Good ol' Bank of America.

Surprised they didn't have her thrown in jail when she complained.

this is all part of their superior "attention to detail"
... get it? detail?

And this isn't one of those "Taking it seriously" stories?

I'm worried they didn't take it seriously. Perhaps they thought they were being robbed?

Now I don't mean to blame the victim, but does anyone here NOT check their cash withdrawls before leaving the bank? Maybe I'm just not a trusting soul, or maybe it's b/c my ex-teller Mother told me "Never trust anyone with money, even yourself", but I always count before I leave while still at the counter.

"I don't bank with Bank of America" / "This is why I don't bank with BoA", etc, posts in 3... 2.... 1....

I guess she should have showed her receipt!

@Git Em SteveDave displays attention-grabbing vanity: Yeah, she totally robbed them by taken money out of her account!

@Git Em SteveDave displays attention-grabbing vanity: Also, from what I understand, they don't actually "explode", they heat up and emit a dye "smoke" which ensures all the bills in an enclosed space, like a bag, are coated. It also leads to laughs when a crook shoves the bag down their pants and gets burned.

so why was a dye pack in her cash again?

"The customer was taken to a local hospital to have her eyes treated."

"We will make sure her costs will be covered with respect to getting her car cleaned."

Ummm...yeah - what about medical bills?

This definitely seems like it has lawsuit potential - BOA should thank their lucky stars that no traffic accidents (or other serious injuries) were caused.

@AdvocatesDevil: Like I said, I'm not blaming the victim. I meant that in a sarcastic tone.

I wonder who's telling the "truth" here.

We got the customer saying one thing, and BofA saying another. Perhaps we should wait for an update that can be confirmed?

I mean with the dye all over her eyes and nose, maybe she missed someone saying sorry? For such a horrible event, the details seem very scant from the customer writing in.

As a former BofA employee: if you are wealthy or a fairly large business, BofA is the bank for you. If not, they don't want you. Go somewhere else.

She pays her employees in cash?

now how would she of not noticed the teller slip it in with the notes, i mean every teller i have been to, no matter how large or small the withdraw counts the money infront of me, giving me a clear view of the money

Why was there a dye pack in her cash? Did BoA not trust her to be a loyal customer in the first place?

I was a bank teller once and know what the dye packs look like and feel like. It's almost impossible for anyone following basic, commonsense rules of money handling to "accidentally" hand out the dye pack. The teller who gave away a dye pack is an idiot and should be fired immediately.

Uh, why the heck is she paying her employees in cash anyhow?

Of course BoA is in the wrong, mostly for putting the dye pack in with the cash in the first place. I wonder if they simply have cash bags with dye packs already in them in case of a robbery- if so, this has to have happened before to some other unsupecting legitimate customer.

does anyone else think it's a little shady that she pays her drivers in cash?

@javi0084: Makes the drug deals harder to track.

@ionerox: Yes, they have pre-made bags. It's easy to spot them. They are large canvas sacks with a "$" on them. They come with a complementary striped shirt and "burgling" mask.

@madanthony: @cwsterling: @javi0084: When she uses language like this: "My throat is still a little irritant," says Laila.", I'm guessing cash is easier to track than checks for her

@You-Me-Us: Maybe the guys who strapped those live nukes to the B52s in North Dakota got transferred to BofA?

I feel horrible about this, but I find the thought of a some unsuspecting person driving around and all of a sudden covered in exploded pink dye to be _hillarious_

/Banhammer, is that you?

@Git Em SteveDave displays attention-grabbing vanity:

DO YOU KNOW WHO YOU'RE STEALING FROM?

Aren't dye packs put in by employees? I can't think they would just let bags with dye packs sit nearby unless that's policy.

BoA doesn't want its clients to deal in real, physical paper money, so they're send a clear message: "ask for cash, and you'll dye"

@Git Em SteveDave displays attention-grabbing vanity: They thought she was a robber because she refused to show her receipt at the door. Wait, wait, that's BestBuy. Glad they don't have die packs.

@madanthony: A lot of people working low wage type jobs don't have bank accounts. I used to work in a casino, and almost all of the dealers would immediately go cash their paychecks at the cashier cage when they got paid.

