A telephone connection with the bank drew a blank except for a pleasant voice. Instructions were brief: “Please wait or phone later.” I did both at intervals, to no avail.

Why do they take a long time to answer? Do they think they could teach clients a lesson not to phone? Do they lack enough employees to provide the necessary service? Why should their service be so difficult?

Clients’ needs should be uppermost in their list of priorities. They are the source of the bank’s income and capital increase.

Indirectly, they are the stal-wart employers.

Senior citizens alone at home feel abandoned and neglected. The only contact with the outside world is the telephone. I was helplessly desperate. This rigmarole was heart rending and problematic.

Thoughts flitted through a perturbed mind. Did the management expect clients to lose heart and stop phoning? Did they expect them to make personal visits? Could an 88-year-old trek all along the uphill road from Santa Maria Estate? Did they expect an e-mail when one is computer ignorant? After all, deposits, transactions, savings and charges favour the welfare of the bank. Bankruptcies, failures and mistakes do happen. The shareholders will have to bear the brunt. Therefore, the bank should offer an impeccable service.

I was at a loss what to do. Then the Times of Malta came to mind. Informative and educational, it has the power of conviction. It uncovers wrongs that need not be necessarily political.