And I'm nervous. I'm not particularly good with financial stuff, and if I go in sounding like a ditz I'm sure I'll stand out. Anybody have any tips for me?

I was nervous my first time too.... What kind of scenario are you shopping? It would help us give you tips if we knew what kind of shop it is. No need to mention the client or the MSC ;-)

It's a Navy Federal shop, and I stand to pick up a bonus because my grandfather was a WWII vet which makes me eligible to open an account.

Try to think of it like any other interaction you would have with a bank rep or anyone in general. When you are nervous, it shows. Just be yourself. Let the rep do most of the talking (after he/she asks open ended questions of course).

Nina, if it's the shop I'm thinking of (and it probably is; it's near where you live) when you go in, there is a noisy coin counter machine by the door. If anyone is using it it will be very hard for you to hear anything. When you walk in, there is a greeter counter. You will be waylaid there, asked what you want, and, if it goes like it went for me, told to fill out an application and wait to be called to the banker.

This was one of my very first shops ever. I was not expecting that to happen. I did not want to fill out my information; I just wanted to talk to the banker. I balked at filling out the form because I wasn't sure I wanted to open an account; I said I just wanted the information so I could decide about it. So the greeter proceeded to tell me about the accounts! I never did see a banker and I left not knowing if the shop would be accepted or not; it was. Whew!

In retrospect, I realized I could have taken the form and just not filled it out. Sat down and waited to be called to the banker. Or filled it out with false information.

Now, if you really want to open account there, that will make it easy -- fill it out for real.

I was freaking out because it was my fourth shop ever, and I had done one bank shop that had gone according to expectations and this completely threw me because I was not expecting to be handed an application and was not expecting the greeter to hijack my shop!

So I'm letting you know what to expect so you'll be better prepared than I was. I was recording the shop and the coin machine was running like a cement mixer behind me and I could hardly hear what the greeter had said to me when I listened to the recording later.

So... now that you know all this, you should do just fine! And maybe in the intervening two years they might have moved that coin machine or done away with the greeter position. But this is what happened when I was there.

Good luck! You should do just fine!

If you go on sounding like a ditz, I doubt you'll stand out at all. Most people haven't a clue about banking stuff either.

Navy Fed is a credit union, owned by members, so it's quite a bit different than a regular bank. Play that up and you'll do fine.

I'm with BBird about appearing ditzy. I make a habit of it because it tends to make the employee slow down, speak a bit more clearly and explain things in simpler layman's terms rather than getting too technical.

I just did a bank and a credit union yesterday and both went exceedingly well. I arrived at both when no other customers were there and was immediately assisted by their highest-ranking people. In this area, it's rare to find incompetent people because there's so much competition for jobs and everybody wants to live near the beach. I usually have very few negative comments on these types of jobs.

And most amazing of all, I've already heard from the editor and received a 10 rating on the Intellishop job.

Trust me you'll be fine, most people don't know anything what it comes to their financials.

Nina, how did it go?