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

I didn’t want to speak first as it was Mala who’d come to me. After a few false starts she asked what Hobie’s reaction had been when I told him why she’d gone home after he’d told her to get to work. When I told her that he didn’t say anything at all I don’t think she believed me. But now there was some conversation and I took advantage of it. I really wanted to know what Chuck had told her but because he’d been held up on a pedestal by her and especially Hobie I was reluctant to go there fearful that I’d say something really negative. I took a different tack and asked what had caused the situation the day before. I remember her taking a deep breath and then said that a customer had called her a bitch. I asked her what had transpired for him to do that. She rolled her eyes and said it was because of the new policies and procedures. That puzzled me so I prodded her to explain. Her response was that he’d requested something that she couldn’t/wouldn’t do for him complaining that it had been done in the past. She said that she tried to explain why she couldn’t do it any more and he started cussing her out. That upset her so much that she ”lost it“. I asked if she said anything to him and she half smiled which gave me the answer.

I was still very tempted to ask about what Chuck had said but just couldn’t do it. I knew that something similar must’ve happened in the past from what she’d said back when Hobie and I’d met with her earlier. After a short, uneasy, pause for both of us I managed to ask how many times ”it“ had happened to her. I distinctly remember her looking away from me and not responding. I waited for a short time and then I told her that I’d like to help her. As soon as the words were out of my mouth I was sorry. She turned her head back to me and I swear the look she gave me was one of disbelief as if to say ”Did you really say that!“. I remember her starting to say something and then stopping. I had to have been red as a beet because I felt beads of perspiration forming on my brow. I really hadn’t planned to say what I did and I certainly had no idea what to say at that point. I think I made a half assed apology but I do remember mumbling that I did have first hand knowledge of what her embarrassment was like. That was like adding gasoline to a fire as the look on her face became even more alarming. I’d dug myself a hole and the only way out was to keep talking. She actually started to get up and I pleaded with her to stay.

I’d gotten myself into a number of uncomfortable situations in my life but none like this. I’ve tried to remember just what I said and how I said it but I was under a LOT of pressure at that moment and don't really remember exactly what I said so what I’m going to write is a summary of  what I do remember. I remember telling her that my wife (Elle) had had an incontinence problem since junior high school right on through college and even now when she was substitute teaching. She had a frown on her face but didn’t say anything so I stumbled on. The main thing I wanted to get across to her was that if she were willing I’d arrange for Elle to meet with her. Hearing that she started nodding her head in a negative manner. By now I wanted to get out of the predicament any way at all so I apologized for making her uncomfortable but that my intention really was to help her cope with ”it“. I remember her looking down into her lap and as she did I wondered if I hadn’t just put myself into a very bad position. I know I apologized again and although I knew I should just shut up it was like I had diareah of the mouth and kept on talking. I remember telling her that she was considered the best teller and that we didn’t want to lose her. I think I even told her that more than once.   

When she started to speak I was thankful. I didn’t expect to hear the words that she spoke though. Basically, she said she appreciated my concern but right at that moment she couldn’t consider the offer. I acknowledged that and apologized for even bringing it up. But, she continued to surprise me when she said she’d think about it and that brought a smile to my face. That told me she wasn’t going to put a complaint in against me and I’m sure I breathed a silent sigh of relief.

As I walked to my car I realized that just about every part of my body was damp. The cool evening air hitting me drove the point home. I sat in my car trying to reflect on the day and found it hard to do. Driving home I remember hoping/praying that I wouldn’t ever have to go through that again. I will admit that while lying in bed I kept thinking back to Mala’s ”it“ and just how many times it had happened to her and, at that time it did cause a bit of ”stirring” in my loins. However, I wasn’t looking forward to facing her in the morning.

It wasn’t long after the doors opened the next morning that I noticed that Cara’s line wasn’t moving. Since she was at the first teller station it was easy to see. I went up to her to ask what was wrong. She looked at me with disgust and picked up a handful of passbooks. ”Just interest only!“ was all she said and slammed them into my hand. I couldn’t tell how many she had but it was a lot. I took them from her and stepped up to the window and asked the customer, an older woman, to please come to my desk. Once there I tried to persuade her to leave them with me and I’d have the interest posted and would mail them back to her later that day. I tried to ”sell“ her on the idea by telling her that she wouldn’t have to stand in line and could get on with her day. However, she countered by telling me that I should go do it and she’d wait. I told her I wasn’t allowed to use the machines but assured her that the books would be safe and would be back to her in a day or two. She hesitated but did agree to it if I’d give her a receipt for the books. Once she left I took a trip behind the tellers line to see if other tellers were faced with the same situation. I saw enough to convince myself that I had to come up with a solution.

I’d been keeping my eye on Mala and everything seemed to be normal. When she  closed down her window for lunch I went up and asked if I could speak to her. I’ll admit I was half holding my breath and I think she was too. But what I wanted to talk to her about was the problem with customers with interest only transactions. As I’ve mentioned she was a ”tell it like it is“ person and when I told her I was trying to come up with a way to get them from getting in the lobby lines she, without hesitation, said it would be an immense help... and then asked when it would start. I told her I was working on it. I more or less, expected that from her but the most important thing was that I’d gone to her first to ask her opinion.

To be continued...  
  

THE NEXT PHASE... new job (Part105j)

It was about then that there was a knock on the door. It was Pauline, the switchboard operator, wanting to know if she should put through a call to Hobie. He took it while Mala tried to get control. When he hung up he headed for the door. As he did Mala reached out to get his arm and as she did it she sort of mumbled something. Because she was turned towards Hobie I didn’t get all of it but I heard a familiar name mentioned... Chuck. Hobie stopped and asked her what she’d just said. This time I heard it and almost couldn’t believe my ears. She told Hobie that Chuck had told her she could leave any time that “it” happened to her. I hadn’t said one word up to this point. I was also sick and tired of hearing Chuck’s name mentioned so I couldn’t help myself when I said, loudly “WHAT!” Hobie followed behind me when he told her to explain. Then she started crying again. It was obvious that Hobie was anxious to leave the room so he told us both to wait until he returned. By then I wanted to know what “it” was but had to hold my tongue not wanting to overstep my very limited authority. As I waited for Hobie’s return I couldn’t imagine that Chuck would’ve let her, or any teller for that matter, leave without saying anything or getting permission.

Hobie was gone for about ten minutes and by the time he returned Mala had stopped crying but she was still on the verge. He, again, took a standing position in front of her and, surprising to me at least, didn’t ask her to explain what Chuck had told her or what the “it’ she’d referred to was but proceeded to reiterate her responsibilities as a teller and asking if she understood them. When she said that she did he told her to take a few minutes to compose herself and then to get downstairs and open up her window. As he walked out the door he told her that whatever her ”problem“, in the future, she had to speak to Bret, me or him and get permission to leave. That left me alone with her.

Hobie hadn’t been out the door for more than a few seconds when she looked at me and, with tears welling up in her eyes, told me she couldn’t. I know I was frowning after she told me that. I couldn’t believe her. Here Hobie had just given her the OK to go back to her job, with no punishment at all, and she’s saying she can’t. I was about to say something negative when she reached for my arm and, now with tears flowing again, said ”it happened again“. I was about to verbally explode on her when she sobbed ”I’ve embarrassed myself.“ My response was immediate when I asked her what she meant. She looked down into her lap and mumbled something that was muffled by her crying. Getting impatient, I told her to speak up. Looking up at me she said ”I can’t go downstairs like this... I piddled... again“.

You probably won’t believe me but that word was foreign to me at that time. I looked at her with a quizzical look and was about to ask what she meant when she, now showing signs of her own impatience, stated that she’d ”pissed herself“. Now I was the one embarrassed... and, no, it didn’t excite me even a little bit. Somehow, I managed to keep the focus on the fact that I had an employee who had a very real problem. I’m not sure if I apologized or not but I told her to go home, get cleaned up and come back. I remember telling her to take the elevator downstairs and leave through the front door so no one would see her. I walked around behind her chair and was going to help her on with her coat but she asked me to leave. I honored her request but did ask if she was coming back. She nodded that she would and then I left.

