INTERESTING TIMES... A change of Pace (Part 130n)

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

It was mid morning by the time I walked in to the bank. There was little lobby traffic so I assumed that everything was going well. I checked with Bret just to make sure and he told me that Jerene had called in sick. I didn’t think anything of it at first but a little later on asked Trish to check on how many times she’d been out over the past few months. Trish surprised me when she came right back with “Four, since the first of April.” Jerene had been a reliable teller right from the start but there had been some recent “happenings” that had me concerned. I asked Bret if he’d talked with her when she’d called in and he told me that Bert, the president, had taken her call and had passed the information on to him. At that point I let it go.

I was about to leave for my lunch when a call came in for me. It was Bert. On his way home for lunch he’d seen Jerene in a convertible with the top down “cuddled up” (his words) with a young man. He went on to tell me that she’d told him she had something wrong with her stomach and couldn’t keep anything down. Then he told me that I should follow up on it. He really didn’t have to do that because I was already formulating a plan. I immediately called her home and a woman answered. When I asked for Jerene she told me that she was at work. That news made me mad. I was already upset from the earlier situation with the minister so the timing for this wasn’t good. Liz, the bank auditor, was still at her desk so I went to her and told her that I wanted her to do a cash count of Jerene’s cash box. She looked at me with a funny look because it was seldom done without the teller being present. When I told her that she could get Laura to be another witness to go along with me she relented.

We took the cash box up to the Board room and closed the door. There were a number of “hoops” we had to go through to get a copy of Jerene’s box key but once we did it went fairly quickly. The end of day procedure was for the teller to prepare her proof sheet for the next business day. That included a count of just how much of each denomination bill and coin was inside. When Liz finished up I remember hearing a muffled “Uh oh”. I asked what was wrong and she said the box was $40 short. We both agreed that Laura should do another count and when she finished the result was still the same. I called Hobie and he joined the three of us. It only took a few minutes for the decision to be made to terminate her. I remember having mixed feelings. Her problems had only started recently and I remember the last time I’d talked with her she had mentioned having a new boy friend. Bert, when he talked with me earlier, mentioned that she’d been “cuddled up” with a young man when he’d seen her. All I could think of was that her immaturity was the cause.

It was decided not to say anything to anybody that day but to wait until Jerene had been told she was terminated. I, for one, was not looking forward to it because I’d not yet fired anyone. On Friday I got to the bank early and was both surprised and glad that Hobie was there as well. He told me to handle it but he let me know he was available, if needed. Jerene, immature and naive as she was, wasn’t stupid. When she saw me at the back door waiting she pretty much knew what she was facing. Whoever had answered the phone when I’d called her home the previous day had to have told Jerene about it. Without saying anything I just escorted her to the back stairs and on up to the Board room. She was wearing a short skirt and I’m not going to say that she deliberately “flipped” it as she sort of skipped up the stairs but I had the thought she was still trying to “play games” with me.

The conversation was short. I told her about the $40 shortage in her cash box and that her paycheck would be delivered in a matter of minutes, minus the missing money. She made an abortive attempt to explain but I cut her short and told her that we (the bank) could press charges against her but wouldn’t. I also advised her not to try work at another bank, especially in the immediate area. When her paycheck arrived I handed it to her and told her it was time to go. As I looked into her eyes I could see the tears forming but I wasn’t going to be swayed. I escorted her back down the stairs and out the door. She got a few steps away, turned and looked at me one more time. I didn’t respond at all.

The doors had opened for business so there was no chance to call a quick meeting. That made it a bit difficult to get the word out, especially to the tellers. I expected that Gina would be a problem because the two had become friends. I took her aside and explained what had happened. Gina showed her maturity by not sticking up for Jerene and what she’d done. I got the distinct impression that she was truly surprised. The news made it’s way through the whole bank by lunch time. I was on until 6pm and by then it had become pretty much a non item. Before leaving I decided to take one last look at Jerene’s work area. There were a few personal “trinkets” and notes taped to the back of the counter which I removed. Lastly, I opened the drawers that were assigned to her. The top two just held forms and supplies needed for every day use but when I went to the bottom drawer it was locked.

The previous incident with Jerene had involved her leaving that drawer locked after work. The rules were that it was only to be locked during working hours and left open at night. The last thing Jerene did was to give me her keys and I’d turned them over to Liz. Since the cash drawer key was a part of that I knew that she’d locked them in the vault. Standing there I remembered how Ward, the man who ran the company that cleaned the bank, had manipulated the lock the last time to get inside. I wondered if I could do the same. I spent a few futile minutes on my hands and knees until I heard the back door open. Ward would stop by and leave off the materials needed for his crew to do the job each night and I was hoping that it was him. He was just locking the door and leaving when I ran up to it and got his attention. It took less than a minute for the drawer to be open. I told him there had been another incident and that the girl had been terminated. I explained that I didn’t have her key but wanted to make sure that there was nothing of import inside. He just smiled and headed for the door.

I hadn’t thought about what I’d seen in the drawer the last time I’d been in it until I was trying to get the lock open. As I peered inside I saw a sweater, a scarf and a couple of odd gloves... basically the same stuff I’d seen the previous time I’d been in the drawer. I pulled the sweater out and there was what I was hoping would be there... a pair of Carter’s Spanky Pants. I hadn’t touched them the last time but as I reached in to pick them up I rationalized it thinking to myself that I was just cleaning out the drawer for the next person to use it. The heavy creases in the panties where they were folded told me that it’d been a while since Jerene had worn them. Unfolded I could see the slight yellowing of the crotch and one dark brown stain on the leg band, obviously from a leak during a period. I thought about just taking them but, at the last minute, decided to put them aside with the other things and wait to see if Jerene called.

To be continued...