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

Actually, the rest of the weekend dragged with the exception of going to visit my grandfather. We’d chosen to skip church and my grandfather didn’t want to go to the hospital because my grandmother had a cold or something. When I arrived at his house I handed him the pralines and you would’ve thought I’d given him something of real value. I gave him the letter from the owner of the hotel and told him of my disappointment in not finding very many of my old horsemen friends. He asked if I’d tried to contact his old trainer (and my former boss) AJ and was disappointed that I hadn’t. When he went to open the letter I was about to leave. He stopped me and asked if I’d read it to him. I knew his eyes had gotten so bad that he no longer had newspapers delivered and relied on the TV for the news. I’ve never liked reading other peoples mail and when I started reading I was somewhat embarrassed. The owner proceeded to tell him how much he and his family had enjoyed having Elle, I and the kids stay. The fact that we’d stayed at The Hollywood just about blew him away. When I left to go home I knew he was quite happy... which made me happy too.

After watching Ed Sulllivan that night on TV I reread the bank operations manual one more time finally getting to bed after midnight. I’d been told to report to work at 9am but I was dressed and ready to go at 8:30am. I pulled into the parking lot a bit before 9am and watched some employees being let inside by a short balding man. I waited, impatiently, until he unlocked the door for the public to enter. My heart was pounding as I walked into the lobby. The difference between this lobby and the bank I’d just left was, literally, like night and day. It was modern and well lit from the sun shining through the windows. The other bank was “old fashioned” and dark inside even when the sun was shining. Walking across the lobby floor I turned to look at the tellers and what I saw was the exact opposite of what I’d just left. With one exception the women looked like they were mostly in their 20’s. When I got up to the front of the bank I saw this tall young woman standing by the gate in the railing. She greeted me by name and a smile. I was impressed. As I stepped in I looked at the man at the first desk. At first blush it looked like Buddah from the racetrack and the guy who married the nurse who’d lived at my grandfather’s house. Instictively, I blurted out his name but in the form of a question. As he turned towards me there was no doubt, even with him wearing a suit and tie.

When he got up to greet me he asked why I was there. I was pretty proud of the fact that I’d been hired so told him. The smile on his face disappeared immediately. Before he could say anything the distinguished looking man who’d interviewed me was grasping my hand. Buddah stood there for a few seconds as I walked with the man back to his desk. I was asked if I knew him and explained our relationship. He was smiling when I used the name “Buddah” saying that he only knew him as Bret. I actually did know that but only from the wedding ceremony. To me he was just plain  Buddah.

The first order of business was the man telling me that he liked to be called Hobart or Hobie. I knew that was going to be a problem as my parents had raised me to respect my elders by using their surname. In my mind he was Mr B. Next was for him to explain the plan the bank had for me. Ultimately, after getting acclimated, I was to become the bank floor manager and in explaining that he pointed to the area behind the teller’s counter and to all the people working there. He mentioned one person and pointed to a middle aged lady at the desk right in front of Buddah/Bret but behind a railing explaining that she was the bank Auditor. Everybody else would be my responsibility. I remember trying to count the number of people but because they were always moving I gave up on the second or third try.

The next subject was a bit more serious in nature. He went on to give me some background on the deceased man, Chuck. I was told that he was everybody’s friend... to a fault. Well liked by bank management, staff and customers he just wasn’t a good manager. I was told that Bret had been hired to eventually replace him with Chuck moving into the mortgage origination area of the bank. The problem was that Bret had only started two weeks before Chuck died and came with no practical experience. Not taking anything away from Bret, management felt it imperative to bring someone with some experience in to fill the void created by Chuck’s death. That information explained the reaction I’d gotten from Bret when I told him about being hired. I was then told that the young lady who’d greeted me at the gate, Trish, would take me around to be introduced to the tellers and support staff. I was really looking forward to that.

To be continued...