Here it was, about 9:15 am, and I felt like I’d already put in a whole day. I really didn’t have any time to reflect on what had just transpired as the lobby was almost full and we were one window short. I tapped Corinne to fill Mala’s window again until she returned. That helped to alleviate some of the crowd. Right after I got to my desk the phone rang. It was Mala. It didn’t sound good to me but all she wanted was a promise from me not to say anything about what had happened upstairs. That was easy but I did tell her I would tell Hobie as I felt he needed to know why she wasn’t at her window. I heard a sigh and then she said she’d be in in about 20 minutes. It was my turn to let out a sigh.

True to her word Mala was back by mid morning. Super conscious of her fragile psyche I kept an eye on her all day but actually avoided taking any transactions to her. She’d been one of the hard core ”Polish Mafia“ and had not shown any acceptance of me up to then. Hobie had returned before Mala did so I told him what had happened. He didn’t seem concerned but I knew he had an important meeting to prepare for later so didn’t dwell on the situation. By 3pm, when the doors closed, lobby traffic had slowed which allowed all the tellers to do their ”proofs“ in a timely manner and to be able to leave at the regular time. I still had some things to finish up but wanted to get out as soon as possible. I didn’t see Mala approach so was startled when I heard her call my name. It was obvious that she was hesitant to come through the gate and up to my desk. When she did I wasn’t sure what to expect. I was very much ill at ease because I had very little interpersonal experience as a supervisor. After she sat down neither of us said anything... and that really was awkward.

To be continued...

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

By Wednesday the tellers had decided that it would probably be a good idea to meet with me to go over the policies and procedures. When I told Hobie about it he told me that he wanted to listen in on the discussion. I did and didn’t like hearing that. On the plus side was the fact that he’d be there to make sure that everything I said was right. On the negative side was that by him being there I’d be very nervous. On the whole I decided it was good in that his presence would reinforce the importance of the material. Cara, as expected, was the “voice” for the group and the majority of the dialog concerned the fact that Chuck had authorized them to do what they’d been doing and some of this material was totally new to them. Hobie closed that subject out reminding them that what had transpired in the past was just that... in the past, and now they were to follow the manual... with no excuses. As expected there was some mumbling. The only ones who didn’t seem upset were “Cee” and Corrine. To me that was a good sign. If I were picking who was on which side I had a feeling that those two were on mine. Letitia, the so called head teller, was neutral. Now I had my work cut out for me trying to get Cara, Mala and Cassie to get in line. 

The response by the public to the new hours at the drive up was underwhelming. I don’t remember the number but there weren’t many customers. I rationalized it saying that it was only the first day and that next week, with the expected crowds, it would pick up. I certainly hoped so.

By Friday night I felt that the tellers were on board as far as the policies and procedures were concerned. Both Bret and I had been observing just what was going on and other than a few verbal “asides” it seemed like the changes were being followed.

In spite of being warned by Hobie that the lobby traffic would be heavy I was not expecting what I saw when I drove into the parking lot around 8:45am Monday morning. There were at least 15, and maybe more people waiting at the back door. By 9:05am there had to have been 40 people in the lobby. To put that in perspective, a “busy” day meant waiting on around 90 customers from 9am to 3pm. By 9:30am there were even more and it stayed that way for most of the day. Bret, I and even Hobie were busy on the platform the whole day. There were some “glitches” when it came time for the tellers to take their lunches so Bret and I came up with a plan to help the next day.

The crowd at the back door the next morning was a bit smaller but by 9:30am the lobby was full. The plan that Bret and I’d come up with was to have one of us get on the back of a line to ask people to choose a different one to allow the teller to get her lunch. I heard some mild complaining the first time I tried it but felt it was worth continuing. I was in Letitia’s line when I noticed that the line next to it wasn’t moving. It was the line for Mala’s window and when I looked for her I didn’t see her. and those people were complaining. When I got up to Letitia I asked where Mala was. She just shrugged her shoulders as she walked away.

I next went to Cara who worked on the other side of Mala and all she’d say was that Mala “had a problem”. By then I figured it had been ten or more minutes since she’d disappeared. Then I went to Katy to ask her to check the ladies room and was bluntly told that she'd gone. I remember giving her a quizzical look and probably said something stupid like “Where?” Her one word answer was “Home.” I didn’t know what to think at first so asked Bret if he’d talked with Mala. He said he hadn’t so I went to Hobie even though he had a customer at his desk. He excused himself and I told him that Mala had left and her cash drawer was still open. He told me to get Liz, the auditor, to get the spare keys to lock it while he called Mala’s mother.

All Hobie told me was that Mala’s mother said she was “too upset to come back to work” or something close to that. He told me to try and rearrange lunches so as to cut down complaints. I immediately went and got Corinne to bring her cash drawer up to the front and instructed Kate to bring whatever transactions came to the drive up over to the teller line for processing. Other than putting up with Kate’s sour attitude it went fairly well and Corinne did an excellent job considering how little experience she had with a volume of customers. As we were leaving that night Hobie told me that he’d told Mala’s mother to have her be at the bank by 8:45am the next morning.

I got there about 20 minutes to 9am and Hobie was standing just inside the door. He didn’t tell me what he had planned but told me he wanted me present for the meeting with Mala. Nothing was said when she walked in but Hobie motioned us towards the elevator. Mala didn’t look good at all. There was a small conference room right next to the elevator on the second floor and we followed Hobie inside. After Mala took her coat off he had her sit down at the table and, while still standing, proceeded to ask her what had happened the day before. I remember Mala just sitting there staring up at Hobie. He was very calm and non threatening. When she remained silent he started talking and telling her that he was very disappointed in her. He couldn’t understand why she’d walked out without asking permission. He told her that her actions were the same as quitting. Hearing that Mala blurted out that she’d had a “personal problem” and wasn’t quitting. Hobie waited for more but that was all she had to say. He went on that as a teller she had the responsibility for the cash in her drawer and she had as much as abandoned it. By then Mala was crying. Hobie went on saying that by leaving she had walked out on her fellow tellers leaving them with with added work and created a lot of unhappy customers. That brought on even more tears. Fortunately, there was a box of tissues on the table. Hobie was waiting for an explanation but all he got was tears.

To be continued... 
  

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

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To make some of the upcoming posts more understandable I feel it’s necessary to post some background on the banking system at that period in time, so...

Basically, there were two types of banking institutions... thrift and commercial. Thrifts (savings banks, savings and loan associations and credit unions) paid interest on their deposits (but did not offer checking accounts) and made mortgage loans on residential homes. Deposits and withdrawals (and interest) were posted into what was called a passbook that the depositor maintained. Commercial banks offered checking accounts (but didn’t pay interest on the deposits) and made all types of other type loans (ie: construction, inventory, personal, auto, etc). The interest that the thrifts paid was paid at the end of each calendar quarter. If a depositor needed to make a withdrawal of funds during a quarter they lost the accrued interest on the amount withdrawn. Sometime prior to the time I’m writing about the State banking department decided to allow interest to be posted and made available three business days prior to the actual end of a quarter. So, that meant that on the first day interest was posted there would be a log jam of depositors who had postponed making withdrawals... as well as a whole cadre of depositors who just had to get their interest posted into their passbook even though they didn’t want to make a withdrawal.

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Over the weekend I couldn’t wait for the upcoming week. I wanted to see just how the changes would work out and to find out if Hobie would act on the suggestions I made for the drive up. Included in my suggestions was to advertise the fact that we actually had a drive up window and that it would be open during the same hours as the bank. I’d discovered a cache of left over ”give aways“ in the basement that were from the open house that had been held to celebrate the remodeling of the bank about a year earlier. I thought that the bank could advertise a free ”gift“ with every visit to the window as an added inducement to use it. One of the reasons I wanted to ”push it” was to ease some of the expected lobby traffic once the interest was posted and available to the depositors. Twice I’d witnessed the added lobby traffic at my previous bank so had an idea what was ahead. In talking with Hobie I’d gotten the distinct impression that we would be very, very busy and in my mind the use of the drive up would be helpful in alleviating some of the pressure.

