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

I spent the weekend reading and rereading the manual identifying the parts that needed to be distributed to the tellers. When I arrived at work on Monday I gave the material to Trish and asked her to make up eight copies. The look she gave me was one of total disbelief. In fact, I think she told me that she couldn’t. I didn’t want to hear that, especially from her. However, it turned out that it wasn’t exactly defiance. The bank owned a totally obsolete wet process copier and something of the nature that I proposed was impossible. The bank did own a mimeograph machine but what that meant was Trish had to retype all the material from the manual onto stencils and then to run them off. When I asked her to do it she, again, looked at me as if I had three heads and then said “I don’t do that!” When I mentioned that the project was at the direction of Hobie she grabbed the manual and stormed over to his desk. I smiled.

While this was transpiring I happened to get a glance of Bret and thought I saw a smirk on his face. I followed behind Trish as she asked Hobie if she had to make the stencils up and to run them. It was my turn for a smirk when I heard him say something along the lines of “Unless you can think of some other way to do it.” For the rest of the day Trish was unapproachable. I got a chance to ask Bret why he’d been smiling earlier. He told me that Chuck wouldn’t have dared to ask her to do what I’d just asked. I smiled... again

I got the distinct impression that she was taking her time with it until Hobie, when just casually passing by her desk, asked if she was almost done as he wanted the finished product on his desk before it was time to go home. I could hear her mumbling to herself for the rest of the afternoon but it was unintelligible. However, she did meet Hobie’s deadline. On the way out the door that night Bret told me that the tellers were “up in arms”. Trish, as one of the ringleaders of the Polish Mafia, had told them what she was working on and they were all upset. I smiled, yet again

The next morning I found all the tellers huddled together in the area called “the back office” where Willa and Laurie worked. I knew that wasn’t a good sign and asked Bret if he could get an idea what they were up to. The first time I needed to go to a teller with a customer transaction I got the “cold shoulder”. It was Cara and when I said “Good morning" I didn’t even get a nod. She processed my request but never uttered a word. Bret later told me that he couldn’t get any definitive information but he opined that it was probably the work of the ”Polish Mafia“ and now it was his turn to smile. 

At that stage of my life I was still a very impatient individual. Having “smelled blood” when Hobie had me act on the information I’d provided him concerning the teller’s failure to follow established policies and procedures I wanted to press forward on all the rest of what my “fresh eyes” had uncovered. I was especially concerned about the lack of scheduling for lunches and breaks. Even though the material that Trish had just typed up and printed hadn’t been distributed I asked Hobie if I could work one up. He gave me a “look” and said he’d get back to me and then walked away.

Unlike the other bank, the Chairman of the Board did not have an office and would only show up on Wednesday afternoons. On the day that Hobie blew me off on the scheduling matter the Chairman showed up and wanted to process a transaction at a teller window. When he arrived there was only one teller open. He came storming up to the platform, mad as hell, wanting to know where all the tellers were. I was the poor soul who had to listen to his complaint. I’d only been introduced to him once back on my first week on the job so didn’t have a good handle on what he was like. I learned fast. The message he left me was loud and clear... fix the problem and fast. Then he headed out the door. I can’t say that I anticipated that specific situation when I identified the scheduling issue for Hobie but here I was now between a rock and a hard place. My boss had just told me not to do anything about it and the Chairman of the Board ordered me to fix it.

When Hobie returned to his desk I sucked it up and, again, broached the scheduling subject. Up to this time Hobie had appeared to be a very calm individual. He literally exploded on me. I was so upset that I honestly thought I was going to get fired. After he finished I, very meekly, apologized but just as I was about to walk away I asked him about the Chairman. He wanted to know why I asked and then I told him about what had transpired when he’d been in earlier. By the time I went home I‘d worked up schedules for both lunches and breaks. That night, at home, I got a call from Hobie. He was very apologetic and asked if I could meet him at 8:30am the next morning. I was glad for the apology but still wary of what was to take place in the morning.

Hobie, still apologetic, met me at the door and had me follow him to his desk. He told me that it would probably be best if he called a meeting after work to explain the need for handing out the policy and procedures material as well as to announce the scheduling of the lunch and break times. As an officer of the bank he felt that, under the circumstances, it would be best if the tellers and staff heard it from him. That was OK by me but I also knew that I would probably get the blame. However, feeling somewhat vindicated, I, again, pushed the envelope and asked why the drive up window wasn’t open all the time. I don’t know how to describe the look I got from him but at least he didn’t tell me to shut up. I went on to explain that a number of customers had complained about the inconsistent hours of operation and how they would use it regularly if they knew it would be open when they drove up. By then I got the distinct impression that he was thinking that it was a mistake to have hired me... but he told me to write up my idea(s). By then it was time for the doors to open... and I still had a job

To be continued...