You'd have to be crazy to change banks

Wherein old people are a pain in the ass. It's a big, successful company, I'm sure they know what they're doing.


The story:

In an extraordinary local parallel to the Joseph Heller's Catch 22 scenario (you can only get out of flying dangerous wartime missions if you are mad - but you're only mad if you don't try to, so you're trapped either way and have to keep flying), Edna Woolstenhulme wants to get her cash out of the Royal Bank of Scotland - but they won't let her because they refuse to believe she's sane.

It's an oddly incomplete story that seems to be missing about 1000 words in the middle. Specifically, why does the bank think Edna has lost her mind?

Oh good, the BBC is also reporting:

Miss Woolstenhulme was upset when she was first telephoned by the bank for details about her mental health after her niece Lynda Peppercorn - acting on her behalf - let the bank know she wanted to close her account in February this year.

...."Our first and foremost priority is always to protect our customer and their assets and should we have any reason to believe that this might have been compromised, we are duty bound to act, especially when any request to close an account is made by a third party," a spokesman said.

Obviously the bank personnel aren't qualified to judge a person's sanity or fitness to use money, so of course a physician's note should be required. All customers should be required to prove their fitness at all times. It just makes sense and keeps people from harming themselves and others.

I thought China was an outlier by requiring old people to need the assistance of a younger family member to use the internet. Instead, I think we're seeing the beginning of a trend. Baby boomers, you're next.