I didn’t have to wait long on Monday to find out. As soon as I walked in Hobie steered me into the elevator and we ended up in the president’s office. Hobie presented my suggestions, along with a few modifications, to him and, much to my surprise we were told to implement it immediately. The local newspaper was published on Thursdays which meant we had time to get something created and ready for printing. Hobie proceeded to call the advertising agency that they sometimes used and set up an appointment. What I didn’t expect was that I was to be the one to meet with them.

The ad firm was a family run affair. A father, son and granddaughter made up the whole office. When I walked in the first thing I saw was a very nicely shaped female bottom. The lady was bending at the waist over an open file cabinet drawer. Her skirt was short but not enough for me to see anything but legs. I stood there, staring, for a few seconds before she realized there was someone in the office. When she turned towards me I saw a pretty young woman who was obviously embarrassed. I probably blushed as well. Her name was Andrea and when I told her mine she led me into an office where she introduced me to her father, Art. I explained what we (the bank) wanted to accomplish. I was only there for a matter of minutes when he said he’d have a ”rough“ of the ad over to me by noon. I remember thinking how easy that had been as I walked back to the bank.

Upon my return Hobie wanted to go over the actual operation of the window concerned about staffing it during Corrine’s lunch break. I remember trying not to be smug when I responded. In the two weeks I’d been there I’d yet to find out just what Katy’s duties actually were. If you’ve ever seen a drop of mercury you know that you can’t put your finger on it (not that you’d want to) just by it’s nature. That was Katy. She had a way of wiggling out of any meaningful answers when asked just what her job was. I told him that I’d decided to use her to fill in for that hour. Because I didn’t expect a big rush of customers I figured that she could accept transactions and then walk them over to a regular teller for processing. I could see Hobie had some doubts but he didn’t torpedo the idea.

Andrea walked in just as the noon signal went off at the fire house. I was pleased to see her as she really was an attractive girl/woman. The ad itself was pretty vanilla and after Hobie made a few suggestions she was given the OK to place it. It wasn’t until she’d left that Hobie asked about the copy for the radio ad. Talk about embarrassment!. I’m sure my face went beet red. I'd completely overlooked it. I have no idea what I said to him but I was quickly on my way back to the agency. I actually followed Andrea through the door. Her father was on the phone so I just stood and waited outside his office door. Standing there I was in position to see Andrea sitting at her desk. There was a phone on a counter directly behind her and as it rang she just spun her chair around to answer it. For a split second I saw the ”magic triangle” as she had to split her legs to propel herself around to get to the phone. I stood there staring at her and hoping that I’d get a repeat performance after she hung the receiver up. It was better than that. Whatever the call was about caused her to retrieve something from the the end of the counter and, again, she propelled her chair over to it. Totally involved in the call she ignored me and as she sat there flipping through the material I got a very nice peek. I’m sure she was never aware of my sighting. It took only a few minutes to tell Art about the radio ad and I was on my way back. As I did I remember thinking that I hoped I'd get to be involved in future advertising projects.

To be continued...

 
  
  

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...

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

I spent the weekend reading and rereading the manual identifying the parts that needed to be distributed to the tellers. When I arrived at work on Monday I gave the material to Trish and asked her to make up eight copies. The look she gave me was one of total disbelief. In fact, I think she told me that she couldn’t. I didn’t want to hear that, especially from her. However, it turned out that it wasn’t exactly defiance. The bank owned a totally obsolete wet process copier and something of the nature that I proposed was impossible. The bank did own a mimeograph machine but what that meant was Trish had to retype all the material from the manual onto stencils and then to run them off. When I asked her to do it she, again, looked at me as if I had three heads and then said “I don’t do that!” When I mentioned that the project was at the direction of Hobie she grabbed the manual and stormed over to his desk. I smiled.

While this was transpiring I happened to get a glance of Bret and thought I saw a smirk on his face. I followed behind Trish as she asked Hobie if she had to make the stencils up and to run them. It was my turn for a smirk when I heard him say something along the lines of “Unless you can think of some other way to do it.” For the rest of the day Trish was unapproachable. I got a chance to ask Bret why he’d been smiling earlier. He told me that Chuck wouldn’t have dared to ask her to do what I’d just asked. I smiled... again

I got the distinct impression that she was taking her time with it until Hobie, when just casually passing by her desk, asked if she was almost done as he wanted the finished product on his desk before it was time to go home. I could hear her mumbling to herself for the rest of the afternoon but it was unintelligible. However, she did meet Hobie’s deadline. On the way out the door that night Bret told me that the tellers were “up in arms”. Trish, as one of the ringleaders of the Polish Mafia, had told them what she was working on and they were all upset. I smiled, yet again

The next morning I found all the tellers huddled together in the area called “the back office” where Willa and Laurie worked. I knew that wasn’t a good sign and asked Bret if he could get an idea what they were up to. The first time I needed to go to a teller with a customer transaction I got the “cold shoulder”. It was Cara and when I said “Good morning" I didn’t even get a nod. She processed my request but never uttered a word. Bret later told me that he couldn’t get any definitive information but he opined that it was probably the work of the ”Polish Mafia“ and now it was his turn to smile. 

At that stage of my life I was still a very impatient individual. Having “smelled blood” when Hobie had me act on the information I’d provided him concerning the teller’s failure to follow established policies and procedures I wanted to press forward on all the rest of what my “fresh eyes” had uncovered. I was especially concerned about the lack of scheduling for lunches and breaks. Even though the material that Trish had just typed up and printed hadn’t been distributed I asked Hobie if I could work one up. He gave me a “look” and said he’d get back to me and then walked away.

Unlike the other bank, the Chairman of the Board did not have an office and would only show up on Wednesday afternoons. On the day that Hobie blew me off on the scheduling matter the Chairman showed up and wanted to process a transaction at a teller window. When he arrived there was only one teller open. He came storming up to the platform, mad as hell, wanting to know where all the tellers were. I was the poor soul who had to listen to his complaint. I’d only been introduced to him once back on my first week on the job so didn’t have a good handle on what he was like. I learned fast. The message he left me was loud and clear... fix the problem and fast. Then he headed out the door. I can’t say that I anticipated that specific situation when I identified the scheduling issue for Hobie but here I was now between a rock and a hard place. My boss had just told me not to do anything about it and the Chairman of the Board ordered me to fix it.

When Hobie returned to his desk I sucked it up and, again, broached the scheduling subject. Up to this time Hobie had appeared to be a very calm individual. He literally exploded on me. I was so upset that I honestly thought I was going to get fired. After he finished I, very meekly, apologized but just as I was about to walk away I asked him about the Chairman. He wanted to know why I asked and then I told him about what had transpired when he’d been in earlier. By the time I went home I‘d worked up schedules for both lunches and breaks. That night, at home, I got a call from Hobie. He was very apologetic and asked if I could meet him at 8:30am the next morning. I was glad for the apology but still wary of what was to take place in the morning.

Hobie, still apologetic, met me at the door and had me follow him to his desk. He told me that it would probably be best if he called a meeting after work to explain the need for handing out the policy and procedures material as well as to announce the scheduling of the lunch and break times. As an officer of the bank he felt that, under the circumstances, it would be best if the tellers and staff heard it from him. That was OK by me but I also knew that I would probably get the blame. However, feeling somewhat vindicated, I, again, pushed the envelope and asked why the drive up window wasn’t open all the time. I don’t know how to describe the look I got from him but at least he didn’t tell me to shut up. I went on to explain that a number of customers had complained about the inconsistent hours of operation and how they would use it regularly if they knew it would be open when they drove up. By then I got the distinct impression that he was thinking that it was a mistake to have hired me... but he told me to write up my idea(s). By then it was time for the doors to open... and I still had a job

To be continued...   

