Angry Mail

Dangerous territory here. I'm writing angry mail. Not to any number of hateful people (they know most people hate them). To a bank. Not a bank I'm doing business with.

This open angry mail letter is to Bank of the West.

Dear Bank of the West,

These days, you can't be too careful with people's information. Really, your motto should be "if I don't need it, I don't keep it". I know you need lots of information to do business. But here is a scenario where you have held on to some info too long:

In May of 2008 I graduated from the University of Northern Colorado and immediately decided to sabotage my career by moving to Grand Junction. This qualifies as sabotage because there is no work there. So I shortly began applying for any work I could find. Even work I had no interest in, like banking. Because you remember those days, right? Fall of 2008, when we all watched our parent's retirements crumble, banks collapse, businesses fail, etc? It was a cheerful time, especially if you needed work.

But you seemed to be doing okay, so I decided to apply. You had no interest. That's fine, I don't begrudge you not wanting to hire someone with a deep-seeded mistrust of banks. But after turning someone down, is it necessary to keep their info stored in your massive databases?

Maybe you think it is. But really, after five years, did you really still need that information?

Especially since I never came back?

Maybe a year would have been appropriate. In case the staffing situation at that branch became desperate, and the unemployment of a mountain town dropped to almost nothing (::this is my sarcasm sign::).

But five years?

And then your databases are hacked, and I have yet another branch of thieves sniffing around at my identity.

You didn't see fit to post this on your Press Release page, but I verified it through the magic of email.

Step up to the modern world and purge your databases. My little blog will do you less harm than you've done me.

Unkind Regards,

A. Graham