THE NEXT PHASE... new job (Part 105c)

I’m sure you’ve all met or seen someone who set off an ”alarm” in your brain right after meeting them. This was Katy for me. The first clue was that she wouldn’t look me in the eye the whole time Trish was introducing her. She acted like she couldn’t waste her time. I decided not to say anything to Trish about it until much later hoping she’d be able to give me a hint as to just what her problem was.

The last introduction was to Liz, the Auditor. A 50’s something lady who, and I’m trying to put it nicely, could’ve used a “makeover” as far as appearance was concerned. I pegged her as a no nonsense type person. Based upon my experience working under Alvin at the last place I worked it was a good quality to have in that position.

Walking back to the “platform I saw Bret talking to Mr B/Hobie. Trish didn’t know what was next for me so I asked her a few procedural questions while waiting to get with Hobie again. I had decided I liked her personality although I could see she might easily be set off if things didn’t go her way. It only took a few minutes before Hobie called me over to his desk with Bret still there. I wondered what was up. Bret seemed to be smiling although a bit sheepishly. Hobie started by apologizing saying that he should’ve briefed Bret about my being hired before I started. He went on to say that he hoped that his omission wouldn’t do any harm to Bret’s and my friendship. He continued on with his attention primarily on Bret. It didn’t take a lot to understand that he was reassuring Bret that he was an integral part of management’s future plans. I just stood there taking it all in.

When Hobie was finished he asked Bret to show me where the supplies were kept and to go over the procedure for opening new accounts. I followed Bret to a cabinet but he wasn’t that interested in what was inside as he was to apologize for his reaction when I first saw him. We shook hands and then he asked if I could spare some time after work. Of course I said I could but wondered what was so secret that we couldn’t discuss while we were still at work.

I was invited to go to lunch with Hobie. We hadn’t gotten very far from the front door when he apologized again. All I could say was that I was sure it would all get sorted out in time. I told him that I was going to meet Bret after work and he seemed to be relieved to hear it. The gist of the lunchtime conversation was to tell me about the rest of the people who worked for the bank. The mortgage lending operation and accounting functions were located upstairs and he told me he’d get the secretary to the President to show me around and to introduce me when we got back. The one thing I took from what he told me was that I should be careful what I said or, more importantly, how I said it when around the President. I remembered that he was only present for a very short time during my interview and seemed to be a little "jumpy". I was also told to be prepared for Robbie, the bank’s appraiser. I asked what he meant by being ”prepared“ and got a smile from him in response. He went on to say that he was a ”Brit” and had a very dry sense of humor. I think he even made a comment along the lines of “don’t say I didn’t warn you”.

Back at the bank we went upstairs on what I eventually deemed as the world’s slowest elevator. Hobie hailed a very well dressed thirtyish woman and then introduced me to Lena. She wasn’t pretty and she wasn’t cute yet was still attractive. In looking back on her I do believe it was her smile and charm that did it. Lena had come to the bank right out of high school and, according to Hobie, was one of the bank's most valuable employees. I liked her right from the beginning. She, technically, was also the secretary for the Vice President in charge of mortgages. He had a secretary but she was more of an assistant. Hobie pointed out a thin fortyish woman and told me she'd been with bank since before WWII. Most of her duties had to do with processing mortgage loans. Hobie then asked Lena to take me around and introduce me. Standing there in the waiting area I could see just about all the employees. The work area had no walls but for the exterior ones. With the exception of the switchboard operator I only saw  one who was younger than Lena. It was quite a difference from down stairs as most of the women were in their forties and fifties. Then this fairly short, balding man with very rosy cheeks walked up a introduced himself. It was Robbie. I think he said "Welcome" and then followed it with something I didn't understand because of his accent and then he walked away. Lena, seeing the puzzled look on my face, said she didn't understand what he meant either and smiled. The rest of the introductions went far better than they had in the morning and I didn’t understand why... for a while.

My afternoon was made up mostly with observing Bret opening new accounts at his desk and then watching the tellers process deposits and withdrawals. One thing I observed but didn’t understand was that even though the workday was supposed to be from 9am to 5pm the tellers left before 4:30pm. I did ask Bret about that and he told me to wait until we got together after 5pm. From the way he phrased it I was wondering just what it was that he wanted to talk to me about.

We ended up sitting in my car. Bret and his wife Jan were living with his parents and it was in walking distance so he didn't have a car. He started by saying that, after his talk with Hobie, he understood that there were a lot of changes forthcoming at the bank and that he’d been assured that he was a part of it. He said that Hobie wanted him to help me “get up to speed” and that’s why he wanted to talk to me outside the bank. Now it was me that was a bit concerned. I remember that he had a bit of a frown on his face at this point and I definitely remember his exact words... “Beware of the Polish Mafia!”

To be continued...