 

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

Tuesday morning I happened to follow Hobie into the parking lot. Walking up to the door he told me that in addition to learning my way around as far as to where things were kept and how records were filed he wanted me to use my “fresh eyes” to observe how things were running from an operational standpoint. He explained that prior to Chuck being promoted he had been the manager of the office but was moved upstairs at that time. Now, being shorthanded with Chuck’s death he’d been moved back downstairs but hadn’t had the time to take a close look. He said all he wanted was for me to take a “common sense” approach and to report back to him at the end of the week. I remember thinking that he was putting a lot of faith in me.

I won’t bore you with all that went on leading up to my meeting with him that Friday afternoon. However, I will give a rundown of some of the things that jumped out at me in just four days. The first thing was that Chuck had let the tellers set their own times for their lunch hours. There was no schedule at all. On one day I found three of them out at the same time. It was the same for their 15 minute “break”. There was no way to know where any of them were at any given time. The next thing had to do with the drive up window. The bank had spent a lot of money to install it and were paying for a teller to run it but it was open for less than half the time the bank was open. One of the things that really galled me was that when I’d go to a teller to have them process a transaction for me (when I had a customer at my desk) I’d get different answers to my questions as to why one would process it one way and another would do it a different way. After pursuing it in a non confrontational way I found that teller training was done in a “willy nilly” way. In “Cee’s” case, Cara had trained her so she was doing things the way Cara had taught her. In Cassie’s case, Mala had taught her and she learned Mala's ways, right or wrong. Another problem was that Chuck had allowed the tellers to bypass some of the accepted policies and procedures as written in the manual I’d been given to study and had been told was the “Bible”. And... then there was Katy...

Here I was, less than two weeks into my new job and meeting with my boss to tell him what I felt was not being done right. Was I nervous? NO... and that was a problem. I’d gotten so caught up in all that I’d found wrong I fully expected to be praised. It didn’t happen that way. I have a tendency to get a bit hyper in situations like that. I hit Hobie with most of what I’ve written above and instead of praise he cut me off and the way he did it told me he wasn’t very happy. I didn’t know what to think. I’d done what he’d asked me to do and yet he wasn’t happy with the results.

What had happened was that the way I presented the information made the deceased Chuck look like he was totally incompetent. If you remember from earlier posts, Chuck was well liked by everybody and that included Hobie. He took my report as an attack on Chuck. Indirectly it was but all I’d done was to look at the inefficiencies and reported them... or some of them (there were more). Hobie, clearly upset with me, stated the area that he wanted me to focus on was the policies and procedures issue as the bank had been cited in a State banking audit. Seeing Hobie this upset I was almost afraid to ask if the tellers had copies of the manual. When he said they didn’t I couldn’t believe it. I wondered how they were supposed to know what was right and what was wrong without that information... but I didn’t say anything fearful that he’d “jump” on me again. Still upset with the way the meeting had gone I decided to look through the manual again and to identify the areas that the tellers needed to focus on. I came up with the idea of extrapolating those parts, copying them, and then distributing the material to the tellers. Unsure of myself at this point I ran the idea by Hobie who gave me the OK to proceed.

Because it was a Friday night and I had drawn the "short straw" it was my duty to make sure everybody was out of the building and that the lights were off at 6pm. Up on the second floor I didn't see anybody so started turning out the lights. I heard a female voice yell out "Stop!" and then saw Pauline, the switchboard operator, standing about 20 feet away from me holding a pair of jeans in front of her trying to hide the fact that she was in her panties. I hadn't expected to find anyone up there and was still processing the fact so I just stood and stared. She didn't stay there long and ducked back behind the office partition where she'd been changing. As I waited for her to come back out (dressed) I remember thinking that this was the first "peek" of anybody I'd experienced since starting. I wouldn't have chosen her if I'd had a choice but, like they say, beggars can't be choosey. Tall and extremely thin (I don't think anorexia had been coined at that time) with long black hair, I didn't find her attractive at all. But, I did see white panties so it wasn't all bad.

The experience reminded me how disappointed I was that I hadn't gotten a VPL from Cassie, the "solidly" built teller. The first day I'd met her she was wearing a tight Ivory colored skirt and on the few chances I'd had to get a glance at her backside I hadn't seen anything, not even an indent for a leg elastic. She'd worn it again this second week and it was more of the same. I was truly puzzled, especially after seeing her bend over to remove her pocket book from the bottom drawer of her work cabinet. As far as the others were concerned it was what they wore, mostly loose fitting or flared knee length (or longer) dresses or skirts or patterned (tweed, plaid) wool skirts that were the reason for the lack of discovery. I could only hope that warm Summer weather would change that.

To be continued...   

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

I’m sure I smiled or maybe even let out a little laugh. But his expression never changed as he said he wasn’t kidding. Then he asked if I’d known Chuck. I’d never even met the man. I told Bret that the first time I ever set foot in the bank was for my interview. He then told me Chuck’s last name and it more than rang a bell for me. He was from a large local Polish family that owned and ran a very large well known farm. What made it especially poignant for me was that Chuck’s sister had lived next to my grandparents when I lived with them during WWII. Her daughter, Joan, was the girl who I’d persuaded to give me panty peeks (and to wet herself) and had ended up baby sitting for Elle and I after we'd moved back to the area when Elle got her first extended substitute teaching job. Not only that but his brother sold the health insurance policy that the other bank had taken out for me (and was still in force). After we got through that part Bret proceeded to explain “The Polish Mafia”.

Chuck’s family was very much involved in the local Polish Catholic church. Bret didn’t know to what extent but he did know that Chuck was directly involved in a youth group sponsored by the church. That said, Bret then hit me with a statistic that got my attention. Of the eleven women in the department, Chuck had hired nine of them and... of that nine seven were Polish. Added to that total he added Elena, the mortgage teller. So, the final tally was eleven female employees with eight of them being Polish. At first I didn’t know what he was trying to tell me. It didn’t take long for me to find out...

One of the things that Hobie had told me that morning was that Chuck was “everybody’s friend” and that he wasn’t a very good manager. Bret brought that point home... in spades!“ The ”Polish Mafia“ was pretty much the group of Polish employees Chuck had hired. They, as a group, pretty much got their way when it came time for making decisions. Bret told me that the ringleaders were Trish, Cara, and Lorrie. He then asked if I noticed that the tellers left work around 4:30pm. I told him I had and it was a question I was going to ask him about. The ”Polish Mafia“ had gone to Chuck and ”sold“ him on the idea. He went on to say that Chuck gave unrecorded days off to them as well. He proceeded to list a few other things that Chuck allowed them to do (or not do) that others didn't. Then he said that I was going to have my hands full in dealing with them as they were loyal ”to a fault“ when it came to doing anything other than the way Chuck taught them or let them get away with.

After having had what I would’ve described as a ”pleasant first day“ I was listening to it disappear as Bret went on. He explained that he’d gone to high school with most of the girls and knew Trish, Cara, Lorrie and Willa (one of the non Polish) fairly well. Trish and Cara were best friends going back to grade school. He smiled when he told me that both of them, as well as Lorrie, started on the same day with Willa following soon after. I think he used ”Thick as thieves“ to described them. The sum and substance of his conversation was to watch my back when it came to dealing with them. He mentioned Trish as one to be especially wary of because I’d be dealing with her more than any of the others and she had a way of ”deceiving“ you and he proceeded to give me an example of how she’d recently ”gotten“ him.

By this point I was wondering if I hadn’t walked into yet another problem job. I had a few questions from when Trish had walked me around to meet the staff so decided to go in a different direction. Kate had been on my mind all day. I couldn’t figure out just what she did in the way of work. More times than not I saw her resting her head on her hand while leaning her arm on a back counter. As soon as I mentioned her name I got a big laugh out of Bret. It was the first time the frown had left his face since we got in my car. I can still picture him sitting there with both palms up and a disbelieving look on his face (rolling his eyes). It was as if he was telling me that he had no idea what she did but without words.

