SETTLING IN... at work (Part 107d)

It was around the same time that I had a visit from Lena, the secretary for both the President and Vice President/mortgage officer. I’d been at the bank for about two months and yet I’d not spent much time at all on the second floor so really hadn’t gotten to know the people who worked up there. It was a little after 5pm and almost everybody had left for the day. She stood at the gate to the platform and asked if she could come in. I waved her on over and she stood, hesitatingly, by the corner of my desk. I remember smiling up at her waiting for her to speak. When she did she apologized for bothering me. That sort of puzzled me as I wasn’t doing anything but clearing my desk for the night. After a few uncomfortable seconds she finally spoke. She told me that when she was hired it was as a teller and that the very first customer she waited on was my grandmother. I had to smile when I heard that and as I did she started to back away to leave. As I looked at her I was trying to figure out just how old she was. I knew she had to be in her 30’s. I remember saying something along the lines about how she must’ve been very young at the time. The reason I did was I knew my grandmother, because of her arthritis, hadn’t been out and about since the late 40’s. That made her smile and I remembered when I’d been introduced to her on my first day that I thought she had a very pretty one that made her a bit more attractive. Then she asked how my grandmother was doing and when I told her she showed what I felt to be honest concern. Then she told me that as long as she had been a teller my grandmother would wait in line just she could take her deposit. We chatted a bit more and when she finally turned to leave she smiled and told me ”not to be a stranger“ and to come up and visit the upstairs people. As she disappeared from view I had a strange sense that she might’ve been flirting.

Trish was usually up on the gossip and one day during that week she got my attention and pointed to a man walking towards the back door. I only got to see his back but I did notice that he had red hair. I called her over to ask what was up. She, as usual, was coy and just opined that it was the second or third time that she’d seen him. I pushed her a bit more and she admitted that she thought he was being interviewed. I don’t know why I felt threatened by that information but I did. I hoped to get a chance to ask Hobie but I never did. The following Monday morning I saw a fairly young red headed man waiting by the back door of the bank as I walked up. Hank, the bank’s maintenance man/custodian was doing his morning chore of letting employees in and yet the red headed man just stood there. I still don’t know why but I walked up to him and asked if I could help him. He smiled broadly and thanked me but said he was waiting for Bert, the Vice president and mortgage officer.

I didn’t see either of them come across the lobby floor but a little later that morning the two showed up at the gate to the platform. I saw Bert introduce him to Trish and then they came over to Bret’s desk. I could hear Bert introduce the man as J J and tell Bret that he was the new assistant mortgage officer. Hearing that I remembered my short lived concern and smiled to myself. As Bert walked up to me I took a close look at the man’s face and saw a whole batch of freckles to go with his very red hair. When it was my turn to be introduced I got his whole name and that got my attention. It told me he was Irish. My mother was Irish and J J’s surname was the same as my mother’s grandmother. Even though Bert was in a hurry to finish the introductions he allowed J J to respond to my inquiry about the name. My mother was born in raised in the city as was J J and we were able to determine that it was in the same general area as J J’s family. As Bert moved him on J J promised to get back to me. I remember thinking wouldn’t it be ironic if we were somehow related.

Just after the noon fire siren blew J J showed up at my desk and asked if I wanted to go to lunch with him. If it hadn’t been for the possible tie in between our families I probably would’ve deferred but I asked Bret to switch lunches with me. Being a ”good guy“, he did. I figured the safest bet was the diner right down the street. J J liked the idea as he said he’d get a bit of a feel for the town by doing it. As we walked to the diner I told him I was 12th generation in the town. Being a bit of a genealogy buff he seemed very interested and, after we ate, we walked down to my grandparents house. I told him the story about how my grandmother and father had been born in the house and how, when my grandparents wanted me to be born there too, my mother told them that they had hospitals now and she wanted to try one out. He laughed but asked if I’d show him the house at some time in the future.

I found out a good bit about J J in that hour (and maybe a bit longer). He was three years older than me, married with four kids and one on the way. He’d been working for one of the large city banks for almost ten years. He said he felt like a ”minnow in the ocean“ and that’s why he changed jobs. His plan was to move his family to the area as soon as the school year ended. In the meantime he was going to commute on a daily basis. I remember thinking that he was crazy for doing that especially when he told me that it took 2 1/2 hours each way. When he said he was going to bring his wife out on Saturday to just take a look at what was available in the way of houses I told him that when he did I’d like to meet his wife. I’d taken an immediate liking to his very upbeat personality and hoped that when he did move that we’d be good friends.

To be continued...