Institutional Racism – Still on Show?

I’ve had one of those weird weeks, lots of positives, like my daughter’s parents meeting and a good friend becoming a mother for the first time, but also experiencing the uglier side of the nation as well.

 English football may me making the headlines due to a myriad of race abuse allegations, I note that all of the views expressed that we don’t have a race issue in English football, have one thing in common, they were all said by those who aren’t members of an ethnic minority.

 Now you may ask, social commentary aside, what does this have to do with a business blog. Well quite a lot really. I visited two banks this week, Santander and the other The Bank of Scotland. Both branches were in the leafy suburb of Newton Mearns in Glasgow. Here goes the story…

 My wife, decided to set-up two children saver accounts for the twins, as you do. HBOS was offering a great deal, so after I submitted the online application, she popped into branch with their proof of id and that was that. No big deal. Then… after 2 months, the standing orders started being returned after being processed without incident previously.

So like any consumer, off she toddled to the Bank of Scotland to ask why? She was summarily dismissed, saying its Santander’s fault. Not knowing any better, off she popped to Santander who confirm everything appears to be in order from their side. Undeterred as my wife is no wall flower, and off she goes banks to Bank of Scotland and speaks with a supervisor and gets brushed out the door in a Teflon shoulders action…

 It was enough for my wife to actually believe she must have done something wrong. I was adamant, nothing was wrong with the way the account was set-up and the fault lay with the Bank of Scotland. So as I had a few hours on Thursday, I accompanied my good lady to the bank.

 Being no wall flower myself, I was prepared to get shirty if someone tried the same tactics they had with my wife. Turns out we were seen by the same clerk as my wife. This time she took my papers and diligently tried to find the answer, which she did. HBOS had stopped these products so we had no option but to close the accounts. Now this is galling point, I simply gave over the same papers my wife had handed over the week previously. The only difference, I speak with a Scots Accent, my wife with an Asian accent.

 Now although my wife was born in Pakistan, she successful passed her UK citizenship test earlier this year, which means her grasp of English, UK politics is probably stronger than the average Brit’s. Her only tell tale that she is an immigrant (her skin colour aside) is she still speaks with an Asian accent.

 I write this blog with the understanding that  it is not racism that is on the rise, but the tolerance of ethnic minorities to being racially abused has lowered. I have been subjected to racial abuse at all levels throughout my life, but have never raised the issue ( got close one time when dealing with a nasty franchise) but the actions of Bank of Scotland have really placed a sour taste in my mouth.

 21^st century… my big brown arse it is….

 Lastly as we say at Templeton Green, in business as in life, we have choices, what will you choose today?