I'm curious if this also applies to credit unions. I understand they are structured and regulated slightly differently but it seems like they're subject to a lot of the same pressures.

I use credit unions pretty much exclusively and have never done much business with a bank, but it seems like they are mostly the same from an end-user perspective. Is the anecdote about "being ambushed [by a salesperson] upon walking in" a common occurrence? This has luckily never happened for me at any credit union.