“I get paid to talk to people all day. Does it get any better than this?” says Ashwaubenon Teller Kathy “Kat” Weyers.
And this is from someone who once was a “Miller girl,” promoting the renowned brewery’s products; who has been a server and a bartender (“It was like going out, but earning money instead of spending it!”); who managed a retail-clothing store; and who oversaw operations and 35 part-time high-school employees at a banquet facility.
The sometimes 60-hour-a-week demands of banquet management, combined with the birth of daughter Natalie, now 20 months, convinced Kat that a job with fewer hours would make sense. “My parents have been North Shore customers forever, so when I started thinking about cutting back, the part-time position available at the Ashwaubenon branch was perfect.”
Kat’s greatest challenge is “turning my conversations with customers into a bank product/service referral and trying not to yell at customers when they should do something that really benefits them, but they just don’t listen to me!”
On a more serious note, she shares this customer-service insight: “Treat everyone like they are the most important person in the world. We sometimes get caught up in the routine aspects of our jobs and how hectic our personal lives can get, and we can lose sight of why we are really here.”
A self-described people person who loved English classes in school — writing, reading and speech (there’s chatty Kat again) — Kat has taken to banking. In addition to her teller duties, she volunteered to take on organizing and ordering supplies. She monitors and replenishes everything from pens, paperclips and notepads to marketing materials.
Now that she has a year and four months under her belt, she has reclaimed her life outside of work. A longtime sports enthusiast — running, softball and volleyball — she can’t wait to teach little Natalie how to hit the ball over the net.
In fact, she met her husband, Dan, on a volleyball court. He works at Fox Structures, and his daughter Megan, 12, and son Sam, 9, round out the Weyers family.
Kat made a memorable trip to Korea in 2008. “My mom’s entire family is there, so being able to spend time and get to know them was an amazing opportunity,” she says. Immersing herself in a different culture, learning its traditions and sampling a variety of foods all were highlights.
When she wins the lottery, she’s sure she will spend her days as a Pinterest junkie, making all of the things she has pinned, and traveling the world.