SUMMER... August, at work (Part 88d)

Even though I hadn’t had much one on one personal contact with Rena after she came back to work I did know that she was back to waitressing again. I had overheard her mentioning the name of the place but I was unfamiliar with it. If I wanted to talk with her I had to do two things... figure out an excuse to be able to go there and, more importantly, find out where it was.

I’d planned on racing the car the next night so even though it didn’t need much attention to be race ready, it became my “out” with Elle. I had to stop at a gas station to find the location of the restaurant. Not easy to find, it took longer than I wanted. Rena was certainly surprised to see me. It took a while before she could break free to talk but she got another girl to cover for her and we went outside. She said she could only spare a few minutes so I asked her, point blank, what had happened. I remember her shaking her head as she told me that the new guy, Charles, had done something really, really wrong and that to correct it Jay was going to have to re-run the previous payroll to be able to start this weeks from scratch. I remember her shrugging her shoulders as she said that was all she knew. She offered to call me if she got anymore information but that was the absolute last thing I wanted... for Elle to hear a strange (to her) female voice asking for me would not have been good.

On Monday morning, when Vi and I met with Mrs K to get the exams for the day, I asked Mrs K if she’d gotten any information. I remember her looking at me and laughing. She then said something along the lines of “I should be asking you.” I couldn’t keep a straight face but I swore to her that I hadn’t gone down to the DP office or called Jay. She didn’t say anything but stood there waiting “for the rest of the story”. I admitted that I’d tracked down Rena (who she knew) but that all I got was that the new hire had done something really wrong. I swore to her again that it was all I knew. I’m not sure she believed me but she gave us the exams and sent us on our way.

The only difference from the previous Monday at the auditorium site was that it was only Vi and I to do all the work. It was another “Manic Monday” only not quite as bad for me because I was better prepared for the chaos. Vi was in a panic during registration and I couldn’t help her as I had to get the tables and chairs in place. When it came time for the typing portion in the afternoon we were running even later than the previous Monday. I tried to make a few suggestions but Vi wanted nothing to do with them. It wasn’t until we were on our way back to the Center when I realized that with Robby leaving he would be replaced and that person would be slotted in to do the Clerk Typist exams with me. I didn’t dislike Vi but she was hard to work with. I remember wishing that I could’ve worked with Sonny as he obviously (to me) was a bit voyeuristic. It would’ve been fun.

Mrs K’s assistant gave me my paycheck as soon as I walked in. I got permission to take it home so Elle could do her shopping. When I got back they had sent Robby off on an errand and were having the final meeting about his party. For any number of reasons Mrs K felt it best to have the party “in office” and it was to be Thursday afternoon. We were all told to get our work done so that we would not be criticized for taking time off. After the meeting I began to wonder what type of person would be hired to replace him and hoped that we would be able to work well together.

I was able to get Andre's attention during lunch hoping to get the "dirt" of the payroll debacle. He was very paranoid and I remember him looking over both his and my shoulder as we talked. The whole department had been told by Leo not to talk about what had happened to anyone. I made him promise to call me that night. When he walked off I wasn't sure he would.

I knew Andre liked his beer and when he called it was almost 10pm and I could tell that he was drunk. In the simplest fashion, what the new guy, Charles had done was to misload the cards into the collator that were then to be processed by the computer. The only way to undo the damage was to completely rerun the previous payroll to get back to where they needed to be to start. Over the weekend they pretty much did two payroll runs. It was mind boggling to me. In the six or so weeks since I'd been gone from there they, even shorthanded, had run three full County payrolls without a hitch plus two Police payrolls. They hire a new guy and he screws up the whole thing.

About mid morning on Thursday I saw this man being led across the floor to Mrs K’s office by the receptionist. I remember looking up for a second but that was all because there were always people coming and going. It was maybe a half hour later when I saw Mrs K walk out with the same guy following. That’s when I realized he was to be the replacement. This time I did look and for some reason felt that I’d seen him someplace before. He had a smile as wide as his face and was almost bald. I won’t say “funny looking” but definitely someone you would remember. I did... but I couldn’t place where. Mrs K came down the line of desks introducing him. His name was John and as soon as he opened his mouth it was obvious that he was from below the Mason-Dixon line. All I could do was hope that he had an open mind to suggestions.

A job that all the PT’s had to do but absolutely hated was shredding. I have to admit that I’d never even heard of shredding before I started there. In any case, the six of us took turns, always two at a time, shredding old exams. Because Mrs K was a reasonable person and she knew how much we all hated it she limited it to an hour per week, per team. Robby had tried to get out of his last shredding duty but Wilson, tongue in cheek, told him he wouldn’t get his last paycheck unless he did. After lunch Robby and Sonny went into the security room. It wasn’t long after that before we heard a long, loud shriek. I don’t know who got there first but they found Robby with his head pulled right down onto the top of the shredder and it was still grinding away. He was choking. In that position he couldn’t reach the emergency shut off. Whoever it was turned the machine off and then helped pull Robby up. What had happened was that Sonny had left the room and Robby, wanting to get the job done, reached across the top of the machine for more paper and his tie got pulled into the shredding wheels. It wasn’t funny at the time but we all had a laugh afterward. We made him wear what was left of the tie to the party. As a reminder of what happened we ended up hanging the remnant right over the shredder.

To be continued...