Power

The bank’s branch manager looked at the terms and conditions again. The small agreed upon location for this discussion was dimly lit. On his side of the long table to his left sat the three top bank lawyers whispering feverishly. They were two seat spaces away from him. On his right his boss and bosses’ boss had the same confused expression.

“Well Mr. Salazar I just don’t see why it is you think that this branch is in any way collateral for the 25$ promotional credits that you are owed.” He said voice wavering. The bosses both crossed their arms and tried to look nonchalant. The lawyers stopped whispering looked at him then back at the terms and conditions and began whispering again. The head boss snapped his fingers, and a fancy dressed servant came in to hand him a plate with a lavish slice of chocolate cake with real gold leafed frosting. The lower boss snapped his fingers, and a frumpier looking servant handed him a plate with what I knew to be a store-bought chocolate cake slice from the market down the street. The Branch manager snapped his fingers, and a grumpy old teller lady sluggishly dragged herself in then slid a plate of chocolate cake crumbs near him. The bosses tried to eat their cake confidently. The manager gloomily licked his crumbs.

On my side of the long table, I sat in the center facing him directly. Next to me, my lawyer was leaning back and nodding off. As he lost control of the muscles in his neck from drifting asleep his head fell forward. The sudden motion jolting him awake. He leaned in and whispered that he had to go to the restroom; then went back to fighting his real opponent, sleep deprivation. This sad Legal counsel was all I could afford, but I had done my homework and was ready to defend myself.

“Es que no lees? You used a specific language in the terms in order to claim the protections designed to protect the consumer. Because of that protection you are also liable for the repercussion of giving up collateral if you fail to pay.”

The branch manager rifled through his papers searching for absolution. His bosses both scooted their chairs back so that his was the furthest forward. When he tried to move back to join them, they held his chair in place with their feet.

When the bank lawyers had finished deliberating, they moved to unload their disputations. As they hovered slowly the two bosses’ motion toward the branch manager. Three mouths to one ear they whisper. Without changing his expression, he parrots the words monotone. “We grant that the language is vague in that area, but you can’t claim the collateral without giving a proper warning of delinquency and time to pay.”

“I sent a letter to the bank detailing the full situation, and what was owed. I never heard back, or got my payment. Pero si fuera yo, me cargan.”

The three voices whispered into their vessel. “We advise all our customers that it takes thirty to sixty days for you to get a written response to correspondence.”

“A mi no me dan tanto tiempo para pagar. Well, I advised in my letter that you had fifteen days to pay.”

The argument of lawyers took a moment to consider the papers. They turned back to their mouthpiece, and poured their words through his ears and out his mouth. “Nowhere does it state what the collateral is.”

“This subsection states that the protections you tried to claim are to the consumer’s collateral. Since you were protecting your branch, that is the collateral.”

The argument of lawyers broke out into an argument. The two bosses scooted their chairs back again until they hit the wall. One of them threw a paper at the branch managers head. Freed from the influence of the lawyers; he collapsed on the table. He noticed the crumpled paper that hit him and opened it up. Examining it, he pulled himself together for the final move. “We’re willing to go as high as a 5000$ one-time payment to your account. You would need to sign a document to help fix this misunderstanding.”

“I want the branch”

The branch manager collapsed again broken by my words. His bosses scooted their chairs around to face the wall. The lawyers had found a dead mouse in the corner of the room and began circling it. In a pleading tone he begged. “Please take the money, what could you possibly do with a branch?”

“Oh, I have plans, Afterall this isn’t the only branch I have an account in.” I said smiling.