A BIG STEP... wise or not (Part 113e)

A BIG STEP... wise or not (Part 113e)

I was awakened by the sound of a tractor. It was still dark out but I got out of bed to look out the window. I could see headlights but not the tractor. Looking at the snow in the lights I tried to figure out just how much snow was out there. While I was peering out the window I suddenly remembered back when I’d gone to my old bank to get the mortgage. Monte, the Chairman of the Board, had warned me about snow and the driveway. He told me that when it was a true snow storm the wind would blow from the East and, as it did, the snow would drop into the cut in the hill made for the driveway... and at the bottom it was some 12 feet lower than at the top. I grabbed my clothes and went outside to see what was going on. The wind was really blowing and so was the snow. It wasn’t very deep right outside the door but as I made my way to the driveway I could see how much snow had already been moved. I flagged the driver of the tractor down and discovered that it was Jon, the neighbor we’d recently met. I tried to tell him thank you but between the motor and the wind all he could do was wave. Back inside I was pretty impressed... a neighbor that plowed our driveway without being asked. I still wasn’t sure about the people to the East but the other one’s were top notch.

By daylight the wind had stopped. The kids were thrilled with the snow, especially knowing they could use their sleds to slide down the hill. I measured just how deep it was near the bottom and it was over three feet. There was very little on the grass both in the front and rear of the house, the wind having blown it pretty much away and into the farm. Around noon time I walked over to Jon’s house to thank him and all he did was laugh saying that he’d been doing if for over ten years for his uncle. To him it was just a small part of his routine.

One negative thing with not living just a mile away from work was that I now had to leave a lot earlier. The end of December and the start of January had us in one of the four quarterly ”busy periods“. This one had started off especially busy. I made a point of leaving even earlier than usual with the idea of being prepared for the onslaught of people. I arrived around 8:30am and, much to my surprise, found Willa standing by my desk. Things between us had continued to be ”chilly“ as she, again, had been tapped to be the runner between the drive up window and the line tellers during lunch break for Katie, the drive up teller. Her body language told me that it wasn’t anything good. Without saying a word she handed me an envelope and walked away. I waited for a few seconds before peeling it open. It was her two week notice. Her body language told me not to pursue her right then but I definitely wanted to find out why.

Within the first fifteen minutes the lobby had filled up. It was like a zoo. Even though Bret and I had a steady stream of customers I tried to keep an eye on the teller line, especially Mala who had a history of melt downs. I’d shortened the lunch breaks to help the lines in the lobby and pretty much knew who was off and who was on. At one point I looked up and saw that Mala was missing. That was not good. I asked Trish to go into the ladies room to see if she was OK. She was back right away and indicated the Mala would be right back. I breathed a sigh of relief.

I never got to speak with Willa but I did catch Trish, one of her good friends, and asked if she knew why she was resigning. I’ve written that Trish and I were working well with each other but, in this case, I was treading on a friendship so she told me I’d have to wait and talk with Willa. I was waiting for her the next morning. Her answer was short and and to the point... she was going to work for the County and would be making more money. I pressed her on what it was that she’d be doing and I was more than shocked when she said she had taken the Clerk/Typist exam (the one I’d administered while working for the Civil Service department) and had been offered a position in the Court system. I remember looking at her not wanting to believe that the County had increased the base pay enough to exceed what Willa, with three plus years of experience, was making. I didn’t challenge her but almost immediately called my old boss, Mrs. K, to ask... and Willa had been right. Effective as of January 1, there had been an across the board adjustment to all positions. It was to get the County more in line with the neighboring county. They’d been having difficulty filling positions that were located near the county line. I remember taking a deep breath after hanging up.

We hadn’t run an ad for new employees in a few months and the applications in the file were quite old. I had to start there as I couldn’t run an ad until Thursday when the local paper came out. I made a few calls between customers and wasn’t really surprised to find that there wasn’t any interest. I remember talking with a few mothers and being told that their daughters had obtained jobs. Later, in the afternoon, I saw Mala was missing from her station again. I held off asking Trish to check on her and a little while later saw her emerge from the ladies room. I didn’t make it a point to follow up on it.

A day or two later a young woman came in and asked for an application for employment. Even though we were still very busy I told Trish that I’d take time to talk with her. I really don’t remember anything about her except when she asked what the pay was. When I told her she actually laughed. I didn’t think there was anything funny about it. It was $55 a week. Having talked with Mrs.K at the Civil Service office I knew their new starting salary was $65 a week, which was $10 a week more than it had been when I left there not even a year earlier. There wasn’t much I could say other than ”Thank you for stopping in.“ At that point I pretty much knew I was in for a rough time in trying to replace Willa.

To be continued...