A question I came up with after Bret told me about the ”Polish Mafia” and Chuck’s hiring all of them was how did Corrine (the colored girl) fit in. He shook his head from side to side. He said he didn’t know the details but that he thought he’d been told to hire her. He knew that her family was well known in the community and he added that there were a fair amount of “colored” people living in the area. He added that he felt that she hadn’t been treated fairly by the fact that she’d been given the drive up window to operate. With few customers using it she was basically kept out of sight. I mentioned that I was impressed with her in the short time I’d chatted with her. Bret didn't disagree and then added that he knew her brother and he was a “real good guy”.

I also had a question about Mala... actually a few of them. I mentioned that she’d seemed uncomfortable during my introduction. That elicited a smile and the explanation was that she was a bit “stiff“ around people she didn’t know. I immediately asked how that worked with her having to deal with customers that she didn’t know. He, more or less, defended her by saying that she was the quickest, most efficient and accurate teller they had. He also offered that she’d had a ”problem or two” in that area since he’d been there. Even though I had no idea how Corrinne stacked up in speed and accuracy I just knew in my heart that she’d be good with customers.

I don’t know why but I ended up asking Bret what Mala’s real name was. I’d never heard “Mala” used as a name before. Another smile. He qualified his answer by saying that he didn’t know any Polish but that he’d been told it was a loose translation for “little one” and that’s what she requested she be called. It was right about then that I heard the six o’clock siren at the fire house go off. I gave Bret a ride and by the time I arrived home it was 6:15pm. Elle had already served the meal and I ate a luke warm dinner. I wanted to tell Elle about my day but, just like her mother, being late for a meal was a major offense calling for the silent treatment.

To be continued...

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

I’m sure you’ve all met or seen someone who set off an ”alarm” in your brain right after meeting them. This was Katy for me. The first clue was that she wouldn’t look me in the eye the whole time Trish was introducing her. She acted like she couldn’t waste her time. I decided not to say anything to Trish about it until much later hoping she’d be able to give me a hint as to just what her problem was.

The last introduction was to Liz, the Auditor. A 50’s something lady who, and I’m trying to put it nicely, could’ve used a “makeover” as far as appearance was concerned. I pegged her as a no nonsense type person. Based upon my experience working under Alvin at the last place I worked it was a good quality to have in that position.

Walking back to the “platform I saw Bret talking to Mr B/Hobie. Trish didn’t know what was next for me so I asked her a few procedural questions while waiting to get with Hobie again. I had decided I liked her personality although I could see she might easily be set off if things didn’t go her way. It only took a few minutes before Hobie called me over to his desk with Bret still there. I wondered what was up. Bret seemed to be smiling although a bit sheepishly. Hobie started by apologizing saying that he should’ve briefed Bret about my being hired before I started. He went on to say that he hoped that his omission wouldn’t do any harm to Bret’s and my friendship. He continued on with his attention primarily on Bret. It didn’t take a lot to understand that he was reassuring Bret that he was an integral part of management’s future plans. I just stood there taking it all in.

When Hobie was finished he asked Bret to show me where the supplies were kept and to go over the procedure for opening new accounts. I followed Bret to a cabinet but he wasn’t that interested in what was inside as he was to apologize for his reaction when I first saw him. We shook hands and then he asked if I could spare some time after work. Of course I said I could but wondered what was so secret that we couldn’t discuss while we were still at work.

I was invited to go to lunch with Hobie. We hadn’t gotten very far from the front door when he apologized again. All I could say was that I was sure it would all get sorted out in time. I told him that I was going to meet Bret after work and he seemed to be relieved to hear it. The gist of the lunchtime conversation was to tell me about the rest of the people who worked for the bank. The mortgage lending operation and accounting functions were located upstairs and he told me he’d get the secretary to the President to show me around and to introduce me when we got back. The one thing I took from what he told me was that I should be careful what I said or, more importantly, how I said it when around the President. I remembered that he was only present for a very short time during my interview and seemed to be a little "jumpy". I was also told to be prepared for Robbie, the bank’s appraiser. I asked what he meant by being ”prepared“ and got a smile from him in response. He went on to say that he was a ”Brit” and had a very dry sense of humor. I think he even made a comment along the lines of “don’t say I didn’t warn you”.

Back at the bank we went upstairs on what I eventually deemed as the world’s slowest elevator. Hobie hailed a very well dressed thirtyish woman and then introduced me to Lena. She wasn’t pretty and she wasn’t cute yet was still attractive. In looking back on her I do believe it was her smile and charm that did it. Lena had come to the bank right out of high school and, according to Hobie, was one of the bank's most valuable employees. I liked her right from the beginning. She, technically, was also the secretary for the Vice President in charge of mortgages. He had a secretary but she was more of an assistant. Hobie pointed out a thin fortyish woman and told me she'd been with bank since before WWII. Most of her duties had to do with processing mortgage loans. Hobie then asked Lena to take me around and introduce me. Standing there in the waiting area I could see just about all the employees. The work area had no walls but for the exterior ones. With the exception of the switchboard operator I only saw  one who was younger than Lena. It was quite a difference from down stairs as most of the women were in their forties and fifties. Then this fairly short, balding man with very rosy cheeks walked up a introduced himself. It was Robbie. I think he said "Welcome" and then followed it with something I didn't understand because of his accent and then he walked away. Lena, seeing the puzzled look on my face, said she didn't understand what he meant either and smiled. The rest of the introductions went far better than they had in the morning and I didn’t understand why... for a while.

My afternoon was made up mostly with observing Bret opening new accounts at his desk and then watching the tellers process deposits and withdrawals. One thing I observed but didn’t understand was that even though the workday was supposed to be from 9am to 5pm the tellers left before 4:30pm. I did ask Bret about that and he told me to wait until we got together after 5pm. From the way he phrased it I was wondering just what it was that he wanted to talk to me about.

We ended up sitting in my car. Bret and his wife Jan were living with his parents and it was in walking distance so he didn't have a car. He started by saying that, after his talk with Hobie, he understood that there were a lot of changes forthcoming at the bank and that he’d been assured that he was a part of it. He said that Hobie wanted him to help me “get up to speed” and that’s why he wanted to talk to me outside the bank. Now it was me that was a bit concerned. I remember that he had a bit of a frown on his face at this point and I definitely remember his exact words... “Beware of the Polish Mafia!”

To be continued...

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

===================================
At this point I’m going to give a brief description of how the work area was laid out and my first impression of each of the women working there. I feel that this will be important in  going forward.
===================================

The area that we were seated was called the “platform” and contained four desks. It was the area for customers to open new accounts and to have their "problems", real or imagined, solved. Mr B, or Hobie as he preferred to be called, was a Vice president and occupied what was identified as Desk one. My desk would be the one in front of it and Bret’s was next. A hip high railing separated the “platform” from the work area. The railing was actually a continuation of the one that separated the lobby from the platform. Trish occupied a desk right inside that railing. It could be said that it was the “information desk”. Actually, she wore multiple “hats” as she was not only the receptionist but also the secretary for the whole platform typing all letters originating from the three desks and other tasks as they arose.

Trish was a tall girl, about 5’9“, with a trim figure and a pleasant, somewhat round face with short brown hair. Smiling didn’t come naturally for her so it would be hard to call her cute or pretty. I remember her wearing a form fitting brown tweed skirt that came to her knees. I also remember thinking to myself that she really didn’t have much in the way of hips. I’m not sure when it was that I commented (to myself) that from her rib cage down she almost had the body of a man... but that was the only thing masculine about her.