@madanthony: We paid our employees in cash. It costs us less (we're charged monthly per check), and it was considered a huge convenience for the employees to not have to wait in line at the bank every Friday just to cash their check. Nothing shady about it, just not conventional.

@mariospants: That comment so made my day...

@You-Me-Us: So if banks have die packs lying around waiting to be used, how do tellers initiate the process to make them go off in a short while??

Can someone explain the purpose of these dyepacks? I'm guessing they're a theft deterrant?

yeah, upon further consideration, time dye packs are totally ripe for misuse/pranking. I know bank tellers are supposedly trustworthy and all, but if that customer was being "unpleasant", I'm not sure I would be able to resist "accidentally" slipping her a dye pack.

Not blaming the customer, I'm sure shes a nice lady, but those things are just disgruntled employee payback waiting to happen.

@dewsipper: How do you issue them a list of witholdings?

The story doesn't mention how she drove away with a baby on the roof (and unfunny circular balloons).

@usa_gatekeeper: They are proximity activated. Like those dog collars.

@dripdrop: If you leave the bank, they emit a dye "cloud" in the bag or container you have the money in. This permanently dyes the money a garish color and makes it easier to spot if someone tries to use it. It in essence makes the money unusable. If the smoke escapes, it can lead you to the crook.

@usa_gatekeeper: I think they're electronically triggered when they leave the bank premises.

@Git Em SteveDave displays attention-grabbing vanity: She's being honest. People don't like the sound of her voice.

Lots of companies pay their lower-level employees in cash. I used to manage a small factory, and on Fridays we'd go to the bank and get actual cash to put in pay envelopes. The employees strongly preferred the cash.

Our bank (small, friendly) would even prepare little individual pay packets for each employee, with the exact amount counted out in each.

And I don't remember ever getting 'sploded on.

@exkon: I wonder who's telling the "truth" here.

We got the customer saying one thing, and BofA saying another. Perhaps we should wait for an update that can be confirmed?

Remember the Walmart (IIRC) incident and the blood tester used on the victim of diabetic shock? The store manager claimed to have been sympathetic when in fact witnesses said he demanded payment or he'd charge people with theft after saving the victim's life.

We've seen it far too often, stores and businesses trying to rewrite events of the story after realizing they're going to pay for their indiscretions. Common decency is all too rare these days, especially when it costs more than rudeness...until the rudeness costs them more than the original common decency would have.

*large tinfoil helmet warning* Perhaps it's a new underhanded method of withdrawal prevention. Banks need all the cash they can hold on to these days.

;P

Wait till she gets hit with the dyepack surcharge!

Git Em SteveDave "Now I don't mean to blame the victim...

But you will anyway.

but does anyone here NOT check their cash withdrawls before leaving the bank?"

Let me get this straight, every time you get a cash withdrawal from a bank, each and every time, you check for exploding dye packs? Do you check your house for pipe bombs every morning? Your car for cut brake cables every time you use it? Your food for poison, every time you eat? God, when you do you have time to get online to put the blame on completely innocent people?

This is the side effect of mergers and acquisitions that corporations seem to forget: any mistake made by an employee at any of your thousands of locations will be pointed to as an example of your systematic corporate heartlessness and disregard for your customers.

My sympathies are with the customer but who goes into a bank and asks for a Bag O' Cash and doesn't count it?
Maybe if I had better idea of what the dye containers look like it would make more sense.

There is NO WAY this is accidental, this is at the least utter negligence and most likely its assault. putting this thing in there required direct willfull action by the employee. Lawsuit is definitely in order for pain and suffering...

@Troy F.: Sweet! Milk shot through nose!

IfThenElvis "Maybe if I had better idea of what the dye containers look like it would make more sense."

They would have to be pretty small and hidden. If they were large and noticeable, they wouldn't be much use for tricking bank robbers into taking them.

ITA with GMFish -- if these dye packs were so hugely noticeable, I doubt they'd be useful in robbery situations. Probably they did count the cash in front of her, but the dye pack was either slipped into the bag afterward or (my guess) had been put into the bag beforehand.

I can see that the woman might've been too discombobulated to hear/understand apologies, but I can also see that the bank might've been so surprised and appalled that they didn't respond appropriately to her.