ANOTHER YEAR... with new adventures (Part 151j)

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

Leave it that it was a long, trying day. There was nothing Bret or I could do to satisfy the unhappy customers. Everyone was relieved when the last one left the lobby. Fortunately, we had no problems when the tellers went to prove up for the day. We told them that it would definitely be better the next day and I crossed my fingers when I said it.

Elle was a little more ‘frazzled’ than she’d been the previous two days but that was understandable. Having a class of 20+ six year olds after they’d just spent the previous three days playing in the snow explained her condition. She did have some good news. The principal added another week to her schedule. As I remember it that was about $120 net to us. I still hadn’t told Elle about the pending return of the retirement monies. I was waiting to find out how much it was hoping that there would be enough for us to take a special trip to celebrate our 10th anniversary. I knew if I mentioned either to Elle she’d go ‘nuts’ and then, if there wasn’t enough, she’d be extremely disappointed. I was now impatiently waiting for the special Board meeting on Wednesday hoping that I’d have an answer.

I don’t have any recollection of that next day but I definitely remember how long that Wednesday was. The normal Board meetings usually ran from 3pm to somewhere between 4:30pm and 5pm. Mike (the messenger/custodian) would wait until 5:30pm to let them out the door and if there were any laggards I’d handle the chore. Trish, Bret and I were the only ones to know what was on the meeting agenda and as 5pm approached we gathered together wondering what would be the outcome. Bret was especially interested in the reason for the radio station owner to be there. I remember him stating, emphatically, that he hoped that the Board didn’t ”cave in“ to the owner’s wife about the parking and added that he hoped she never set foot inside the bank again. I felt the same but kept my thoughts to myself. Ironically, he showed up right around that time and we watched him disappear into the elevator. Intrigue, for sure!

Trish left a little after 5pm. Bret stayed until a little before 6pm. As soon as he left I called Elle to tell her the meeting was still going on. I didn’t expect her to be happy about it but I hoped my calling would temper her disappointment. I don’t remember what I did to kill time but when I heard the elevator motor running I made myself look busy. It was two of the Trustees along with the radio station owner. I got to the back door quickly and let them out. I got no recognition from either of the Trustees as they seemed to be fawning over the station owner. I stayed by the back door and it wasn’t long before there was a procession of Trustees headed my way. The only one who made an effort to acknowledge me was Gee, the attorney but he didn’t offer anything of importance. I was hoping that Hobie and Bert would soon follow but they didn’t. When it got to be almost 6:30pm I gave up and headed out.

Elle commented on the fact that I was so quiet after I was home. The retirement thing was my primary concern but seeing the two Trustees ‘cozying up’ to the owner of the radio station was troubling. I’d tried to feel Hobie out on just what had transpired back when the decision was made to pull all our advertising but all he’d do was shake his head. It was still bothering me when we headed for bed.

I was up and off to work early hoping for some clarity when Hobie arrived. But it was Bert (the president) who arrived first. I never considered approaching him and was shocked when he headed my way. The first thing he said was that he’d make an announcement about the retirement money at 3pm and asked that I ”get the word out“. I figured that would be it but he went on to ask that I get the ad agency over to the bank as soon as possible and then walked away. Maybe if I hadn’t spent so much time thinking about the whole radio station situation I wouldn’t have come up with the idea that maybe the radio station owner had apologized and there was going to be some sort of apology.

It turned out that I was right... to a degree. The owner was willing to run a special ”mea culpa“ on each morning newscast for a week as well as paying for a half page ad in the local paper. Another thing was that he would open a personal account for $10,000 (which was the maximum for insurance coverage). But the really big thing was that he guaranteed that his wife would no longer park her car in our lot and if we saw that she did we were to have it towed. The only thing the bank had to agree to was in putting our ads back on the air. A win, win situation. When Bret was told about the wife and her car he laughed and said he wanted to be the one to call the towing company if she ever did park in our lot.

Burt held the meeting with the employees in the lobby. Almost everybody was there when he came down the stairs and they cheered as he did... but not for long. He informed us that it would be about a week until we’d be getting our money... that there had been a misunderstanding about how it had to be distributed. He went on to say that the bank had understood that it could issue the checks but had just found out that the retirement system had to do it. I can’t say that the looks on the faces of most of the employees showed disappointment but it wasn’t one of joy either. He apologized and promised that each employee would be given a statement of the amount he or she was to receive by the time they went home Friday night. That brought out some smiles... at least it did it to me.

Never one to be satisfied with only half the Board meeting information I sought out Hobie on what was happening with the new branch. All he’d say was that the contractor had agreed to a performance guarantee and that the goal was for us to open no later than July 1. That seemed reasonable to me. Onward!

To be continued...