FINISHING OUT THE YEAR... Conversion (Part 147b)

FINISHING OUT THE YEAR...  Conversion (Part 147b)

Gracie (the training person from the service bureau) arrived about the time we were ready to send off our first transmission. I looked at her as ‘insurance’ in case there was a foul-up thinking that she’d be able to keep everybody calm. Either she hadn’t gotten the message to dress comfortably or had chosen to ignore it because she had on a nice blouse and plaid skirt. Each time I’d seen her since staying over at her house when I went for training I couldn’t help but worry about the panties I’d taken from her cellar. However, nothing had ever come of it. The guy from their computer room (I don’t remember his name) who had overseen the tests the day before had arrived right before she did and as they met he got her up to date on where everything stood. I let her give the signal to start processing and stood back and watched.

Albie had told me that it would be slow going for our tellers at first but they’d get into a rhythm. As far as time was concerned the saving grace for us was that the only transmission coming back from the data center was a code to let us know that what we’d sent had been accepted by the computer. I’d rented stools for all the tellers as the seats that had been a part of the old configuration of the counter had been removed to accommodate the new machines. As I looked down the line there wasn’t much to see. It had been cool in the building as the heat wasn’t turned on until I arrived and a few of the girls/women had on sweaters so any chance of a DP (down pants) was reduced if not eliminated. As I previously mentioned, I asked Lorie to set up a schedule so everybody could rotate and by mid morning everyone had posted for at least an hour. Jaz had brought in a radio but for some reason the only station we could get was the local one with less that appealing music for the younger set. However, by the time we thought about lunch everybody, including Janet, seemed to be in a good mood.

We’d taken orders for sandwiches and Bret and Lorie went over to the luncheonette when the noon siren went off. I took the opportunity to tell Gracie about the schedule that I’d worked up. I showed how, using the information Albie had given me, I anticipated we’d be finished by 6pm the next day. I mentioned that we’d be back on New Year’s day to check the numbers and to see that we were in balance with the general ledger. As I explained what we’d be doing she gave me this puzzled look and asked why we weren’t checking the journals produced by each teller machine. It didn’t register at first and when she saw that she led me over to the machine Alice was using. She told her to stop for a minute and then proceeded to lift a cover and pointed to this roll of paper. I swear I’d never seen it before. In any case, she removed it and asked to see the ledger cards that had been the source documents. I’d told Lorie to have those who weren’t posting return them to their normal storage place. I remember standing there and feeling almost as embarrassed as I would’ve been if I was naked.

By that time the sandwiches were back so I called for a ‘time out’ and explained that there was going to be a change in plans. I remember hearing a ‘groan’ but told them it was a good change and might reduce the time we’d have to come in on New Year’s day. That brought forth a few somewhat muffled “yea’s’. The change entailed having the machine journals removed before they went back to posting and then, each of us who was not actively entering data, working in pairs, would read back the entries to check against the ledger cards.

We never should’ve stopped for lunch or so it seemed. As soon as we went back to posting there was a problem with the telephone lines. Between Gracie and the guy from the computer room they kept me calm and we were soon back entering data. It would be impossible to describe what the work area looked like but suffice it to say it was a disaster and finding a space to check the posting journals back to the ledger cards was difficult. Gracie and Lorie ended up choosing the lobby stairs because they could spread their materials out. I, working at my desk with Lillian, was struggling to keep the piles I was working on, in order. It really was easy work with one person reading the numbers from the ledger cards and the other person checking off the correct entries off on the journal. I noticed Bret standing behind the teller counter waving for me to come over to where he was standing. I thought there was a problem with a machine. It wasn’t. From where he was standing Bret had a perfect upskirt view of Gracie who had taken a position on a higher step than Lorie. we were about 15 feet away but there was no doubt that she was wearing white panties. As I looked I had a feeling I knew just what they looked like up close and personal.

After we’d scarfed down a couple of pizzas for supper I went around and made an estimate of just how much we’d accomplished. There was no way to be accurate but based upon the ledgers still in their respective bins we were over half way through them with two hours to go. The journal checking was moving right along and I think if we’d realized that we could’ve used the journals right from the beginning we would have been almost equal to the posting... but we weren’t. Optimistically, I was hoping that we might get done on New Years day in just a few hours. I knew that Liz, the auditor and Bette, the accountant, would still have to sign off on the project but it was something to strive for.

As eight o’clock approached I had a good feeling about where we were. Everybody was tired but not complaining. Gracie had been a good cheerleader all day and even pitched in with doing some posting as well. The one constant message she gave was that once the data was entered their lives, as tellers, would be much easier. To finish up for the day Lorie had taken it upon herself to collect all the machine journals that had been checked and was placing them in the fire safe. I happened to walk by as she was doing it and it was obvious that it was going to be a tight fit to get them all in so I stopped to help her. As I did looked down and there was my first DP of the day. A pair of light blue panties with an encased elastic waistband. Up to that time I was only aware of three manufacturers that used that style... VanRaalte; Kayser and SeamPrufe, all quality panties. Patience had paid off and gave me something to look forward to in the future with Lorie.

To be continued...