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

By Wednesday the tellers had decided that it would probably be a good idea to meet with me to go over the policies and procedures. When I told Hobie about it he told me that he wanted to listen in on the discussion. I did and didn’t like hearing that. On the plus side was the fact that he’d be there to make sure that everything I said was right. On the negative side was that by him being there I’d be very nervous. On the whole I decided it was good in that his presence would reinforce the importance of the material. Cara, as expected, was the “voice” for the group and the majority of the dialog concerned the fact that Chuck had authorized them to do what they’d been doing and some of this material was totally new to them. Hobie closed that subject out reminding them that what had transpired in the past was just that... in the past, and now they were to follow the manual... with no excuses. As expected there was some mumbling. The only ones who didn’t seem upset were “Cee” and Corrine. To me that was a good sign. If I were picking who was on which side I had a feeling that those two were on mine. Letitia, the so called head teller, was neutral. Now I had my work cut out for me trying to get Cara, Mala and Cassie to get in line. 

The response by the public to the new hours at the drive up was underwhelming. I don’t remember the number but there weren’t many customers. I rationalized it saying that it was only the first day and that next week, with the expected crowds, it would pick up. I certainly hoped so.

By Friday night I felt that the tellers were on board as far as the policies and procedures were concerned. Both Bret and I had been observing just what was going on and other than a few verbal “asides” it seemed like the changes were being followed.

In spite of being warned by Hobie that the lobby traffic would be heavy I was not expecting what I saw when I drove into the parking lot around 8:45am Monday morning. There were at least 15, and maybe more people waiting at the back door. By 9:05am there had to have been 40 people in the lobby. To put that in perspective, a “busy” day meant waiting on around 90 customers from 9am to 3pm. By 9:30am there were even more and it stayed that way for most of the day. Bret, I and even Hobie were busy on the platform the whole day. There were some “glitches” when it came time for the tellers to take their lunches so Bret and I came up with a plan to help the next day.

The crowd at the back door the next morning was a bit smaller but by 9:30am the lobby was full. The plan that Bret and I’d come up with was to have one of us get on the back of a line to ask people to choose a different one to allow the teller to get her lunch. I heard some mild complaining the first time I tried it but felt it was worth continuing. I was in Letitia’s line when I noticed that the line next to it wasn’t moving. It was the line for Mala’s window and when I looked for her I didn’t see her. and those people were complaining. When I got up to Letitia I asked where Mala was. She just shrugged her shoulders as she walked away.

I next went to Cara who worked on the other side of Mala and all she’d say was that Mala “had a problem”. By then I figured it had been ten or more minutes since she’d disappeared. Then I went to Katy to ask her to check the ladies room and was bluntly told that she'd gone. I remember giving her a quizzical look and probably said something stupid like “Where?” Her one word answer was “Home.” I didn’t know what to think at first so asked Bret if he’d talked with Mala. He said he hadn’t so I went to Hobie even though he had a customer at his desk. He excused himself and I told him that Mala had left and her cash drawer was still open. He told me to get Liz, the auditor, to get the spare keys to lock it while he called Mala’s mother.

All Hobie told me was that Mala’s mother said she was “too upset to come back to work” or something close to that. He told me to try and rearrange lunches so as to cut down complaints. I immediately went and got Corinne to bring her cash drawer up to the front and instructed Kate to bring whatever transactions came to the drive up over to the teller line for processing. Other than putting up with Kate’s sour attitude it went fairly well and Corinne did an excellent job considering how little experience she had with a volume of customers. As we were leaving that night Hobie told me that he’d told Mala’s mother to have her be at the bank by 8:45am the next morning.

I got there about 20 minutes to 9am and Hobie was standing just inside the door. He didn’t tell me what he had planned but told me he wanted me present for the meeting with Mala. Nothing was said when she walked in but Hobie motioned us towards the elevator. Mala didn’t look good at all. There was a small conference room right next to the elevator on the second floor and we followed Hobie inside. After Mala took her coat off he had her sit down at the table and, while still standing, proceeded to ask her what had happened the day before. I remember Mala just sitting there staring up at Hobie. He was very calm and non threatening. When she remained silent he started talking and telling her that he was very disappointed in her. He couldn’t understand why she’d walked out without asking permission. He told her that her actions were the same as quitting. Hearing that Mala blurted out that she’d had a “personal problem” and wasn’t quitting. Hobie waited for more but that was all she had to say. He went on that as a teller she had the responsibility for the cash in her drawer and she had as much as abandoned it. By then Mala was crying. Hobie went on saying that by leaving she had walked out on her fellow tellers leaving them with with added work and created a lot of unhappy customers. That brought on even more tears. Fortunately, there was a box of tissues on the table. Hobie was waiting for an explanation but all he got was tears.

To be continued...