Man denied entry into SBI branch for wearing shorts. Twitter post goes viral

A State Bank of India (SBI) branch in Kolkata recently denied entry to a man who was wearing a pair of shorts.

The man, identified as Ashish, took to Twitter to share his grievance and the post quickly went viral.

In his post, Ashish said the staff told him to come back wearing a pair of trousers as “they expected a certain level of decency”.

Hey @TheOfficialSBI went to one of your branch today wearing shorts, was told that I need to come back wearing full pants as the branch expects customers to “maintain decency”

Is there some sort of an official policy on what a customer can wear and cannot wear?

— Ashish (@ajzone008) November 16, 2021

“Hey @TheOfficialSBI. Went to one of your branches today wearing shorts, was told that I needed to come back wearing full pants as the branch expects customers to ‘maintain decency’,” Ashish wrote.

“Is there some sort of official policy on what a customer can wear and cannot wear?”

Ashish said that a similar incident took place in Pune in 2017, wherein a man was denied entry because he was wearing Bermuda shorts.

After being posted to Twitter on November 16, the post went viral with close to 2,700 likes. The post divided netizens.

“Close your account and find a different bank,” one user said.

Close you account and find a different bank..

— Ambrose Silveira (@AmbroseSilveira) November 17, 2021

Another user commented: “Correct. One should go in formals, as it will be awkward for the rest of the customers.”

Correct. One should go in formals, as it will be awkward for rest of customer

— YVCHAKRADHAR (@YVCHAKRADHAR) November 17, 2021

SBI also commented on the post and clarified that there was no policy or a prescribed dress code to enter the bank. They also asked Ashish to share the branch name.

We understand and respect your concern. Let us take an opportunity to clarify that there is no policy or prescribed dress code for our customers. They can dress up as per their choice and may consider the locally acceptable norms/tradition/culture for a public place like (1/2)

— State Bank of India (@TheOfficialSBI) November 18, 2021

Ashish later gave an update and said that a bank official visited his house and resolved the issue. He also said that he would like to close the complaint.