mary Poppin’s? The bank I was in today resembled very closely the bank in that scene in Mary Poppin’s – the one where the magical nanny takes the kids to see their father at work and he scorns them for playing instead of investing their money.Banks are historically and presently – greedy. They charge us to put our money into their institutions. They again charge us to take it out of their institutions – even though without our investment, they wouldn’t exist. Then, they charge us all those wonderful service charges for just about anything that you and I don’t get paid to do normally at work – like breathing.
The gaudy nature of this gigantic structure shows just how greedy the banks were back then. Sitting in the reception area, I actually felt somewhat uncomfortable, and I couldn’t figure out why. At first – then it hit me – the whole design of this place is supposed to make you feel small, weak, and uncomfortable.
Those with money rule the roost. But those with enough money and greed to go with it, often use that money to make you feel powerless in their wake.
The high ceilings, the sculptures of the executives, the extensive use of expensive materials, the railings – which looked like bars on a jail cell – all of these things are designed to intimidate and make those not connected with the bank feel awkward, poor, small and uncomfortable.
Funny thing these days – the banks still make those of us that don’t consider a couple of grand “pocket change” feel uncomfortable.
The big banks bully us into paying service charges, waiting for ever on the phone or at the teller to actually talk to someone, and they charge astronomical interest rates on anything which pays them – and extremely low interest rates on anything that pays you and me back for investing in them in the first place.
To bad there isn’t much choice when it comes to picking a bank that won’t bully you. I’m pretty satisfied overall with my bank, but it is still one which makes you feel small, and insignificant.
Oh well, maybe I’ll just paper my walls with my money to keep it out of the big bad bank’s wallets. Why should some banker drive around in a BMW with interest earned on my money?
Naw, that wouldn’t work. Then the property management would easily claim my money-papered walls were now part of their building and in turn, part of their wallets.
Just can’t win.
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