TRANSITIONING... to Autumn (Part 141h)

TRANSITIONING... to Autumn (Part 141h)

It was back to painting for me. I was in a position to see the opening in the hedge and to know if Barbara was on her way over to return Elle’s clothes and to pick up her own. The only thing was... she never did. I accomplished what I’d set out to do and that was to finish the South side of the house. I was admiring my effort when ”Big B“ showed up. I hadn’t talked with him and had left a message with his father. ”B“ thought I wanted to borrow his sailboat again and had brought the sails over. He laughed when I told him what I needed help doing.

When I’d picked up the new (to me) Sunfish sailboat I asked Rex how he stored his two boats for the Winter. He, like me, only had a two car garage and always kept one car in it.  He explained how he stacked the second boat, up side down, on top of the one on his trailer. The boat weighed 120 pounds and Elle was capable of lifting one end of it off the ground and carrying it for a short distance. But to do what Rex had suggested required that one end had to be lifted at least four feet off the ground to get it up on top of the other boat. When ”B“ picked up the back of it he actually had it up over his head and did it effortlessly. It was me who was struggling. I’ve mentioned in earlier posts that ”B“ was the strongest person I knew and he proved it again.

Elle was impressed as she watched and asked ”B“ if he wanted to stay for supper. We both enjoyed his company and he was good with the kids so I was pleased when he said he would. His staying got us caught up on Tina (Sabrina) and Martin. The date for their wedding had been moved to the Saturday right before Christmas. Elle and I hadn’t received an invitation but expected one. However, the date change would put it in conflict with the records conversion to the service bureau at the bank. I didn’t dwell on it because, even though it would be fun to get together with the ”unmarrieds“ as that came to an end, Elle and I weren’t that close to Tina and Martin and the conversion was my responsibility.

”B“ also filled us in on Bebe and Pete. Her parents had been denied the insurance money for the loss of their restaurant because the fire had been caused by their son making explosives in the building. They were both working at a restaurant in towards the city and Bebe was still living locally. She was engaged to Pete but no date had been set for a wedding. The real surprising news was that Jon (the milkman) had let it be known his sister was also engaged. The guy, supposedly. was an heir to a major corporation.  I’d never had anything to do with her with the exception of back when ”B“ and I were working on his stock car at the family Summer house during the Winter. She and some guy had come out to the closed up house for a tryst and we’d seen the evidence and had a bit of a ‘run-in’ with her. She’d seemed like a total bitch. ”B“ thought it funny that she’d picked up a rich guy and ‘bamboozled’ him into getting engaged to her. By the time ”B“ left it was late and Elle had gone to bed. 

I was tired and thought I’d go right to sleep but, for some strange reason I found myself thinking of Lisa and Martin’s wedding date. As I said, I wasn’t upset about missing it so I couldn’t figure out why it was on my mind. Then it came to me... doing the conversion at that time was going to be a monumental problem due not only to it being in the ”busy period“ at the bank but also the Christmas holiday. When that thought came to me it woke me up, completely, and I got up and went down stairs. I got a calendar out and studied it. I was mad that I hadn’t realized it before. By the time I’d worked up a new schedule it was after 3am but I still wasn’t sleepy. In my mind the only way the conversion would work with the least amount of what I’d deemed as ‘people problems’ (staff and customer) was the third weekend in December. But, that weekend presented another problem... availability of the new teller machines. I’d contacted the manufacturer about moving the original delivery date up and hadn’t yet received a confirmation that it was possible. This new change would move it up another week.

There was another problem that I’d put off thinking about. In drawing up the preliminary plans of who would be responsible for doing what among the tellers I was troubled by not having anybody that I felt comfortable in designating as a leader. Actually, I did have one but... it was Gina, but... she would be working for another bank at that time. I definitely remember leaning back in my chair and wondering if I hadn’t ‘shot myself in the foot’ when I’d arranged for her to meet with her new employer. I sat there thinking about it for a while and then decided to go to bed.

I was apprehensive when I got together with Hobie to go over my new plan. I think what had me the most concerned was that after I started laying it out for him was that he didn’t say anything. But it didn’t stop me. When I got through the ‘meat’ of it I asked if I was out of line and, more importantly, if he thought it was doable. Hobie smoked a pipe but not very often. Usually it was when he was troubled by something or other and he got it out right after I asked him.

It was at least five minutes before he spoke. He wasn’t mad but said he was concerned. It appeared to him that I hadn’t fully thought the process though when I’d come up with the idea of moving the conversion from after the first of the new year back to the end of the current year. Measuring his words carefully he instructed me to spend the next two days formulating a ”fail safe” plan. He’d go over it with me and then he’d present it to the service bureau. He assured me that he’d “take the heat” if they said anything. What was funny was that I wasn’t concerned about them. It was the equipment manufacturer. When I told him about that potential problem he said he’d “lean on them” (the service bureau) to make it happen. At that point I knew what I had to do.

To be continued...