81. Paying Teller's Department

The paying teller is the disbursing officer of the bank. He is the custodian of the bank's cash and usually stands next to the officers in seniority of position. Every customer is introduced to the paying teller when he opens an account. He has a copy of the customer's signature in his files with which he soon becomes familiar. If there is a need that any man in the bank should be gracious in his manner, of an even temper, quick and yet accurate, the paying teller is that man. Impressions of the bank, gained through the paying teller's window, are good or bad advertisements.

In a small bank one teller both receives and pays. It is impossible to separate the work where the force is small. The teller's duties vary in proportion to the amount of responsibility given to him. In general they are as follows:

The most important is, of course, to cash the checks of customers. In order to do this he should be supplied with all kinds of money so that he will be able to meet any demand made upon him by the customers of the bank. All bills received from the Treasury Department are strapped in packages of one hundred. If new, they are sorted numerically and the last figures in the number of the bill run from one to one hundred. Thus, if a package of one dollar bills is seen, the teller will know immediately that it contains one hundred dol118 lars; if twos, two hundred dollars; if fives, five hundred dollars; if tens, one thousand dollars; if fifties, five thousand dollars.

These packages should be assembled into bundles of one thousand bills and bound together with a heavy manila wrapper. A wrapper six inches wide and about twenty-four inches long will be found to be satisfactory, if folded neatly, lengthwise, making a double strap three inches wide and twenty-four inches long. The doubling of the strap makes it very strong and permits the exertion of great pressure on the bills if handled properly.

The bundle of one thousand bills should be placed face upward on the table, just about the center of the strap. Place the loose end of the strap, which is next to the body, over the package, and bring the other end over, pressing down on the top of the bills, and the first end of the strap at the same time. The end raised last may then be brought down on the bills and pinned through into the edges of the bills with long bank pins. Three pins will be found sufficient. It seems hardly worth while spending time on such a subject as this, but it is a knack which many tellers know nothing about.

Although bills are put up in packages of one hundred each by the Treasury Department, it is the usual custom among banks to arrange them in packages of fifty each. Many tellers have a peculiar kind of trade to handle and find it worth while to make up packages of assorted money, say ones, twos, fives and tens in packages of twenty-five, fifty or one hundred dollars. The teller should have ample drawer space for his broken bundles and packages. It will hardly be necessary to have more than fifty loose bills of any one denomination in the draw at once. It facilitates proving at night to have as few loose bills as possible, and no time is lost during the day in pulling off a, strap when necessary.