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

The next morning Hobie sent a memo around telling all of the tellers and “back office” staff to gather in the lobby for a meeting at 4:30pm. The “buzz” that was heard was the tellers complaining about having to stay “late”. I smiled because I knew something that they didn’t... they were going to lose their early quitting time on a permanent basis. I continued to get the “cold shoulder” for the rest of the day. When we gathered in the lobby for the meeting it was at the bottom of the semi circular stairway. Hobie went up a few steps and had Bret and I stand just below him (symbolic?) with the employees gathered in front of us. He’d given me no hint of just how he was going to present the material so when he opened with an acknowledgement to Chuck’s many contributions to the bank over the years I was completely taken aback. Then he really floored me when the next thing he said was the the Bank had entered a “new era” and with it some changes would be coming. To emphasize that he stated, quite clearly, that with the changes he didn’t want to hear any more references to Chuck’s way of doing things. That really got their attention. Then he proceeded to go from employee to employee asking each for a verbal confirmation of their understanding of that fact. I was more than pleased and actually had to stifle a smirk.

The first change was announcing that the tellers would no longer be leaving prior to the rest of the bank employees. The moans and murmurs started immediately. I knew the “mafia” couldn’t keep quiet on that and it only took a few seconds for Cara to speak up (and out). Hobie shut her down just like a machete cuts sugar cane. However, Cara kept “pushing” and Hobie pushed back. He told them that if they were willing to give up their morning “break” then they could leave fifteen minutes early provided that the bank, as a whole, was in “proof”. (That meant all debits and credits equaled for the day). More murmuring... and then silence. Time for the next shoe to drop.

When they heard that there would be strictly scheduled lunch hours and break times I thought a few of the tellers were going to have a stroke. I saw Mala’s eyes bug out and Cassie, for the first time that I’d noticed, actually had a change of expression on her face. Cara, as I expected, spoke up again. Hobie told her that they could chose the time they wanted but choice would be governed by seniority. He also allowed for “trading“ but only when it was cleared by Bret or I, in advance. I liked that.

Then it was time for handing out the policies and procedures material that I’d worked up. By then Hobie was on a roll. I figured it was fueled by the reaction to the other announcements because he opened by stating that there would be no discussion. He asked Trish to hand out the material and told them that it was to be their ”bible”. He went on that regardless of how long they’d been doing things differently from what was included in it, there would be no excuses to do it any other way. He then referenced the most recent audit done by the State banking department in which the bank had been cited for failure to follow established banking procedures. He also referenced that the bank was on “probation” and failure to cure the deficiencies would lead to substantial (monetary) penalties. He went on by stating that if they had questions of the specifics covered in the material they were to come to me. That caused some more murmuring and a few sideways glances. He closed by reminding them that they were less than two weeks away from one of the busiest times of the year and he expected them to be fully up to speed on it. Then he walked towards his desk with the women looking somewhat dazed.

As I had mentioned Trish had let the tellers know about the new policies and procedures and who was responsible for them while she was typing them up. Not wanting to talk or have anything to do with me a couple of them went up to Bret to ask him about it. He probably knew less about the material than they did. Since Hobie had just told them that they were to come to me and they had already ignored it I wondered how this was going to work out. I could’ve gotten back at them for the “cold shoulder” treatment but I stepped in and told them that if they, as a group, could come up with specific questions I would work with them to help with of their understanding of it. They weren’t overjoyed but “Cee” openly accepted the idea. When she did I reminded them that it was to be a collaborative exercise. There was some more mumbling and I did call Cassie out on it wanting to establish some control. For my effort I received the third facial expression change from her. If looks could kill that would’ve been murder in the first degree. Inwardly, I smiled.

That night I wrote up my suggestions for the drive up window. I decided to give it to Hobie in hand written form as I’d already been “burned” by Trish when she told the tellers about the policies and procedures. As excited as I was about doing it, his less than enthusiastic approval had me a bit wary of just what he’d do with it. In fact, when I handed it to him the next day I’d pretty much talked myself into accepting the notion that nothing would change. One of the “selling points” in my suggestion was that by having the window open the same hours as the lobby it would relieve some of the lines during lunch hours where we were short of tellers. I was even more negative when I handed it to him because he immediately put it in the top drawer of his desk.

The bank had extended lobby hours on Friday nights right before I started. There had to be one bank officer available to sign checks on large withdrawals. This particular Friday Hobie was the officer on duty. Bret and I took turns and on this night he’d asked me to switch with him. Lobby traffic was slow so I was able to handle any platform business. I didn’t pay much, if any, attention to Hobie until right before we closed. He called me over and said that he thought my suggestions were “doable“ (his word). It was like a cherry on top of a sundae and made my week. In spite of the ”Polish mafia“, I decided I liked working there.

To be continued...