SLOWING THINGS DOWN... time to regroup (Part 112f)

SLOWING THINGS DOWN... time to regroup (Part 112f)

In 99% of the time there is no ”good“ time for death. For me and work, the timing was very bad. The ”busy“ period at the bank was to start on Tuesday and I was still faced with staffing the drive up window  at lunch hour. I’d put off telling Willa, my only choice, because I knew her reaction would be very negative. When I called Hobie to tell him about my grandfather I mentioned Willa to him. I was sure glad to hear him say he’d handle it. It was one weight off my shoulders.

Viewing was scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday evenings with the funeral on Thursday. My father handled all the details which left me with little to do. I felt guilty about not being at the bank to help out, at least on Tuesday and Wednesday so, after talking with my father, decided to go in. The reaction (by the employees) was far from positive (especially Willa) but I knew in my heart that my presence helped with the crush of people. I did take Thursday off for the funeral and burial. In a way it was strange in that I got to meet distant relatives that I didn’t even know existed. One surprise was in seeing the president of the bank at the service although he barely acknowledged me. It just served to confuse me even more as I’d had the feeling that he didn’t like me since I’d started.

It was good to be back at work on Friday. Hobie said the additional teller in the lobby really helped out. Although I was curious as to how Willa handled the news of her drive up assignment, I figured it best to leave it alone. The real good news was that Joanne had melded in fairly seamlessly with Liz in the Audit department. I think the first thing I noticed was that she wasn’t wearing a tight skirt like I'd seen her wear since her hire. I mentioned it to Bret and he laughed. He said one of the first jobs that Liz had given her was working with some files located down near the floor. Her skirt was too tight so the next day she came in with a shorter, flared one. As he told me I could see a bit of a smirky smile on his face. When Katie had been the back-up drive up window teller she was also responsible for doing a lot of the filing. Being short and liking short skirts she’d given Bret many peeks. I’d been a bit envious as he had the first desk which put him closer to the ”action“. That wasn’t to say that I didn’t get a glimpse of white, pale blue or pink once in a while. But, with her taking over the drive up window the chances for peeks were gone. I had yet to hire a replacement but Liz had assigned Joanne to work on those same files. He didn’t come right out and say it but what I took away from the conversation was that in shorter and flared skirts Joanne would, at least temporarily, fill the panty peek void.

I really don’t remember anything untoward happening during the rest of the busy period other than Mala getting a bit frustrated with one of the bank’s known problem customers. I stepped in and told her to take a break. I have to admit I wondered if she’d experienced an ”accident“. As I remember it, the ”busy“ period slacked off a bit early which allowed me to review applications to fill the position I’d hired Joanne for. There were a few that looked promising and I set up interviews for the following week. However, as they say, the best laid plans...

The last day of the ”busy period“ was on Friday and, just to be on the safe side I’d scheduled the whole teller line and Bret to work the 3pm to 6pm period. As I remember it the ”platform (where Bret, Hobie and I were located) was very busy. Trish ushered customers in in the order they arrived and one of the last ones for me was a young girl/woman with a very pale complexion and light blonde hair. In her mid 20’s she seemed ill at ease as she sat down by my desk. I asked what I could do to help her and her words were like bullets. “Give me a job!” and it was with a straight face. I don’t remember my reply or even if there was one. She promptly put down a piece of paper in front of me. I looked at the heading and recognized the name of a former member of the Board of Trustees. It was a letter of recommendation from the woman’s grandfather. I’m being somewhat kind in calling it that though. Cutting through the BS, what it said was that he’d been a Trustee for 30 something years and had never asked for anything. His granddaughter need a job and he thought she should get it... plain and simple.

I understood “politics” and, having seen it at work when I worked for the County, hated it. I was looking at the letter and glancing at the girl/woman and was actually a bit mad. I did ask what her work experience was and I got more “bullets” as an answer. “I don’t have any!“, said in a loud monotone. I saw Bret turn around to look and saw him roll his eyes. Then Trish came over to say that I had an important telephone call. It was Bret. He’d moved over to the Audit area to make the call. ”Bad news!“ was what I heard. He went on to say that she’d been in his class in school and she was a ”looser”. By then it was after six and I took advantage of that telling the girl/woman that I had a personal emergency and had to go. I told her to make an appointment with Trish for a formal interview on Monday. The look on her face told me she wasn’t happy but with me pushing away from my desk her audience with me was over.

Bret followed me out to the parking lot and started telling me about the girl/woman and how no one liked her when she was in school. While he was talking Trish joined us and had a wry smile on her face. I had to ask why. Judy was her name and Trish said her nickname (behind her back) while in school was “The Black Widow” and she had absolutely no friends. She said she didn’t have much time to talk right then but as she walked away she called out “Good luck!”. Not a good way to start the weekend.

To be continued...