US Bank

Too Kind: Marc Eugenio had just earned $1,000, but he had no money to buy Christmas gifts for his children: U.S. Bank had a hold on his paycheck. He called the bank, and call center’s senior banker Emily James told him to go to his branch. No one there could or would help, even after Eugenio’s boss told a bank employee his job was real. Eugenio left the branch and called James again: he was stuck at a gas station in Clackamas, Ore. “I wish I had just $20 to get home,” he remembers telling her. “Wait, hold on,” was her reply. The call center is in Portland, a short drive away, and James — with her boss’s permission — zipped over and gave Eugenio $20 of her own cash. A few days later she was fired for “unauthorized interaction with a customer”; she said the boss who authorized the interaction was fired too. Until then, James said, she had no disciplinary history at the bank, but does have awards for living out the company’s values: “We put people first.” (AC/Portland Oregonian) ...As long as it doesn’t require actually, you know, helping them.