Long lines of customers waiting to perform transactions — many of which are now easily handled online — were once the norm at our branches.
“Change is the only constant.” That quote is attributed to the Greek philosopher Heraclitus, born in the fifth century BC, and it’s just as true over two millennia later. It’s certainly the case when it comes to the in-office experience at North Shore Bank throughout our first 100 years.
A time traveler visiting one of our branches before the year 2000 would see a very different tableau from today’s — not just in terms of clothing and hairstyles, but people and technology. Before the internet and computers evolved to their current state, long lines of customers were typical and paper was everywhere. Phones rang frequently — constantly, some days — and when a caller wanted to leave a message, you reached for a pen and paper rather than transferring them to voicemail.
Burlington branch employees sported uniforms at one time.
Nancy Hanson, who celebrated 30 years with the company last August, is the only receptionist left at North Shore.
“When I started back in 1992, the receptionist desk and the switchboard were located in the branch area of Brookfield Square,” she recalls. “I greeted customers and answered a very busy switchboard — there was no Call Center at that time. So, lots of distractions with customers coming in and out.” When the 2nd Floor of Corporate was remodeled in the ’90s, the switchboard moved up there — “to join forces with the ‘word processing girls,’ as they were called back then, to alternate coverage on the desk and phones for breaks and lunch.”
Like most waiting areas at the time, this one boasted an ashtray. And North Shore Savings & Loan advertised on matchbooks, as was common.
Phrasing like “word processing girls” would raise eyebrows in many workplaces now. So would the once ubiquitous presence of ashtrays in the business place, both offices and retail spaces. An everyday part of life for many Americans in the preceding decades, smoking was prohibited in most buildings besides private homes during the ’90s and ’00s.
That was also when advances in digital technology began to streamline tasks that had previously involved lots of manual labor.
“It was very different than it is today,” says area branch manager AVP Mickey Adams, who started out as a receptionist at Allouez in 1983, before becoming a teller there. “Normal tasks at that time were stuffing mortgage coupons, sorting canceled checks for mailing out customer statements, and opening accounts right at the teller line. We did not have bankers, so tellers were trained to do any and all customer requests — no email, no fax or scanners.”
Customer assistance manager VP Colleen Egan remembers counting large shipments of money by hand.
The Brookfield Square branch in 1984.
“The Jackson Park office was busiest on the third of the month, when all of our customers on Social Security received their checks,” she says. “Many of them only wanted twenties, tens, fives, and at least 20 singles.”
The improvement in efficiency since then has been largely positive. But it’s a bit of a double-edged sword.
“I remember when we got our very first fax machine and did not have to wait for the mail to get any memo or policy change,” Mickey says.
She adds: “Things today are much more fast-paced, and I do miss when we could take things a bit slower.”
“Technology came in at a slower pace, so you could absorb it more easily. Now technology moves much faster, which makes it harder to keep up with all the changes, updates, passwords,” Nancy says. Things felt more secure before the advent of the internet, as well. “The avenues for scammers and hackers were not as prevalent — you didn’t have to worry someone was stealing your identity from a computer hack. We kept a paper trail of things. Now, if a computer system fails, we become very crippled.”
Nancy Hanson at her desk in 1994. “Monitors were so big and clunky,” she observes. “Back then I only had one, which was the switchboard. Now I have three monitors — one is the switchboard, and the other two are for my job tasks.”
“Without technology, you saw your customers often,” Colleen says. “Many times, they would stop in just to chat.”
And of course, there were also some fun parts of the past whose disappearances had nothing to do with the internet at all — like this memory from longtime teller Nancy Kaye, who retired in December:
“One of the Jackson Park teller windows had a rising platform for children to use when making a deposit to their savings accounts, so they’d be at counter height. There was a button on the customer side of the teller counter — when pushed, the platform rose from the floor. A current customer fondly recollects using it as a child.”