RBC Royal Bank

One thing I am is a nice and pleasant dude.
One thing I am not is a finance whiz. I’m great at budgeting and all that, but when it comes to economic theory, currency prices and investments, I need a little help.
I went to this RBC branch (the closest one to my place) to try to get this help from an expert. Surely, if a person works in a bank, they ought to be qualified to answer basic financial questions.
See, I get paid in US dollars. I check the Internet for the conversion rate before depositing my paychecks to get as favourable a rate as I can. But I always find there’s a discrepancy between the rate the Internet shows, and the rate I actually got, for the same time period. This was curious to me, so I went in to ask about it.
«The market changes all the time, sir.» Is the answer I got. Okay, I’m a pleasant dude. I can take this condescension and turn it around. «Yes, but I checked the rate at the time of my deposit, and it was better than the rate I got. «It’s different if you’re buying or if you’re selling.» Ah, thank you, bank woman, more condescension. You’re right, I did come in here with too high an opinion of myself.
I DO MATH. I know that converting one way requires the inverse operation from converting the other way between two units.
It got a little ugly, uglier than I like my interactions to get. I just needed some explanation as to WHY there was a discrepancy, but the woman kept insisting that it was my error. I left unsatisfied. The woman, never truly understanding my question, remained steadfastly ignorant.
(Turns out the answer is that banks never actually use market rates to determine conversion but instead rely on a different value provided by the Bank of Canada. THANKS FOR EXPLAINING THIS LADY. I had to look it up myself later.)
Anyway, this is a nice bank in a nice neighbourhood. They greet you pleasantly when you enter, and I’ve never seen the lineups too long. But, jeez, louise, don’t assume your customers are idiots. I DO MATH!