FINISHING OUT THE YEAR... Peggy (Part 146a)

FINISHING OUT THE YEAR... Peggy (Part 146a)

The last mention of Peggy was when I’d asked Gina to work with her before leaving the bank for her new job. It had become painfully obvious that Peggy was struggling during her training. I’d come to realize that I’d made a number of mistakes when it came to hiring her. I’d based my decision more on ‘heart’ than on experience. I’d gotten to know her when she was baby sitting for Elle and I back when we lived in the mobile home park. She had a way with kids and was comfortable around adults. But... and it was a big ‘but’, she was still in high school at the time with no problems or responsibilities. Since graduation she’d gotten married, had a baby, lost her husband in an auto accident and had to return to living with her parents. I’d had very little contact with since her return and when her father, a friend of mine, had asked about finding a position for her I told him that as soon as a vacancy occurred I’d consider it. With the pending loss of Gina, to me, she'd been the obvious answer. However, as I came to find out, Peggy came with ‘baggage’.

When it came time to pick someone to train her I didn’t have a lot of choices. Gina was the obvious one but I’d tapped her for the name and address project. I knew that Cara didn’t like doing it but she had the most experience so she became ‘it’. One of the things I knew about Cara was that she didn’t have a lot of patience and what little she had was exhausted by Peggy. I had a couple of meetings with Cara about Peggy and her curt observation was that she lacked concentration. Then I met with Peggy. She didn’t have much to say but promised to try harder. That’s when I turned her over to Gina hoping she'd get through to her.

The next step was in where to place Peggy on the teller line. I had two openings... one next to Cara in Jacqui’s old spot or down the line in Gina’s place. After conferring with Bret we decided that it was probably best to get her away from Cara and put her next to Janet. Even though Janet didn’t even have a whole year of experience at least she had a calm demeanor about her. It only took a few weeks to see what Cara had been talking about when she'd brought up Peggy’s lack of concentration. As I’ve described in previous posts, the last thing a teller had to do each day was to make sure she was “in proof” or, that all the debits matched all the credits. I don’t remember the number of days that she didn’t “strike” a proof during that period of time but it was noticeable. The bank had a rule that the tellers could not leave until the “general proof” was struck. That's when all the proof sheets were added together to make sure they were all in balance. With Peggy’s problems there had been a number of days that it was after 5pm before the proof was struck. That did not set well with the others and some had started to get vocal about it and Peggy in particular.

The afternoon/night I remember was particularly hard on Peggy. Normally, the tellers, after proving individually, would turn in their proof sheets to Letitia for a consolidated proof. As you know, I had some serious concerns about Letitia, primarily about her speed... or lack thereof. As I remember it the clock was approaching 5:30pm or so and the tellers were hovering in and around Letitia’s area making ‘asides’ about Peggy. That wasn’t helping the situation. Peggy was standing away from the group and it was obvious that she was very upset. When Letitia pushed the “total” key on the adding machine and the numbers didn’t match the reaction was a collective moan. Liz, the auditor, stepped up and took all the sheets. I watched her flip though them and pull one out and walk back to her desk. In a matter of minutes she was calling for Peggy to come over to her. As soon as Liz made the call some of the other tellers started making nasty comments. I watched Peggy stand there for a few seconds and then make a dash for the ladies room.

The most common error that would be found on a proof sheet was a transposition. For example, the teller would write down 45 when meaning to write a 54, If a difference could be divided by 9 there was a good chance that was the problem. In this case it was... but there were three of them. That made finding them difficult. Liz wanted to ask Peggy about some of her entries but she remained in the ladies room. Laura was sent to fetch her and it was obvious she’d been crying when she appeared. Once the errors were corrected the other tellers were allowed to leave but the looks that were sent her way were not complimentary. Even as late as it was I asked Peggy to stay.

It was difficult for both of us. I asked her to have a seat but she said she preferred to stand. I didn’t think that much of it and got right to the point... and it was to ask what was wrong. I suggested that she was worried about the baby and she stood there shaking her head in a negative manner. At that point I reached way back into our history. I told her to forget that I was her “boss” and go back to when she was spending a fair amount of time with Elle, I and our kids. I reminded her that she had shared some personal things with me and that I hoped she would again. That brought a bit of a smile to her face and seemed to relax her a bit. I, again, suggested sitting and she just stood there holding on to the back of the side chair.

Having reminded her about just a few years ago I looked at her and had a hard time realizing she wasn’t yet 20 years old. She’d gained weight with the baby but, with the traumatic experience of losing her husband right after her birth, she’d retained some of it. She’d not only been pretty but also ’fun’. Looking at her standing there it was hard to picture it. She was shifting from foot to foot but not saying anything. I was about to tell her that it just wasn’t working out for either of us when she finally moved around to the front of the chair and sat down. She was wearing a tweed a-line skirt that came to just above her knees. When she sat she was right on the edge of the seat with probably only a part of one cheek on it. I was anxious to hear what she had to say.

To be continued...