EPISODE: 2

• Vanessa observes, her tone professional but pointed. Richard’s posture stiffens. Every situation is different,” he says dismissively, making a small gesture toward Jennifer, a younger teller. She approaches and Richard whispers something that causes her eyes to widen slightly as she looks at Vanessa. In Richard’s mind, he’s performing an essential security function.
• He genuinely believes Vanessa couldn’t legitimately possess this money. His biases run so deep that they feel like objective assessment to him. A perception of risk so normalized it appears as simple fact rather than prejudice. I’d like to speak with the branch manager, Vanessa requests, maintaining her composure. Richard’s lips curl into a satisfied smile. The manager is on vacation this week.
• I’m acting supervisor. The authority in his voice swells visibly. We’ll need to call the issuer of this check and verify its authenticity. That could take several days. The check is issued by Heartland Financials corporate division, Vanessa points out. This very bank. Richard’s rhythm falters momentarily before he recovers.
• Even internal checks require verification when the amount seems he pauses deliberately. Unusual for the account holder. The confrontation draws attention. Some customers look uncomfortable. Others pretend absorption in their phones. A few watch with disturbing entertainment value. Theater playing out in a bank lobby on an otherwise ordinary day. As tension builds, Vanessa’s phone buzzes with a text. Mom, the billboard just went up.
• Did they surprise you at the branch yet? Richard escalates the situation with deliberate calculation. Perhaps, ma’am, you don’t fully understand what this document represents, he says, speaking with exaggerated slowness, despite Vanessa’s articulate responses. His voice carries across the hushed lobby. Heads turn, conversations pause.
• This appears to be a company check, not a government assistance form. The implication hangs in the air, precise and poisonous. A woman in line winces at the thinly veiled accusation. This is a legitimate business check for services rendered, Vanessa states, her dignity intact despite the mounting pressure. I’ve been a customer of this bank for 15 years.
• Richard makes a show of typing her information into his terminal, angling the screen so that she cannot see it, but ensuring his theatrical reactions are visible to the growing audience of waiting customers. Ah, I see your account typically maintains a much lower balance, he announces.
• His voice carries unnecessarily far, a serious breach of privacy protocol. This deposit is unusual given your history with us. Jennifer, the younger teller, shifts uncomfortably behind her station. Her eyes dart between Richard and Vanessa, recognizing the impropriy but remaining silent. She suddenly becomes intensely focused on reorganizing her cash drawer.
• Richard picks up the check again, holding it to the light with dramatic flare. His eyes narrow in manufactured concern. The signature doesn’t appear to match our records, he declares, though he has made no actual verification call. His decision has been made from the moment Vanessa approached his counter.
• Then with deliberate showmanship, Richard performs the unthinkable. He places his fingers at the edge of the check and tears it cleanly in half. The ripping sound cuts through the lobby’s ambient noise like a gunshot. He doesn’t stop there, folding and tearing again until the check lies in quarters on the counter between them.
• I’m sorry, but I cannot accept this. It appears fraudulent. His voice rings with bureaucratic finality. Gasps ripple through the line behind Vanessa. Someone whispers, “Can he even do that?” Another murmurs. “Is that legal?” Richard’s satisfaction blooms across his face.
• “You’re welcome to contact the issuer for a replacement check with proper documentation next time.” He pushes the torn pieces toward Vanessa with the tip of one finger as if avoiding contamination. Vanessa’s composure remains remarkable. Her hands do not tremble as she collects the fragments of the destroyed check. Richard watches expectantly, clearly anticipating an emotional outburst that would further justify his actions in the eyes of onlookers.
• Instead, she asks with perfect calm, “May I have a copy of your refusal documentation and the specific reason for destroying a financial instrument without proper verification?” Richard’s smile falters slightly at her composed, knowledgeable response. People who don’t understand banking protocols don’t ask for refusal documentation.

