Pros
-Management at my branch was actually not terrible. They were micromanagers, but only because they hadn't had much of a choice. Both of them understood how much of an issue I had with the job and its expectations and genuinely meant well, and both genuinely wanted to do good for the community and their clients. I will never blame them for my failure in this job.
-Pay is not terrible for entry-level banking
Cons
Hoo boy
-Unrealistic, aggressive sales goals
-Heavily scripted cold calling sessions were required every day, all with the intention of getting 'butts in seats' when branch banking is slowly dying
-Poor training, all of which was spent in teams rather than in person training. Being thrown on the floor with training that doesn't work for everybody is a terrible business practice
-Retail manual is a disaster. Too big, too dense, and a complete drag to use when assisting clients
-Aforementioned micromanagement
-Pushing substandard products to customers was required at all times, even when you know they're garbage
-Antiquated systems that made the place feel straight out of 1982.
-Not enough hands on training, with an expectation of simply 'read the retail manual'