ANOTHER YEAR... new adventures (Part 151g)

ANOTHER YEAR... new adventures (Part 151g)

The ride in to work wasn’t really that bad. I remember seeing a number of cars abandoned on the side of the road with snow from the plows almost burying them. As expected, the roads in the township where the bank was located were in very bad shape. (I could write a whole post on that... but I won’t.) When I went to turn in the back entrance of the parking lot at the bank I found that it hadn’t been plowed. What made it really bad was that the wind had created a snow drift that ran from the street back towards the river. I drove past and managed to get turned around and then headed for the Main Street entrance. There, I could see that someone had driven in towards the back and was now stuck in the snowdrift. I stopped my car at the entrance and walked to the car in the drift finding no one in it. All I could think of was “What more could go wrong?” I was about to find out as I found my car was now stuck as well.

Problem one; Bret had called the guy who was supposed to plow for us and got his wife. She had no idea where he was. Problem two; the town had an ordinance mandating the sidewalks be cleared of snow and ours had over a foot in some places. Mike, the messenger/custodian, hadn’t come in which left Bret and I as the only males there. Since I had on ‘old’ clothes I volunteered. There was still about a half hour until the doors were supposed to open so I decided to just make a path the width of the shovel. My guess is that we’d had between nine to ten inches in all and it was a heavy wet snow. By the time I was back inside I was wet with perspiration. I found there were now eight of us there including Bret and I. Cara and Alice, two of the tellers, were there as well as Lorie. It impressed me that she was there as I knew where she lived and it was quite a hike even when the weather was good. Bette from accounting and Lena, the president’s secretary, were also there and the only ones upstairs. That was enough staff to operate and now the question was just how many customers would show up.

Both Bert and Hobie called in with Hobie saying that if he were really needed he could probably get there by 11am. When we unlocked the doors there was only one person there. He laughed and said he just wanted to see “who the ‘nuts’ were” that would make it to work in such conditions. He told us that the city, 85 miles to the West, didn’t have anywhere near as much snow as we did. To start, I told Lorie that it would be a good time to get the names and addresses entered on line for the new accounts we’d opened during the week. At least that would give Cara and Alice something to do. Bret and I ended up being sort of like switchboard operators because Netta, the telephone operator, wasn’t in. I’d instituted a protocol to have all incoming calls after 5pm be routed to my phone since I was usually there until 5:30pm or so. Netta and Lynne, J J’s secretary, were the only ones who knew how to operate the old PBX system with all the wires and plugs that went with it. So, we were stuck answering the phone. Both Trish’s phone and Bret’s phone would also ring so we had three that could be answered. That gave us a little latitude as far as moving around was concerned.

We got a lot of calls asking if we were open and a few from employees asking if they should try to come in. I told them to let their conscience be their guide. I don’t remember exactly when I got the call from Gee, the Trustee/attorney that had taken a liking to me, asking for J J. When I told him he wasn’t in he asked if I could do him a favor and to go check J J's desk to see if there was a large envelope addressed to him. He stressed that it was quite important. A quick trip up the stairs gave me a chance to glance down Main Street. It was a mess. When the street was plowed the snow was pushed up against the curbs and people were parking out into the street making it almost impossible for traffic to get by. I could also see that many of the businesses had not shoveled the snow from their sidewalks and those who were out and about were actually walking in the street. I ducked into J J’s office and saw his desk was clear. I also checked his secretary’s desk and didn’t see an envelope. I called Gee back and could hear the frustration in his voice when I told him there was no envelope. Then he asked if I would call J J for him to try and track the item down. I said I would but I felt like I’d become his secretary as I placed the call. There was no answer. That was a surprise because with five kids and one still a baby I expected that at least J J’s wife would be home. A bit frustrated myself, I got the idea to call Lynne, his secretary. Same result with no answer. The call back to Gee elicited some verbal frustration and a request/plea for me to continue to try and track J J down.

When the noon siren went off we’d seen about a dozen customers with all of them upset that our parking lot hadn’t been plowed. A call from Bert, the president, informed me that he’d tried to get permission for the bank to close because of the conditions but hadn’t heard back from them. I (and the others) would’ve welcomed that but told him that the five of us on the banking floor were “holding down the fort“ . He suggested that I tell the others to head on home and that those who stayed should leave at 3pm even though it was Friday. He also added that we would get an extra day off. I liked that.

The guy to plow the parking lot showed up a short time later. Before he could start he had to move the two cars that were in the way. That was an ordeal that took almost an hour. By the time he had cleared most of the lot it was 3pm. As soon as the doors were locked Bret and I put the cash drawers in the vault, locked it and let the others head home. I told Bret I’d stay a little longer to answer the phone. Gee called again with desperation in his voice. He explained that the material he needed was for a foreclosure that was scheduled for 4pm at the court house. As bad as conditions were I couldn’t imagine that they’d opened that day. I reported that I’d still not heard from J J. There was a pause and then I heard him ask for me to please go check the drawers in his desk and described the contents that would be inside the envelope. I didn’t like the idea of rummaging around in someone else desk but said I would. As I climbed the stairs I looked at my watch and saw it was almost 3:30pm. Time was running out.

To be continued...