INTERESTING TIMES... A change of pace (Part 130e)

INTERESTING TIMES... A change of pace (Part 130e)

I was looking forward to a relatively easy week as I arrived at work Monday morning. Luckily, I was early. The banking world has always been highly regulated. We were subject to three audits each year... Federal, state and then one done by an independent accounting firm. Each organization would arrive with a team of people ranging in size from eight to a dozen. Their arrival was always a surprise and, as a result, a bit disruptive especially in my realm of responsibilities. They had to count each teller’s cash before allowing them to wait on customers. They were like a swarm of flies attracted to drops of honey. It was up to Bret and I to appease the customers while they did their job. Once that was done they would congregate, as a group, around the head examiner who, by the way, was a female, and wait for Bert, the bank president, to assign them a place to work. It was almost always the Board room as it was the only place that was large enough to hold that many people as well as all their files and equipment. Once settled the head examiner would assign different members of his crew to meet with each of the department heads to review any past citations. Most of them were minor and, in my area, had been in the form of suggestions. I don’t remember anything being noted as critical. Thankfully, by lunch time they had vacated my area.

It was early in the afternoon when I got a call from Bert, the president, to come to his office. Never a good thing, I couldn’t imagine what it was for. Walking in I saw Betts, the lady who did the accounting, sitting there and looking somewhat distressed. Also present was the head examiner. I didn’t hear what Bert said as he dismissed Betts from the room. He motioned for me to sit and then asked me if we (the bank) had any applications from people with accounting experience. I didn’t really know and told him so. Then he explained the situation.

During one of the three most recent examinations a suggestion had been put forth that the accounting department needed ”strengthening“. No one in the department had any formal accounting training and there were no clear lines of authority. Betts was the accepted ”manager” but without a title. If something happened to her or one of her two account clerks there was the potential of a big problem. Bert seemed to be resisting the examiners suggestion of hiring a true accountant and he was looking for an alternative. He then asked the examiner if we could peruse our applications and if we found someone to bolster the department would it be acceptable. My “take” on her reaction was that she didn’t really like the idea but agreed provided that she got toreview the application before the audit was over.

I was excused and knew what my immediate task was... look for an additional account clerk in the application file. I stopped at Trish’s desk to ask her to get me the application folder. Naturally nosy, she asked what I was looking for. Since she was the one who usually accepted applications I told her, hoping to save time. I remember her looking up at me and stating “I’ve got one!” She didn’t even get up but reached behind her and handed me an application. I scanned it quickly and saw that the person was a college graduate and had worked for the administration doing bookkeeping while a student. Trish saw my reaction and then, with a smile on her face, told me that I’d missed her by about ten minutes. I immediately took the application upstairs to the examiner for her review. As I walked into the board room I saw her bending at the waist over a box on the floor. The woman was in her 40’s but fairly trim. The VPL wasn’t much but at least it was something.  It wasn’t long after that before I got the OK to proceed.

I,  almost unbelievably, was able to reach her that afternoon. She agreed to come back and promised to be there before 5pm. Janice was the woman’s name. Nothing to look at and a little overweight, she did present herself well. She was married to a Lieutenant in the Air Force who had just been assigned to the local air base just down the road. She wasn’t looking for a long time permanent position because her husband’s assignment wasn’t expected to be an extended one. However, she wasn’t happy with the salary that I’d proposed citing her college degree. I told her that I’d have to take it up with “the powers that be” and would call her the next day. Fortunately, I was able to catch Bert as he was leaving that night and showed him the application. He liked what he saw and when told about her concerns with the salary he said he should be able to work something out. He told me to have the salaries of all three ladies presently in the department on his desk in the morning. It was around 10am when I got a call from Bert and he gave me a dollar number to offer the lady. From my conversation with her I wasn’t sure she’d accept it but I called and gave it to her. To my great surprise she responded with a “When can I start?” answer.

Bert had let me know that he’d called Betts and the other two women in to his office and explained that the examiners wanted to see some changes in the accounting area in the way of personnel but making it clear that the bank was pleased with their performance. He told them that if the bank didn’t respond to the examiner’s suggestions they would mandate what would have to take place. He told them about Janice and that there would be a positive adjustment in their salaries effective when she started.

Over the two days I’d spent more time on the second floor than I usually did in a week. J J was going “nuts” wanting to know what was going on. He prided himself as always being “in the know” and I was having fun avoiding him. Once the woman accepted the position I let him know about her. That just set him off on a tangent. He’d been complaining about needing another clerk in his department for a while and hadn’t been able to convince Bert that it was necessary. I, personally, felt that he was “empire building“ so showed no sympathy I was still miffed that right after his hire he’d been able to persuade Edgar, the president that had hired him, to let him have a secretary since Hobie, Bret and I had to share one.

Speaking of J J's secretary, Lynne, there had been some "talk" about how much time she spent in his office with the door closed. J J's excuse was that the area right outside his office was the waiting area for the public and when he was dictating letters to mortgage customers he was dealing with personal information. I'd let it slide as I had some "issues" of my own that could prove to be somewhat embarrassing but it was in the back of my mind.

To be continued...