EPISODE: 3

• We don’t provide documentation for rejected fraudulent items, he invents, painting himself into a procedural corner. As Vanessa carefully places the torn check into her purse, a bank employee bursts through the street entrance, breathless with excitement. The new billboard is up. Everyone come see. Vanessa steps away from Richard’s counter, allowing other customers to be served while she retreats to a quiet corner of the bank’s lobby.
• Through the glass facade, she glimpses the edge of the massive billboard being unveiled across the street. Her son Anony’s confident smile emerging as workers remove the final covering. He stands tall in his basketball uniform beside Hartland Financials logo and the slogan building community champions. The bitter irony isn’t lost on her. While her son’s image sells the bank’s commitment to diversity, she experiences raw discrimination within its walls.
• The contrast between appearance and reality couldn’t be starker. From her designer purse, Vanessa retrieves not the simple business card case she showed Richard, but a platinum embossed case bearing H Heartland Financials executive insignia. She withdraws her phone and composes a text to her executive assistant.
• Documentation needed discrimination incident at downtown branch. Supervisor Richard Klene need immediate conference call with legal. Richard watches from his station, misinterpreting her quiet efficiency as distress. His satisfaction radiates in subtle ways. The straighter posture, the self- congratulatory tap of fingers against his desk.
• In his mind, he successfully identified and prevented fraud, protecting his institution from those who don’t belong in its marble halls. He briefly considers having security escort her from the premises, but decides the situation is handled satisfactorily. Vanessa walks toward the entrance, ostensibly to view the billboard.
• Bank employees cluster at the windows, pointing excitedly at Anony’s towering image. Marketing staff snap photos for social media. Their enthusiasm palpable, Richard barely glances up, busy documenting his fraudrevention success in the system. Outside on the sunwarmed steps, Vanessa makes a call, her voice shifting to the precise authoritative tone she uses in boardrooms.
• Diane, I need a full review of downtown branch operations today. She pauses, listening. No, I’m not at headquarters. I’m standing outside the branch right now. Yes, it’s that urgent. The conversation continues for exactly 90 seconds, concluding with, I’ll handle the documentation personally. Vanessa ends the call and raises her eyes to her son’s smiling face on the billboard.
• The contrast between his celebrated image and her treatment crystallizes something within her. This isn’t merely about a personal slight or individual discrimination. It represents every person who’s been prejudged. Every qualified applicant denied. Every customer treated with suspicion based solely on appearance. Her expression hardens into resolution.
• This ends today, not just for her, but systemically. She returns inside, selecting a seat in the waiting area where both Richard and the entrance remain visible. She removes her tablet and begins making meticulous notes, capturing every detail while the experience remains fresh. Richard notices her continued presence with mild irritation. He assumes she’s drafting a complaint that will disappear into the corporate void.
• He doesn’t realize she’s formulating a response that will reshape the entire organization. As bank employees return to their stations, Richard’s phone rings with a call from regional headquarters. but he silences it without a glance, too important to be interrupted. 30 minutes pass in calculated silence. Vanessa remains seated in the waiting area, calmly working on her tablet.
• Her continued presence visibly unnerves Richard, who expected her to leave in defeated shame. He keeps glancing toward her, each look more irritated than the last. Teresa, a young bank employee with a nervous smile, approaches Vanessa hesitantly. Ma’am, is there something else we can help you with today? The rehearsed quality of her inquiry reveals Richard sent her to encourage Vanessa’s departure.
• Yes, actually. Vanessa smiles professionally. I’d like to speak with whoever is responsible for your CRA compliance documentation. The request for Community Reinvestment Act paperwork, something only banking professionals typically know about, catches Teresa offguard. Her eyes widen slightly.
• Richard notices the exchange from across the lobby and quickly intervenes, inserting himself between Teresa and Vanessa. “We don’t provide that information to customers,” he states firmly, dismissing Teresa with a sharp nod. “Actually,” Vanessa responds, “Regulation BB specifically requires all banks to maintain public files of CRA performance evaluations, section 228.43 43 to be precise. I’d like to review yours.