There were seven tellers windows (or stations) starting right next to Trish’s desk with six of them being manned at that time. At the first window was Cara. She was equally as tall as Trish with brunette hair that fell to her shoulders. She was sort of plain. I remember her wearing a flowered dress that fell to just below her knees. She was definitely more ”solid“ than Trish but wasn’t ”heavy“ by any stretch of the imagination. She had a winsome smile that I could see was a plus for waiting on customers.

Next was Mala, a short (maybe 5’2”) girl with mousy brown hair. She was wearing a knee length modified A-line skirt. She was “all business” during our introduction and was clearly uncomfortable during it. I’ll admit that I was too.

Letitia was the older woman that I’d noticed when first walking across the lobby. Up close it was obvious that she was around 50 years old. I would’ve bet money that she was unmarried but her name plate had a “Mrs” in front of her name. Trish introduced her as the Head Teller. Although much younger than Inez (from the other bank), in a way she reminded me of her. As we walked to the next station Trish whispered to me that Letitia’s title, Head Teller, was more in recognition for her 30 years of service than anything else. Hearing that also reminded me of Inez but I tried to keep an open mind about that as we walked away.

“Cee” was obviously the youngest teller. She looked to be about 16 but Trish told me that she’d graduated from high school the previous June. Cute and animated, she was obviously “in style” by the colorful blouse she wore along with a short pleated skirt. She was average in both height and build but the thing that caught my attention was her eyes. They seemed “alive”. She was a little nervous during the introduction but she didn’t seem to be holding back like the others, especially Mala, had been.

When I was introduced to Cassie my first thought was the famous Mona Lisa. I swear that Cassie’s expression, just a hint of a smile, never changed the whole time we talked. She had very pale, but clear, skin, almost like that of a china doll. Cassie was definitely “solid” and also definitely not fat. She was wearing a tight fitting ivory colored skirt and her hips were certainly packed into it. I couldn’t wait to get a few steps away hoping for a chance to see a VPL. She had short brown hair and high rosy cheeks. As we walked away Trish volunteered that Cassie was the only employee in the whole department that hadn’t graduated from the local high school. I didn’t know what she was insinuating but I did make note of that fact.

Elena was the mortgage teller, taking customer’s mortgage payments. Technically she belonged to the mortgage department but since she handled money she was a part of this area. In her early 30’s with curly redish blonde hair, she wore a perpetual smile. She was also wearing a mid calf flowered dress much like Cara’s. Very friendly, I knew she had to be an asset to the bank in her dealings with the public.

Next was a bit of a surprise. Corrine was a cute colored girl (remember, it’s the 60’s) with a smile that ran almost ear to ear. I was taken by the smile immediately. Trish told me that she’d been hired to run the drive up window but it (the window) hadn’t been popular with the public. It was only open on a limited basis so Corrine did filing when not on duty at the window. Walking away, my very first thought was that she needed to be assigned a window as soon as possible.

The “back office girls”, as Trish called Lorrie and Willa, handled the posting of the deposit activity. To my great surprise (and happiness) it was the same machine I would’ve been running if Rich, at my previous bank, hadn’t protested to the Chairman. I couldn’t help myself when I asked Lorrie if the machine was a computer. She laughed and so did I although she didn’t know my reason for laughing. As Trish was talking I remember thinking to myself how lucky I was that Rich had stuck his nose into that situation.

Lorrie was easily the best looking of all the girls/women I’d been introduced to. Nice facial features, nice body and nice clothes made it complete. I had the thought that someone must’ve been advising them all what to wear and how to wear it as everyone I'd met was well dressed. Lorrie was about 5’6“ with auburn hair down to just above her shoulders. She had on a flowered blouse with a charcoal gray skirt that ended just above her knees. She didn’t have much to say and I got the feeling she was ”checking me out“ but not in a sexual way. I wondered how she ended up a ”back office girl“.

Willa was the assistant for Lorrie and was a bit taller. She wore horn rimmed glasses that took away from her looks. It appeared that at one time she was a blonde but dirty blonde was the color at that time. She was wearing a navy blue skirt that, as I remembered it, was slightly flared like she might’ve had a small crinoline under it. Willa was easy to talk with, laughing easily.

The last one I met was was Katy. It only took a few minutes for me to peg her as a future problem.

To be continued...

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

Actually, the rest of the weekend dragged with the exception of going to visit my grandfather. We’d chosen to skip church and my grandfather didn’t want to go to the hospital because my grandmother had a cold or something. When I arrived at his house I handed him the pralines and you would’ve thought I’d given him something of real value. I gave him the letter from the owner of the hotel and told him of my disappointment in not finding very many of my old horsemen friends. He asked if I’d tried to contact his old trainer (and my former boss) AJ and was disappointed that I hadn’t. When he went to open the letter I was about to leave. He stopped me and asked if I’d read it to him. I knew his eyes had gotten so bad that he no longer had newspapers delivered and relied on the TV for the news. I’ve never liked reading other peoples mail and when I started reading I was somewhat embarrassed. The owner proceeded to tell him how much he and his family had enjoyed having Elle, I and the kids stay. The fact that we’d stayed at The Hollywood just about blew him away. When I left to go home I knew he was quite happy... which made me happy too.

After watching Ed Sulllivan that night on TV I reread the bank operations manual one more time finally getting to bed after midnight. I’d been told to report to work at 9am but I was dressed and ready to go at 8:30am. I pulled into the parking lot a bit before 9am and watched some employees being let inside by a short balding man. I waited, impatiently, until he unlocked the door for the public to enter. My heart was pounding as I walked into the lobby. The difference between this lobby and the bank I’d just left was, literally, like night and day. It was modern and well lit from the sun shining through the windows. The other bank was “old fashioned” and dark inside even when the sun was shining. Walking across the lobby floor I turned to look at the tellers and what I saw was the exact opposite of what I’d just left. With one exception the women looked like they were mostly in their 20’s. When I got up to the front of the bank I saw this tall young woman standing by the gate in the railing. She greeted me by name and a smile. I was impressed. As I stepped in I looked at the man at the first desk. At first blush it looked like Buddah from the racetrack and the guy who married the nurse who’d lived at my grandfather’s house. Instictively, I blurted out his name but in the form of a question. As he turned towards me there was no doubt, even with him wearing a suit and tie.

When he got up to greet me he asked why I was there. I was pretty proud of the fact that I’d been hired so told him. The smile on his face disappeared immediately. Before he could say anything the distinguished looking man who’d interviewed me was grasping my hand. Buddah stood there for a few seconds as I walked with the man back to his desk. I was asked if I knew him and explained our relationship. He was smiling when I used the name “Buddah” saying that he only knew him as Bret. I actually did know that but only from the wedding ceremony. To me he was just plain  Buddah.

The first order of business was the man telling me that he liked to be called Hobart or Hobie. I knew that was going to be a problem as my parents had raised me to respect my elders by using their surname. In my mind he was Mr B. Next was for him to explain the plan the bank had for me. Ultimately, after getting acclimated, I was to become the bank floor manager and in explaining that he pointed to the area behind the teller’s counter and to all the people working there. He mentioned one person and pointed to a middle aged lady at the desk right in front of Buddah/Bret but behind a railing explaining that she was the bank Auditor. Everybody else would be my responsibility. I remember trying to count the number of people but because they were always moving I gave up on the second or third try.

The next subject was a bit more serious in nature. He went on to give me some background on the deceased man, Chuck. I was told that he was everybody’s friend... to a fault. Well liked by bank management, staff and customers he just wasn’t a good manager. I was told that Bret had been hired to eventually replace him with Chuck moving into the mortgage origination area of the bank. The problem was that Bret had only started two weeks before Chuck died and came with no practical experience. Not taking anything away from Bret, management felt it imperative to bring someone with some experience in to fill the void created by Chuck’s death. That information explained the reaction I’d gotten from Bret when I told him about being hired. I was then told that the young lady who’d greeted me at the gate, Trish, would take me around to be introduced to the tellers and support staff. I was really looking forward to that.

To be continued...

