CONTINUING... surprises & changes (Part 139p)

CONTINUING... Surprises & changes...(Part 139p)

On the way to work Monday morning I’ll admit I was a bit concerned about the special Board of Trustees meeting that had been called that afternoon to chose the exterior design for the new branch office. Walking across the lobby on my way to my desk I saw Gina setting up her teller’s station. The staff had received  word that the procedure on her daughter had gone well but I wanted to hear more about it. She was cordial and said that everything had gone according to plan and the doctors told her that the daughter shouldn’t have to undergo any further operations. However, her heart would have to be closely monitored until she reached adulthood. As I had when I talked to her just before the operation I offered any help that was needed but she said she was OK.

I started for my desk and as I approached I saw Bret pacing behind it. The look on his face told me that he had some kind of bad news. Joanie had called in to say that her mother, an invalid, had pneumonia and had just been taken to the hospital. I remember standing there and looking at the empty desk that she’d taken over while Trish was on vacation and realized that Bret and I were going to have added work that day. As I stared at the desk my eye caught a glimpse of Cara who had the first teller station and actually look right down at the desk. I immediately went up to her and asked if she’d be a ‘traffic cop’ for the day. Of course she didn’t know what I meant so explained that without Joanie there would be no one to answer questions when a customer would be directed to the ‘platform’ (where Hobie, Bret and I worked). She agreed which only left the phone as a problem. I had Bret call up to Netta, the switchboard operator, to have her try to ‘filter’ calls to the platform explaining that we were shorthanded.

In truth, the morning went fairly well with one exception. One of our least favorite customers decided they wanted their transaction to be handled ”by someone who knew what they were doing“ and just walked right through the gate and up to Bret’s desk. I can remember wondering if she weren’t related to Phyllis, my new neighbor. At lunchtime, Bert, the president, stopped by my desk on his way out and told me to go up to the Board room and lay out the three branch office renderings on the table. That way Board members could basically see them all at the same time. Bret was at lunch so I had to wait until he returned. I decided to do it before I went to lunch and as soon as Bret showed up I headed for the back stairs and for the Board room.

I’ve written about the area outside the Board room being like a vestibule and the fact that the rest room for the Board members also served as the second floor ladies room. In the past I’d been fortunate, a few times, to get a peek of a few of the older female employees as they were leaving the bathroom and trying to get themselves back together. On this day I got real lucky. It was Moira, the new lady that had been hired for the accounting department, who was trying to straighten herself out. Her back was to me and she had one hand up and under the back hem of her skirt giving me a nice peek at her beige panties. I’d seen Elle do it a time or two when trying to pull her blouse down. I certainly surprised her as she let out a little ‘yelp’. With that we were both embarrassed. I apologized and she sort of brushed it off. I’ll admit that right from the time I first interviewed her I’d wanted to get at least a VPL. This, for sure, was a whole lot better.

I was laying the drawings out on the table when Bert and his secretary, Lena, walked in.There had been a change in plans in that, based upon the motion that had been made at the full Board meeting, there was to be no discussion and the Board members were to just cast a vote for their choice. Lena had a handful of index cards that were to be used as ballots and I was instructed to had one to each member as they walked into the room. Lena also had a small wooden box with a slot in it. I saw the word ”Suggestions“ panted on the front. Out of curiosity I asked where it had come from. Bert laughed and said it had been part of the bank before it was modernized and taken down at that time. No one had used it in years so it wasn’t reinstalled. Now it had a use.

It was my intention to grab a bite to eat when I finished but when I returned to my desk Bret was waiting on a customer and there were two more waiting. I just couldn’t ignore them so stayed. By the time I was finished it was after 2pm and, much to my displeasure, I saw the first of the Trustees arriving for the special meeting. That meant no lunch for me.

By 3pm all but one of the Board members had arrived and were in the room perusing the drawings. The chairman of the branch subcommittee then explained the voting procedure and, to the surprise of the Trustees, were told there would be no discussion as per the motion passed by the Board at their last meeting. After some complaining, the secret ballots were cast. I was charged with counting them and the results confirmed the one that the branch committee had originally presented, eight to two. (Polak Joe was barred from voting due to his censure and one member was absent). My personal reaction to the result was one of disgust... not about the actual choice but the time that was wasted... and the fact that the Trustees had padded their fee income... again!

As soon as I returned to my desk Bret asked to meet with me in private. There was no private place with the present floor plan so I pointed to the space behind Hobie’s desk. It was the second time that day that he’d greeted me with a frown on his face. Quite a while back I posted how there was an association of ten banks that were located on the fringe areas of the city that the bank belonged to. Four of them were located in the County but were far enough apart (geographically) so as to not to be in competition with each other. In fact, the four banks worked together to ward off competition from commercial banks, savings and loan associations and credit unions. Bret had become good friends with a junior officer of the one of the banks and had received a call from him that afternoon. The call was to inform him that one of our employees had come in to apply for a job the previous week. Knowing the location of that bank and that Gina had been off for the whole week Bret didn’t have to tell me it was... Gina.

To be continued...