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

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

It was a calculated risk. I knew there were three possible ways Peggy could react to the news... negatively, with her having one of her “crisis” attacks; in a neutral manner with her not really thinking about it: or positively, which was highly unlikely. I was banking on the ‘neutral’ one and my thinking had to do with the panties. For whatever reason she’d been excited about getting new panties right from the time the subject came up. I’d chosen not to pursue her reason(s) more based upon time restraints than being cautious. I’d mentioned that timing was important and my feeling was that the excitement of receiving the panties and the unexpected move to the drive-up coming so close together wouldn’t allow her to work herself up. I was holding my breath as I watched her face looking for a reaction. Nothing. She, with the box of panties clutched to her chest, headed towards the work area. I made a special point of watching her retrieve her cash box and put it in the drawer at the drive-up counter and there was no hesitation at all. I almost couldn’t believe it. As soon as Bret appeared, walking across the lobby, I went out to tell him. I remember him shaking his head in disbelief. Then he sort of muttered something along the lines of “Wait until it’s time to prove up!”. I didn’t disagree but held out hope for the best.

The day went reasonably well. Other than a few ‘pushy’ customers, the lobby traffic was manageable. The beauty of the drive-up window is that the teller only sees one car and is not intimidated by long lines. I, purposefully, stayed back and let Bret be Peggy’s observer. When the window was shut down for the day he let her do her own proof and, miracle of miracles, she did it perfectly. In a way I was surprised by her reaction... there was none. She took her proof sheet over to Letitia and then went back and cleaned up her area. I had a thought she might take a different approach and yell out a “hooray!” or something. Nothing. It took me a few minutes to filter that through my brain and realized that she’d not put any pressure on herself. She just did the same thing she’d been doing at the end of each day since being taken off the lobby window. Initially I was going to congratulate her but quickly realized that might be a negative. I’d planned to talk with Alice, Lillian and Peggy to get their reaction to the volume of transactions they’d all faced but in Peggy’s case decided on a different tack.

I was able to get Lillian and Alice together so that was perfect. Lillian, in her effervescent way, let it be known she loved being able to see and talk to a lot of people ending up asking if the move was going to be permanent. I wished she hadn’t asked because I didn’t have an answer. It didn’t slow her down though and as she walked away announced she was looking forward to the next day. For Peggy, I happened to see her pull the box of panties out from her cabinet under the counter. The timing of my approach was perfect. I asked if she had a chance to peek at the contents and I got a sheepish smile in return. What I didn’t expect was what she told me... that she’d changed panties during her break and was wearing a pair right then and there. That was a rush!

The location of the drive-up window was out of the way of the hustle and bustle of the work area. The negative part of the location was that it was part of the hall to the ladies rest room but almost everybody had gathered their coats and were on their way out the back door. So, the ‘danger’ of having that conversation was diminished. If you remember back a ways, Peggy and I’d discussed methods for her to handle her “crisis” situations by using sanitary pads and a sanitary panty with a plastic crotch. I can’t say it was a reaction when I asked what had happened to them. I do know I wanted to take the words back almost as soon as they had exited my mouth. But, instead of being embarrassed she smiled and said that she hadn’t worn them in over a week. What I said next was pure reaction... “Why?“

As I mentioned before, Peggy’s girlish personality and innocence had started to resurface. With a smile that exuded that she responded that she didn’t think she needed them anymore. All I could do was to smile back at her. By then I’d regained control of my mind and mouth and started to walk away. As I did she reached out and grabbed my arm. I turned and saw her reaching into her coat pocket with her other hand. Then she thrust something towards me. When I heard her say that she hoped it was enough I knew what it was. I really didn’t want to take it but knew that I should. It was somewhat funny when we almost simultaneously said ”Thank you“. I remember looking at her and almost involuntarily saying something like ”So you really like them?“ Her answer was wordless as she nodded her head affirmatively punctuated by a big smile. It was time to go.

By the time we left for home on that Friday evening Bret acknowledged that Peggy had performed better than he had expected. I felt her work was pretty much as I’d hoped. In the morning we’d all be back to start the data conversion. There would be no pressure from customers or from having to do a ‘proof’, just data entry and a lot of it. Driving home I had a really good feeling about Peggy’s future with the bank.

To be continued...