If Real People Ran the Bank… III
(a spoof for the heart)

Imagine a bank where laughter is the same as cash

If real people using common sense ran the bank… its rules would certainly make more sense in every-day life. Not the bottom line of bean counters, not the red-tape of rule makers, not the “stick to the familiar” attitude, beloved by those who oppose change. Instead, it would strive to make sense of life’s nagging questions.

New departments are needed for a bank devoted
to fun

Once loans, debts, and interest are eliminated, http://www.realpeopleI.html routine paperwork hasn’t got much purpose. Accounting complexities shrivel. With all that burdensome stuff gone, a person’s decisions about money can head off in whole new directions. Think of the time that frees up. Time for joy and whimsy. Time to enjoy being with people, without earning money calling the shots.

Just so there’s no misunderstanding, Joyful Banker is a spoof. It uses joy bucks and binkle bucks (take all you want). You can’t pay your mortgage with them, but you’re inspired to be incredibly generous with them. What this website says about money makes more sense (as in dollars and cents) than the Federal Reserve. Financial concepts are mangled with a high level of frivel (wordplay), giggle, and absurdity.

A new kind of bank with goofy goals

So how could such a bank function? What’s it good for? Who does it serve? There’d have to be departmental shake-ups, in order to put human concerns ahead of the balance sheet. They’d have to work as hard for everybody—
not just people who have money. That’s not the measure of a person’s worth-which depends on the quality of their character and relationships. And how much joy they spread around.

The Joyful Banker Departments

1. Goofy Policies Department—where truly unfathomable and unprecedented policies arise
   Standard business practices are ignored—on purpose. Feelings trump finances! People trump stuff! Every policy serves a person’s light-hearted, inspired, mostly-ignored (as impractical) side. But there’s a
   plan behind it—to puncture what's serious and soul-deadening with
   light-hearted jocularity.
   
   
2. Life Changes Department—facing life’s impermanence and flux
   Through the ups and the downs—the laughter and tears, the disappointments and rewards… What’s really trustworthy? Transitions also make us pause to consider what we have to offer those close to us. Be as mindful about the emotional gifts that you have to share as the financial ones. They often count for more and last longer—maybe a lifetime.
   
   
3. Energy Department—high-octane binkle energy
   It's a valuable resource—which is more potent than oil. This department studies:
        1.) How a person can get a reliable supply
        2.) What makes it leak away, and where it does goes
        3.) New ways to use and enjoy it. Put yourself on the high-buzz track
   
   
4. Legal Department—What could be more absurd than the law itself?
   The legal system is binkle deficient. So this department pokes fun at the complexity and enigmatic logic it delivers.
   
   
5. Savings and Investments Department—to save is building for
   the future
   Planning make the steps from where you are to where you desire to be. Goals are not accomplished in a single move, but take a series of them-headed in the same direction. Each step taken “saves you” from drifting along—”saves you” from indecision and irrelevance.
   
   
6. Enough Department—devoted to valuing what you have already
   It’s easy to get so caught up with what we donvt have that we forget it. Yet it’s a sign of emotional maturity to place more value on what you already have (and who you are) than on what you want.
   
   
7. Construction Department—vote for your vision with roll-up-the-sleeves effort
   That’s moving from a dream, to plans, to action, to gathering resources, to making things real… Ta da! A new creation! And you’re an integral part of what’s been made.
   
   
8. Feelings Department—emotions are in charge, and logic takes
   a back seat
   What else would you expect in a place where emotional solvency is miles ahead of one’s financial worth? Where people matter more than things?
   
   
9. Opera-tions Department—for songs, ditties, and dancing
   It’s no coincidence that people often burst into song when they’re happy. And their feet won’t stay still. They’re feeling the music bubbling up from the heart. Music is a binkle in sound—like laughter.
   
   
10. Kids Branch—This one’s a secret—but the kids like it

Escape Normal Insanity

There’s a lot more going on at Joyful Banker than quirky bank departments.
A visit to the website is really a time-out from stress. As well as an energy and whimsy recharge. You leave with more than you came with… Every time.

    Lynella Grant The Joyful Banker, a parody of all things financial http://www.joyfulbanker.com The funnest, most joyous fool service non-bank in the world. With unlimited withdrawals. Off the Page Press (719)395-9450 mailto:banker@joyfulbanker.com

This is Part 3 of a 5-part series. Read the rest
     Part 1      Part 2      Part 4      Part 5 _____________________ Copyright © 2005, Off the Page Press
The Joyful Banker - A Parody of all things Financial
Off the Page Press   (719) 395-9450  fax (719) 395-9453
P.O. Box 4880,  Buena Vista, Colorado  81211 USA
http://www.joyfulbanker.com   editor@joyfulbanker.com