Cyprus Credit Union

By: Clorissa Buchei

I belong to a very professional group; we all have to dress, talk and act
professional. We deal with what people may consider their lives; We handle people
finances. This group I belong to, is my work, the people I share my job with. The
employees of Cyprus Credit Union. The people I spend almost every single day around
and the people that might even know me best.
Cyprus Credit Union is a financial institution, a place where we have the
opportunity to handle people money and help them improve their lives. As a financial
service representative I have the opportunity to work with an amazing group of people.
We all have to work as a team in order to make our work place possible. We have our
tellers, which are our front line employees; they work more directly with the money
aspect of the credit union. You have the back office employees, who deal with phone
calls and training; bringing new opportunities to our members. My managers who
watches over everything, doing their best to make the job a better place for the
employees and our the members. Then theres the financial representative, which is my
job. Helping the member create new opportunities in their lives by improving their credit
with the help of loans and new accounts.
Our job has a lot to it, especially more then it sounds. We try our hardest to give
people the chance to own a vehicle, or purchase a house. Some people dont
understand what a privilege it is having a bank account. Its unfortunate to think, but not
everyone gets that chance. The group of people I work with, we all work together trying

to help everyone have those opportunities. Part of every job is dressing or acting the
part, ours just happens to be dressing professional. It would be shocking to walk into a
credit union and see an employee dressed in sweats and a hat. Theres a dress code
every job has to follow to keep the norm including ours. For a financial institution,
dressing in professional attire is what your probably use to seeing and really how other
way would you feel comfortable seeing your banker. These are the people dealing with
your money and finances. The atmosphere of working in any other money handling
career is most likely the same professional attire. Part of being professional, is attitude,
people want to see the employees working in their bank account and with their money
with smiling faces and cheerful moods. They want to know the people that are dealing
with their finances are happy to see them and to take care of their money. The norm is a
little odd to think about, but really its become more of our daily lives then we realize.
Even though most of us really dont want to judge, we would find it odd or less
trustworthy if you walked into a credit union with any of those norms out of place.
When thinking about theoretical perspectives to my job and the work
environment im in, I think about functionalism. Financial Institution have certain things
that have to be done and certain ways that theyre required to act. They serve as a
function to society and are necessary for survival; everyone has a bank account
somewhere and couldnt do a whole lot these days without one. Banks and Credit
Unions are one of the main reasons having credit these days are so critical to society.
Almost no financial institution will lend money to someone with horrible credit, although
if there werent financial institution how important would credit really be? Its all about
functioning in a society built up around money.

There is so many concepts in any job you have, In my work you get a lot of age
variation, not just in my department, but throughout the entire credit union. Im 20 and
thatss fairly young for my position. My manager is 40, although my assistant manager
is only 24 and my coworkers all differ in ages between 19 and 50. I enjoy the age
variation, it brings a lot to the group of people I work with and helps you learn and
understand people on a different level. I learn so much from the people I work with,
whether from their wisdom or their fresh new minds. Its really neat to see how people
think and how much they can bring to the table just because of their age. You learn with
time, although usually you start out with a lot of confidence and its nice to see both
sides of it of the age difference.
Working at a Credit Union most of my coworkers are female; its more generally
known for the feminine work base. Out of twelve close coworkers in my department,
only three of them are actually male. Its interesting thinking about how its so general
that people think of tellers and banking employees to be more of one gender, but I
suppose most jobs are that way. Its another one of those norms no one will really
understand. Theres no reason for it, it just the way everyone was brought up and now
understands it.
I work with so many different ethnicities; out of the twelve employees closest to
me, four are of a different ethnicity. Which is another thing I really enjoy, due to how
much ive learned and continue to learn from them. Three out of four speak spanish so
ive had the opportunity to learned quite a bit of spanish. The fourth is actually from
Germany and speaks two different languages, German and Japanese. Its truly
incredible though, because even though three of them speak spanish, they are all from

different places with different cultures. One of my coworkers and close friends Vanessa,
is from Argentina and her spanish is considered a slang spanish from everyone elses in
my office. Theres also Olga who is from Peru, her first language is spanish so she has
a great ascent. She also celebrates some great holidays close to ours, such as
Christmas, but its celebrated just a little difference from ours. Christmas in her country is
celebrated on the 24th of December instead of the 25th. We have Dustin who is an
American citizen, but was born in Spain, because of his parents. All with different back
grounds, different cultures and yet all can relate due to spanish. Then theres David
who's from Germany; I find him and the fact that he speaks german the most
interesting. Living in the U.S. you dont meet very many people from Europe or people
who speak German or Japanese. Hes very fascinating to talk to, He has so much to
say about Germany and it only makes me want to go across seas that much more!
I really enjoy the job I do and the group of people I work with. Right now in my life
I couldnt imagine being part of any other group. Everyone there and the job it self has
brought so much to my life. I have learned more about life from this group of people and
the job I work, then anywhere else. They have taught me about credit, about finances
and how important it is to be responsible. I have made good, trustworthy friends and Im
not sure what more I could really ask for.