Rant-"that's the way we always did it..."

Just tell me, how many of you have come across SENIOR MGMT saying, "because we've always done it that way"!? EVEN WHEN THEY ARE NOT RIGHT!!!!!

I am so ticked right now I could spit nails! UGH!
Thanks, I feel better now!

How about the response, "Well, we've always done it wrong, then."

[quoteMy favorite is, "well, the examiners didn't say anything during the last exam. . ."

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This is the one that makes me want to spit nails! Ugh!

LOL Dawgfan, that was funny.

The fact that we didn't get caught being stupid doesn’t justify continuing to be stupid

(My response last time I heard the examiner line!)

I'll write that one down, Dawnie. (For recollection, not in a report.)

Actually, I've heard this expression more often from employees than from management. Resistance to change is not the exclusionary province of management and the directorate.

LOL Joker! So true!!!

I actually hear this more often in the non-profit world than in banking. Sadly.

I tend to get "we never did it that way at any of the other banks I worked at".

I am SOOO careful not to say "This is the way we did it at so and so bank" even when I know that way is probably far better than the way we're doing it.

I just never like to see the eyes start rolling....

Yeah, and I especially love it when that quote comes two minutes after management's statement that the exam team didn't know what they were looking at!

I used to deal with a lending manager who always took the approach that the risk of getting in trouble for non-compliance was so small that we just didn't even have to worry about it.

He'd often ask me, "Have you ever heard of a case where this type of thing ended up in court?" or something along those lines. My answer (unless I did know of a case) was always to look him straight in the eye and say "no". No argument, no justification. My point was, I don't, but that's not relevant.

Once we were having a big meeting with people from all over the bank shortly after 9/11 to talk about the need to check OFAC, and he asked in his "you are being so ridiculous" tone, how likely we were to have someone from Al Qada come in to open a deposit account. Again, my response was "pretty unlikely." When I refused to argue the point, or justify my stance, he often dropped it.

I always thought saying "We've never had a problem with it before" was like saying "My house has never been on fire, so why do I need insurance?"

Great Blue hinted at a good solution for those resistant to changes. Make them the OFAC Compliance Officer.

I'm going to change the rant if you don't mind. I'm performing the end of year HMDA verification. Now mind you, I've been here almost 2 years. Of the first 3 loans I've reviewed, two contained errors. I'm so furious. I've trained and last year the loan operations people had to go back and re-verify all of the loans due to errors. It looks as though these people aren't held accountable for the errors and no one cares but me.

Sorry - rant over - for now.

My favorite is "show me where it says I can't" for instance, whiting out terms on a note

I had someone today ask to see something in writing. Sometimes it can be difficult to find. This wasn't.