HOT, HOT, HOT... in many ways Part 135k)

HOT, HOT, HOT... in many ways (Part 135k)

That Monday was also the first day back at the bank for Mala.  She’d be working in her new position in the accounting area. I let Trish go through all the ‘paperwork’ as, technically, she was a new employee. She’d resigned when she left to have her baby so it was somewhat like starting all over again. Seeing her stirred some long latent thoughts I’d had about the teller line. When she was a teller she was, by far, the fastest one we had. Cara was good and so was Gina but headed into the ‘busy period’ I’d been quite concerned about the current batch of tellers being able to handle the heavy lobby traffic. There was one teller who’d just barely finished her training and another with only a few month’s experience. Neither had been exposed to large lines of customers. On top of that was my continuing dilemma over Letitia, the older woman who’d been given the title of Head Teller because of her longevity and not because she was good at the job. I did recognize her value to the bank in that she knew just about every customer and made them feel welcome. But... that was also the problem. Customers would wait in her line just to chat with her. I about had a fit when I found her exchanging cooking recipies one day. Her personality was such that she couldn’t bring herself, as Head Teller, to tell someone to do something. When I arrived at the bank some two years prior I found the group of tellers (mostly the ‘Polish Mafia’) ignoring any direction that she gave (which wasn’t much). After I’d been there a few months I spoke to Hobie about the situation and he didn’t want to talk about it. I’d made some casual remarks about possibly making a change there but was told that she had an “in” with many of the Trustees and they would fight it, and it probably wouldn’t be worth it in the long run.

Mala would’ve been the perfect one for the Head Teller position. When doing something with Letitia was turned down I still wouldn’t let the idea die. During the Spring I’d come up with the idea of a new position... Chief Clerk, to handle the detail work like scheduling and special assignments, things that burdened both Bret and I. I ran the idea past Trish and she thought it might ‘fly’. However, when I suggested Cara her eyes popped out of her head. She and Cara were best friends and her reaction surprised me. She went on to explain that Cara was very much the same as Letitia when it came to dealing with employees, especially those that she considered friends. After hearing that I put the idea aside.

I’d pretty much decided that the only way to have any ‘traction’ with Hobie on the subject was to use empirical data. I asked Bret to track all teller activity for the ‘busy period’... primarily the number and type of transactions that each handled each day for the whole eight days. In my mind I knew Letitia would be the one with the lowest numbers. However, my visual observations about her performance over the previous two years had fallen on deaf ears so I felt that this was my best chance. Just watching the ebb and flow of the lobby traffic up to then had given me a clear indication that Gina and Cara carried the bulk of activity. But, now I was hoping that raw data would be what was needed. Added to that was the fact that I’d seen Gina step up a couple of times with helpful (and logical) suggestions. With Cara out of contention by what Trish had shared with me, Gina was the most logical one and Letitia could keep her title and not lose face.

When the lobby doors closed Lillian, Fran, Bret and I set about to clear the lobby of all vestiges of the new account/gift campaign. The girls had the up to date information on the total new accounts opened as well as the inventory of the remaining gifts. Bret and I had a friendly wager ($1) on the number of accounts opened... Bret had ventured 650 and I took a conservative 525. It was 455. We weren’t even close. The immediate problem was what to do with the over 150 picnic coolers that were left over since we couldn't return them. They were large and took up considerable space. We’d shipped back a gross of the tool kits and what was left really didn’t take up much room. As we moved things around the conversation turned to the success of the blankets. Most of the two gross the trustees had ordered were gone. Both Lillian and Fran felt the same as Bret and I... it made no sense, especially in the Summer.

When we’d pretty much finished up Lillian want over to the bottom of the stairs, squatted down and reached under the last step. I was out in the lobby, kind of surveying the area now without the gift display and tables and thinking how bare it looked. Bret was over by the public rest room door and I happened to glance his way. I saw both his eyes bulge out of his head for a second and then watched him turn away, coughing. My first thought was that he was choking on something. I headed in his direction and as I did Lillian stood up. I got to him and asked if he was OK and he brushed me away saying he’d talk to me later.

By then it was almost time to go home. I excused both the girls early, reminding them they would have new jobs the next day. Lillian looked excited but Fran had somewhat of a fearful look on her face. I thanked them both for a job well done and unlocked the back door. As I watched the two of them walking across the parking lot I still couldn’t believe that I’d not even had a hint of a peek from Fran even with her short dresses and skirts. I also had a feeling that Lillian would provide a fair amount of ‘excitement’ in the days to come.

I caught up with Bret and asked him what had happened over by the stairs. He had a sheepish grin on his face and hesitated a bit before admitting that he'd had "the most perfect panty view of his life". Of course I had him fill me in on what he'd seen. I'd had a good idea that he was a 'panty man' for quite a while but was reluctant to go anywhere with it because I'd had a 'panty relationship' with his wife back before he'd met her but when she lived at my grandfather's house. However, I decided to take this opportunity to go a little further and, knowing he had a 'thing' for Gina, told him about a couple of the 'views' I'd had of her panties. There was no comparing Lillian to Gina, in any way, so his eyes really lit up. I'll admit I played them up a bit, just to watch his reaction. What it did do was to give me the opportunity to run my idea of creating the new position, Chief Clerk, and putting Gina in it, with him. His reaction was very positive but I was a bit concerned that it might be because he liked her so challenged him on it. He responded that she'd waited on the most customers so was a good choice. But... I had to still get permission from Hobie to create the position.

To be continued...