Thought Id start this one going because its rather dead on this board at the moment and I suppose all my usual muckers are either at the Stella tennis event watching Dim Tim (lose again) or at Henly Regatta eating cucumber sandwiches (they wish,...NOT).

Anyway please feel free to just talk to yourself blast away and let it go on any company or subject you wish. Just wish Id thought of this one before.

cheers GF.

Greek - your tongue in cheek remarks would no doubt be welcomed by the banks' directors, surrounded by acolytes who tell them what they want to hear. I have no doubt they believe they care about their customers, but if you talk to bank staff at the street level, certainly the ones I have spoken to over the last few months, there is an enormous gulf between what the directors believe is happening and the reality. Staff have been under great pressure to meet sales targets and there has been a seismic change in overall culture which has left many feeling deeply unhappy. The integrity is just not in the business any more (particularly where investment banking now dominating such as BARC) and when trust begins to disappear that leaves me nervous about their future.

Agree Partridge - my wife works in a bank. Totally sales driven now at street level - not what she and many others signed up for.

Thanks Oblo - I have nothing against a sales culture as such (clearly essential in any business if it is to be successful) but it is the manner of implementation adopted by some banks which perturbs me. It appears that there is the threat that the perceived bottom x% of performers are told to improve or face disciplinary action which I find abhorrent - and unlikely to result in practices which benefit the customer.

Under FSA guidlines it is almost impossible to fire someone for not achieving sales targets.
On regulated products the FSA takes the view that it is not the fault of the advisor/salesperson that the people he has talked to would be better advised to go elsewhere or do nothing.
Ridiculous red tape. What chance has a sales industry got if salesmen cannot be fired for not selling!!!!
I could get a job as an IFA tomorrow and never sell a single product, yet stay in the job till retirement. Providing I can show I am making sufficient appointments to see people and I am working with due diligence and within the confines of compliance.
What other industry could ever survive under such a hamstrung regime?

It isn't being fired thats the worry for bank staff, Alan - If you don't fall into place in the sort of environment partridge and I are talking about, life can be made very difficult for you by those further up the management team who are also under pressure to deliver sales. The staff aren't encouraged to help unless helping is likely to result in further sales.The customer suffers, the staff suffer.

As a pensioner I decided that after a lifetime of credit cards now was the time to call a halt and cancel my cards which I have done.
Now with all this credit crunch business, and nobody wanting to lend to anybody, what do I find on attempting to stretch my pension as far as possible in Sainsbury.
I am greeted with this nice young lady at the entrance offering me a Sainsbury credit card.
The whole store is emblazened with balloons and posters extolling the virtues of a sainsbury credit card.
Do these people live on another planet, or is it covert government plan to grab more of our money.
The store is decorated better than at Xmas.
I think it`s time I went to live on another planet......any ideas.

They live on the planet where pigs fly, porky.....

Mrcharts your right why did`nt I think of that...LOL
Cheers.

This thread is in danger of becoming far too serious ,time for one of these.

Thanks jimmy - haven't seen one of those in a while!

Thats better

appreciate this is slightly off thread, ie a seroius question, but am i right in thinking that wwhen a share goes ex-divi i only have to hold it after hours on the day of ex-divi and can sell it tomorrow and still get paid the divi. i assume the SP will probably fall by the amount of the divi.

Yes Robert, that is correct. You will sometimes find that the sp will recover slightly during the day, occasionally if you are lucky - a lot; but the dividend is always knocked off at open, you are then at the mercy of MM's & demand. If the demand is great enough the dividend reduction is sometimes swallowed up by a tick up in sp by MM's.

360 deg images of Heathrow's new Terminal 5

Just viewed the 360 image. I hope they keep it as a daily site, so that when travelers luggage goes missing disgruntled passengers can just go back home, boot up there PC's and spend the next day looking for it from all available angles.

I have recently undergone psychological testing (at the request of others on this thread) and I got the results back today.
I have won an entry in the Guiness Book of records, but this is terrible news as I didn't think my depression was that bad.
I really wanted an entry for my inferiority complex, but apparantly everyone else has a much better one.
I think the letter is just the doctors way of having a go at me becuase he talks about a persecution complex, and I'm sure I don't have one of those, and he mentions a guilt complex, which I thoroughly deserve.
He finishes the letter off by summing me up as a paranoid schizophrenic.
He doesn't actually put it in those words, but we know what he's trying to tell us.
I think I'll go for a second opinion about the bit where he accuses me of never believing anyone.

And whoever posted that invisible message number 6660.5, I am not in denial about my paranoia.................

Alan,

OK second opinion. After following your posts for some time, I think the Doc's diagnosis is correct. As long as you think it' the others that have the problems, then your on the right track to normality, IE not in denial. Anyway, who wants to be normal.
That's 50 consultation fee you owe me.

As to me, I know it was the aliens that caused all my problems (and there are many) when they abducted me and over several days conducted experiments on both my mind and body. Because of that I take no notice of doctors or psychiatrists as they think all my problems are of the delusional type.
Remember the cover up of Area 51 and the documentary Men in Black.

The truth IS out there.

Foot Note. I sent post 6660.5. But how the h**l did you see it.

Never had a problem with aliens, Greek. I usually get on quite well with them.
It's the pixies that drive me mad, laughing at me every time I turn my back.
I had Rentokil in to clean the place out of them, but the bloke they sent must have been mental. He blamed pop music saying I was off my rocker.
Anyway, the doctor must be wrong, cos someone keeps telling me he deserves to die for questioning my sanity. No idea who is saying that cos the house is empty, but I keep hearing the voice telling me to kill him. Its the voice in my head that keeps me sane, usually, but don't tell the pixies that. They think they are beating me, but I know they're there and plotting against me.

My bank manager thinks I'm an alien.......keeps telling me I must be from another planet.