Page 80 - A Banker Down the Rabbit Hole
P. 80

23. Recovering excess cash paid







          T         he Head Cashier reported after business hours one day that


                    there was excess payment of Rs.1000/- made to a customer
                    and the cash was short. This amount was equivalent to his
                    salary for about 3 weeks then and he seemed to be so much
           worried. He had traced that he made excess payment of this amount to
           one customer Vikram Singh of a particular locality.


           He wanted to go and confront him and demand this excess amount from
           him. I knew that our Head cashier was hot headed. Moreover, the bank
           cannot easily level the charge against a customer that only he got the
           excess cash. The detail of the notes of various denominations paid was
           made by the cashier himself and not the customer which could be
           questioned by him if he does not want to pay back. It was a question of
           challenging the integrity of a well-known customer. The locality of
           customer was sensitive as we had several respectable depositors there.
           I asked him to accompany me and he should keep quiet all through the
           process and let me handle the issue my own way.

           We reached the locality and approached another valued customer. I
           confided in him that cashier had by mistake made excess payment. As
           per our details of denominations of notes given and recorded on backside
           of the cheque, he paid Rs. 21,000/- instead of Rs. 20,000/- and excess
           payment of Rs. 1000 had gone to Vikram Singh of their locality. We asked
           him about the nature and reputation of the person and possibility of
           return of this excess amount, if we requested. He told that his reputation
           was pretty bad and he did not see any chance of recovery and he might
           become aggressive if straight away charged with taking excess cash

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