BIG CHANGES... better times (Part 104m)

I’d calmed down by the time Nan, Elle and the kids returned. After getting the kids to bed we sat and chatted for a bit but because I wanted to be back home in daylight went to bed fairly early. For me it didn’t really work as I lay in bed worried about what would happen if Nan found that she had panties missing. At one point I lay there wondering if there was a way to put them back but as I analyzed the situation knew it would be impossible. I’m sure I got some sleep but it wasn’t much. I was up and dressed before Elle’s last alarm went off. I’d prepacked some things so went to load them into the wagon only to hear both mine and Nan’s girls fooling around on the living room floor. I took a few steps up to tell my girls to get dressed. As I did I got to see up Jessie’s nightgown and, for the first time, saw her in the plastic panties. I remember thinking how lucky Elle and I were that neither of our girls had that problem.

Of course Nan insisted that we had to have breakfast and it was almost 9am before we got on the road. Beyond the hugs and ”thank you’s“ there were the usual promises to get together in the future. As we drove away I was still worrying about the fallout if Nan found she was missing those panties. The thoughts didn’t make the trip any easier. We stopped to eat at the last rest area on the Jersey turnpike. I’d pushed Elle to wear a ”package“ because from that point on it would be at least three hours until there was a decent place to stop for a bathroom break. Traffic around the city wasn’t bad but it was steady meaning we kept moving but not ”at speed“. When we did stop it was at a diner that I’d remembered from back when we’d come home from college. As we all walked up to the entrance I asked Elle how she was doing. That was my way of asking if she was wet or dry. Almost immediately she handed the baby to me and ran inside.

She was not a happy camper when she returned to get the girls for their trip to the ladies room. When they all got back she actually accused me of making her ”go“. I remember thinking how was that possible. Eventually she said it was "the power of suggestion” and if I hadn’t said anything she would’ve made it to the toilet. I remember thinking that only a female could think like that. I asked if she wanted me to fetch some dry panties from our suitcase. We were only a little more than an hour away from home so she said that since she couldn’t wash up she’d stay the way she was. She did tell me that she’d removed the soggy sanitary pads though.

From that point on my thoughts turned to the upcoming Monday. It would be my first day at the new job. The closer we got to home the more excited I got about it. When we were approaching the town Elle asked what time it was. I don’t remember exactly but it was after 5pm. When I told her she brought up the fact that there was very little in the way of food at home and no bread or milk. When we left we thought we’d be back on Friday and that Elle could do her grocery shopping that night. But here it was, Saturday, and the supermarkets would close at 6pm. From where we were at that point there was a good chance that if we went home for Elle to get washed up and to change she wouldn’t get back to the market in time. When I mentioned that she turned to me with one of those “you’ve got to be kidding looks”. With a look of determination on her face she told me to head for the store.

The girls would go shopping with Elle every Friday unless she was teaching. It was a real treat for them to do it, taking turns pushing the cart. When they heard where we were going they got all excited. I’d done the shopping when Elle was recovering from her “procedure” a while back so, to ease the tension a bit, told her to make a quick list and I’d go in and do it. Clearly annoyed, she decided to play the “martyr card” and said she’d do it. Prior experience with her when in this mood told me to keep my mouth shut. It ended up that we all went inside with me holding the baby. Now I know this sounds perverse but while we were walking up and down the aisles I had a soft bulge knowing that she was out in public in wet panties. I know she didn’t know my thoughts but she told me that when we got home I was to change the baby’s diaper... which she’d messed. I took that to be my “punishment” for whatever it was that I'd supposedly done.

Before we left on the trip I’d asked our friends (and neighbors) Jim and Dora, to keep an eye on our place, collect the mail and, on Friday, to turn the heat back up. It was nice and warm when we walked in. Elle headed for the bathroom while I changed the baby. Then I unloaded all the stuff from the wagon. By the time I finished she’d made some sandwiches and warmed up some soup for our supper. She was wearing just a short robe but it wasn’t tied so I got some good looks as she flitted about while serving the food to the table. For some reason seeing her dressed like that excited me even though I got to see her in just panties and bra or, rarely, naked all the time. As I watched her I was glad to be home.

EPILOGUE... (to this part)
 Because our stop at Nan's was a critical piece of the story I've decided to add an "ending" to it as I couldn't figure out a way to integrate it into the continuing story line.

Elle wrote a thank you letter to Nan during the week we returned and, based upon some of their conversation while visiting with her, expected to get a response. None came. The birthday for her oldest daughter, Jessie, was around July fourth. Elle decided to send a children's book as a birthday present. When the present wasn't returned and no thank you letter came by August she tried to contact her by phone and got a message from the phone company that the number had been disconnected. Quite concerned, we contacted a cousin and were told that she was in the process of moving. Long story short... over the next two years we continued to try to make contact with her with no luck. Fast forward twenty years. Elle and I (now moved South) saw this couple walking in our downtown area. Elle saw the woman and, instinctively, called out Nan's name. The woman stopped and looked our way. When she did Elle started running in her direction.. I'm sure if the man who was with her hadn't stopped her she would've turned and walked/run the other way. We caught up with them and it was the strangest reunion I've ever been a part of. It was obvious that Nan wanted no part of us and, after about ten minutes of very awkward conversation, we parted with the only information we gleaned was that she was divorced (two times), living in Virginia and her girls were married. That was it. It's now some 27+ years later and still no contact. You have to remember that Nan and Elle were basically "connected at the hip" from 5th grade through the first year of college. She was the only person from her high school (still living) who didn't respond when their 50th high school reunion was being planned. We went and no one who attended knew anything about her or her whereabouts. It bothers me and I can't help wondering if my panty pilfering had anything to do with it... at least her unwillingness to stay in contact with Elle.

To be continued...

BIG CHANGES... better times (Part 104m)

I immediately went fishing for the light switch. Normally it would be found just inside the door but all I found was wall studs as they hadn’t finished off the walls. I walked further into the room and could see more panties including some that had to belong to Nan’s daughter’s. Then I saw a light bulb up in the floor beams and a pull cord. I had to duck under the clothesline and found there were actually three lines hung from wall to wall. I reached up to turn on the light and was surrounded by panties... mostly children’s though. Turning towards Nan’s panties I saw not only the red panties but also a pair of black one’s, probably the one’s I’d inspected earlier in the week and four other pair. There was no doubt they they were all made by Van Raalte. The huge crotch was really something to see especially with all of them hung side by side. However, I was somewhat taken by the number of children’s panties there as well. On the same line with Nan’s panties were about six, all the same size. Right behind me were at least a dozen more and as I looked at them could see that they were two different styles. Right in front of me were a batch of what appeared to be Carter’s cotton panties but right next to them were another batch but they looked different. I was still holding the baby so only had one hand free when I went to feel them. The first thing I noticed was that they didn’t have a distinct and noticeable waist elastic like the Carter’s and Lollipop panties (like my kids were wearing). The elastic was covered by the cotton material which was also different in that it was softer than other cotton panties. Another thing that I noticed right away was that they were thicker. I wanted to put the baby down to do a real inspection but I didn’t dare as the floor was concrete and probably cold. There was one more clothesline and I could see boxer shorts there as well as a few bras. But looking over to the far end I also saw a few plastic panties. It took a few seconds for the answer to come to me... Jessie, Nan’s oldest was a bed wetter.

It was just about then that I heard a strange sound from behind the plastic panties and it took a few seconds to realize it was the oil burner coming on. It reminded me that the reason I was downstairs was to check out the new things throughout the house. Leaving the thoughts of panties behind I ducked under the last clothesline and saw the source of the sound. The oil burner looked totally different from those of both Elle’s and my parents. It was very much smaller and was out of the way over in a corner rather than in the middle of the room. I made a mental note of that.

