A HAPPY HOMEOWNER... maybe, maybe not (Part 114a)

A HAPPY HOMEOWNER... maybe, maybe not (Part 114a)

I knew I’d get grief from Elle when I got home but not as much as I got. With the Christmas money from our parents we’d ordered drapes for the living room and curtains for the den from the Sears catalog. They’d been delivered during the week and Elle was hell bent to get them up as we’d found the windows to be very drafty. So, I’d told her that I’d do it over the weekend and she wasn’t about to change her mind... for anything. I desperately wanted to get started on the adjustment project for work but I could see that it would have to wait. I worked that Friday night until after midnight to get them hung. I have to admit that from an esthetic standpoint they surely changed the look of both rooms. I just hoped they would help the draft problem.

I was up early (for a Saturday) and got started on the project. I quickly found that it was going to be harder than I’d expected. First, I reviewed all the personnel folders and extracted what I thought I needed. By then I thought I had a process to follow and was just about to being when there was a knock on the back door. It was J J from work. Now, I haven’t mentioned him or his new house in a while. The reason is because the completion, scheduled for early to mid December, had been delayed because his wife decided to change the layout of the kitchen after the walls were up and it had been rough plumbed. J J and his family were still renting the house owned by the people who owned the ad agency that the bank used. He was there asking me to help him move some of his things as they wanted the house back. His lease was up as of January 1st and he’d “sweet talked” his way into staying an additional two weeks but now they wanted him out. When he told me couldn’t believe it... and I don’t know why I didn’t tell him “NO!”.

At that point his house was basically finished but needed a CO (Certificate of Occupancy) from the township. What he wanted to do was move his furniture and other things into the house and to be out of the rental house by Monday morning. He’d managed to find a place for them to sleep for a few days so it was just his possessions he was concerned about. I know he could see the negative look on my face. However, he said he’d arranged for a flat bed truck and some laborers to help. The look on Elle’s face when I told her where I was going was not pretty.

I got to see Amy, the daughter of the man who was operating the agency, in a non workplace setting for the first time since J J had moved in. I liked the pants she had on as I could see the indentations of the leg elastics of her panties even as she walked around... no bending necessary. The moving took most of the afternoon. It was the first time I’d seen J J’s almost finished house and, compared to mine, I didn’t like it at all. As it started to get dark I told J J I had to get going. It was easy to see that he was clearly “frazzled” and having watched his wife constantly hectoring him as we unloaded the furniture I knew why. What a bitch! As I drove home I wondered how Elle would be.

It wasn’t bad. She’d decided not to speak to me. I did get supper though. I’d hoped to have a rough idea on just how much the adjustments would cost the bank by the time I went to bed. I was using the $60 a week starting pay that had started the whole mess but I wasn’t even close. By Sunday afternoon I had more questions than solutions. I took a chance that Hobie would be home and got lucky. He didn’t have the answer(s) that I needed but said he’d make a call or two for me. Just as I was about to eat Sunday night the phone rang and it was the Trustee I didn’t really know who was on the salary committee. I was a bit shocked to get the call but even more so to hear what he said. In essence he told me to ignore the negative comments made by the other three members of the committee during the meeting I’d attended. He went on to tell me to do another projection with the starting pay at $62.50 in addition to the one at $60 that I was already working on. I didn’t ask why but knew when I hung up the phone that I had an ally.

It took a long time because I had to re-do each employee’s pay history twice... by hand. I didn’t finish the whole project until late Monday night. On Tuesday I handed it to Hobie. By then I knew I knew, for sure, that the salary committee was looking for what the adjustment would cost on an annual basis. I don’t remember the exact amount but it was over $15,000 and I was worried it would be too much for the Board to swallow. All I knew was I did what I was asked to do and now it was up to the Board.

None of the employees knew what I’d been working on, not even Trish. Hobie and Bert were the only two outside the salary committee. Both Bret and Trish could see I was not myself, especially on Wednesday, the day of the Board meeting. It was one of the slowest days I could remember. I saw the salary committee members arriving around 2pm and was extremely agitated as I kept thinking how three of them were dead set against any adjustment at all. I knew that two of the three ran a Mom & Pop type store with primarily family members as employees and had no real idea what it was like to hire people in a competitive market. The third member’s company had a union controlling wages so he didn’t have any knowledge either.

It was just as the rest of the Board showed up that I got a call to report to the Board room. I walked up the back stairs and when I got to the room the only person there was the Trustee who’d called me. He told me that in spite of the objections the other three members had he was going to present it to the full Board and thought he could “sell“ the majority of them. I remember shaking his hand for some reason before returning to my desk.

At around 5pm  I got a call from Hobie telling me that it would be best if I left before the Board meeting was over. I thought that was strange but he was my boss so I did what I was told. My stomach was in knots as I drove home. Was all my work an effort in futility, trying to buck stubborn Board members? I walked in the house and Elle handed me the phone. It was the Trustee who’d called on Sunday and from the sound of his voice I could tell that it was good news. The new starting pay was to be $62.50 a week and all regular employees would have their salaries adjusted going back to the time when the pay was raised to $50 a week. However, there was no adjustment for any officer or for Bret. His anniversary was coming up soon and he’d be recognized at that time. I was happy for all the employees. Never, since I was given the assignment, had any thought been given to adjust officer pay so I wasn’t disappointed. I couldn’t wait to see the faces of the employees when the announcement was made... and to get back in the good graces of Elle and back to working on my house.

To be continued...