By then the baby was fussing and I was having a hard time holding her. I’d seen enough of the panties to keep my mind going for a while so headed back upstairs. There was a pad on the kitchen counter so made a few notes on what I’d seen (of the house). Once I’d started on that I decided to add some of the other features I’d seen the first time there. The baby was happy to just crawl around on the floor so I continued to write. As I did I remembered that Elle had asked if I’d looked at Nan’s clothing closet. When we stayed in her room the first time we were there I’d noticed that it took up one whole wall. I’d also noticed that the doors, three of them, were sliders and were louvered just like old fashioned window shutters ut hadn't looked inside. I picked up the baby and carried her into the bedroom. As I walked in I saw the night table with Nan’s panties and my thoughts immediately switched back to them. I put the baby down and turned on the light on the table. I pulled the drawer open and, knowing I had plenty of time, decided to pull them all out at once. I dumped them on the floor and started through them making sure I kept them in somewhat the same order. It was a good thing I did because the ones on the bottom had pretty much seen better days. I remember a couple that the stitching on the leg elastics had broken and a pair that the waist elastic had parted. But, they were all VanRaalte panties. I remember seeing another pair of red panties. The majority were mostly white or off white with a few pastel colors mixed in. The all had lace inserts or appliques on them. They were ”fancy panties“ for sure.

I was about to start putting them back in the drawer when I saw the baby had crawled over to the closet where one of the doors was partially open. I pulled her out and then took a peek in the closet. As I said, it ran the whole length of one side of the room. I was at an outside wall and what I saw was, for lack of a better way to describe it, a stack of cubby holes that ran from floor up to a shelf. Shoes were inside all but the top one and in that one I saw three small boxes. The boxes were aqua in color which is really what caught my attention. Back when I was racing horses the ”colors“ on my racing silks was aqua and white and my race car was also aqua and white. I reached in and pulled them out. It was almost like finding a gold mine.

The boxes held brand new VanRaalte panties. On the end of each was printed the number of panties in each (6), the size (5) and the color of the panties inside. The top box said the color was Ivory/Ecru. I had no idea what color ecru was but when I opened the box, under the tissue paper with the VanRaalte logo printed all over it was the answer. The body of the panties was ivory (off white) and the appliques were a light tan. (see the previous picture in Part 104g)) I counted the panties and there were only four in the box. I realized that the pair I'd taken had come from this box and I immediately became worried that Nan would notice they were missing. The next box held pink panties but there were only five in this box. I was pretty sure I’d seen one pair just like those in the box hanging on the clothes line downstairs. The last box held white panties and all six were still folded as if the box had never been opened. I carefully took out the top pair and as soon as I opened it up I knew I wanted them.

In all the panties I’d seen and handled in my life I’d never seen a pair as sheer as these. They had beautiful inserts on the front just over the leg openings. I wanted them. I swear I sat there on the floor trying to rationalize my taking them. I started to put them back and then stopped. I still had to put the panties from her panty drawer back so did that, dropping them back in the drawer one at a time so they would, hopefully, look like they had been before I pulled them out. I had to chase the baby a few times while doing all of this and glanced at the clock on the dresser. Elle and Nan had been gone for about an hour by then and I wasn’t sure when they’d be back. The three boxes were still on the floor and the one pair that I wanted was lying there with the price tag still pinned on it... $1.75. I grabbed them up and stuffed them in my pocket and put the three boxes back. When I picked the baby up I was out of breath. It was strange but that was the way I felt.

To be continued...

BIG CHANGES... better times (Part 104l)

 I had to go through the lobby to get back to the room and I saw the owner behind the counter. On the back wall was a nest of boxes where they kept the room keys and put any incoming mail. I saw there was something in the box for our room. I asked him for the envelopes and told him we’d be leaving within the hour. He asked how we liked our stay and I knew I couldn’t tell him the truth. I just remember smiling but not what I said. When I looked at the envelopes one was addressed to my grandfather and the other to me. He made a point of telling me to make sure I gave the one to my grandfather to him and to send his best wishes. I assured him I would and then asked if my billing was in the other envelope. When he said it was I was actually afraid to look and see just what the damages were for the two nights and the meals. At first I was going to take it back to the room but he encouraged me to open it. I wasn’t sure why but when I did I couldn’t believe my eyes... PAID IN FULL... was stamped right across it. I didn’t know what to say. I’m sure the look on my face gave him some idea. Before I could mutter anything he told me that it was an honor to have had us stay there. He said it was really rare to have had four generations of one family stay at The Hollywood and he wasn’t sure that we might've been the first. All I could muster was a weak ”Thank you“ and a handshake.

I was back in the room before I looked at the bill and saw that I’d just received a ”gift“ of almost $150. I was still shaking my head as we started our trip back North. Our good luck with the weather ran out about the time we got to the Virginia state line. I stopped at a Stucky’s for gas and a rest stop for Elle and the girls and bought a box of pralines for my grandfather. I figured that they would go well with the letter from his old friend. It was when we headed back to the station wagon that it started raining. It didn’t stop until we got to Maryland. We made it to Nan’s house around 5pm but we didn’t get the same welcome as the first time when Nan and her girls came running out to meet us.

Nan greeted us at the door and before we got inside asked if Elle and I minded sleeping downstairs. I didn’t care as long as I had a place to sleep that night. In a way it was funny because in a split level house you can either go up a small flight of stairs or you can go down but on the first visit I’d not gone down even once. I carried our suitcase down and at the bottom, to my right, was a large unfinished area with a sliding door to the back yard. I’d been impressed with all the space upstairs not realizing what was below. To my left was a small room (maybe 10’ by 10’) and Nan led me in there assuring me that there would be enough room for the baby carriage. It was semi unfinished in that there was sheetrock on the walls and ceiling but nothing else was done, not even a closet. There was a box spring and mattress on the cement floor and a cardboard carton with a small table lamp on it. I’d had no idea that Nan had given up her bed to us and had sleep in such spartan conditions. I actually felt bad. However, for one night it would do. She pointed out a bathroom right across the hall. I was sure that would take care of Elle’s needs during the night.  As we went up the stairs she apologized saying that it had been a stressful week and that she hadn’t had a chance to change the sheets on her bed. As we made the turn by the front door to go on upstairs I finally got a VPL from Nan. For sure, she had on the large crotch VanRaalte panties. I smiled.

Back upstairs I saw the baby food we’d left behind sitting on the kitchen counter. This being a Friday and Nan, being very Catholic, had prepared a tuna fish salad for supper. Unfortunately, if there was one thing our girls didn’t eat it was fish... of any kind. So, after a slight delay while Elle cooked up some macanoonies for them, we sat down to eat. I was reluctant to ask where Harry, her husband, was but Nan volunteered that Friday was ”boys night out“ and made a face while telling us. I just kept my thoughts to myself. After clearing the dishes Nan asked if Elle wanted to go the mall with her as she had to pick up an order she’d placed at J C Penney’s. I was sure she’d say ”No“ but she didn’t. Then she asked me if I would mind babysitting the kids while they were gone. Before I could answer her kids were jumping up and down in front of her pleading to go. She shook her head saying that they had guests and needed to stay and play. However, my two took the cue and asked if they could go as well. That left me with just the baby which wasn’t a problem as long as Elle changed her diaper before they left.

In our free time in North Carolina Elle and I had talked about some of the nice features that we’d observed in Nan’s house. As I mentioned earlier, we’d both been ”dancing“ around the question of how long it would be before we ran out of space in the mobile home. When I saw how much open space there was downstairs I decided to take a much closer look. Split level homes were relatively new at the time and Nan’s was the first that I’d been in. I carried the baby downstairs and took a good look at the big room I’d seen. Other than the lolly collumns that held up the upstairs there was a lot of usable space. The only thing that Nan had down there were a bunch of cardboard cartons. I checked out the bathroom and it was really small. There was a shower stall, toilet and sink but they were really crowded in there. Further on down the hall was another room and this is where the washing machine and dryer were located. It appeared to be about the same size as the bathroom. The next door was closed and when I opened it, even with only the little light from the hallway, I saw panties on a clothesline. The first pair I saw was bright red.

To be continued...