BACK TO REALITY... Same ole, same ole (Part 165f)

BACK TO REALITY… Same ole, same ole (Part 165f)

At work, I knew it was only a matter of time before Jerry would be part of a conversation. I’d been avoiding bringing his name up and would’ve liked to have made through that whole week without having to deal with him. As you know, in life we all have to deal with people who ‘march to a different drummer’. What, to me, was the most annoying thing about Jerry was when talking to him he would verbally acknowledge that he understood what you were telling him to do and then he’d go do it his way… and get out of it by saying that he’d misunderstood. While I was away Hobie had Bret get in touch with him to get some activity numbers. When he presented them they weren’t what he was asked for. When Hobie called him out on it he swore he did what Bret had asked for. When I heard about it from Bret I did what I wan’t supposed to do… and that was get on Jerry’s ‘case’. The first thing Jerry did was to call Hobie to complain about me. Naturally Hobie called me over to his area to discuss it. As soon as Hobie started I bolted away and went to get Bret. That didn’t set too well with Hobie but I forewarned Bret what would be happening. I took a little heat but this time I stood my ground and pointedly asked Hobie if he ever asked Bret just what he’d instructed Jerry to do. I don’t think he answered but I then told Bret to repeat, to the best of his ability, what Jerry’s instructions were.

Long story short, Hobie admitted that he should’ve gone to Bret right away when he realized the information wasn’t formatted in the way he wanted. He’d just called Jerry. I remember standing in front of Hobie’s desk sort of pacing. I honestly remember thinking that I should keep my mouth shut… but I didn’t. Even though Hobie had warned me to “lay off” Jerry I just couldn’t take his incompetence. I know it was unfair of me to try to get Bret involved but I did and asked him to give some recent examples of Jerry not following procedures. He was able to get out a few before Hobie stood up and told us to both stop. Even though we were in Hobie’s area which was located under the stairs to the second floor and everything that was said could be heard upstairs, he told us that he agreed, in principle, with us, but Jerry was there to stay… and that we (Bret and I) had but two choices… stay or go. It was very, very clear that he was serious. He, still standing, gave us pretty much the same spiel I’d heard before. I probably took a few deep breaths before I spoke again and it was to ask how we, Bret and I, could operate in such a bizarre workplace landscape. The words from Hobie’s mouth came out like bullets… “Find a way!” Bret was really concerned as we walked back to our desks. All I could do was to apologize to him explaining that Jerry had ‘thrown him under the bus’ on the information request and that I was trying to make sure that Jerry got the blame. I know we stood there talking for a few minutes but about what, I have no idea.

Trish waited until I was seated at my desk before approaching me with a batch of employment applications in her hand. I was in no mood to go over them at that moment but did ask why she had them. I know she had to know that both Bret and I were upset but she sat down in the side chair at my desk anyway. She motioned for me to come closer so she could whisper something to me. As I said, I was in no mood for this sort of thing and told her to speak up. Then, surprisingly, she asked Bret if he could leave his desk for a few minutes. I remember him making some sort of face questioning, without words, why. But get up he did. Trish, in a very quite voice said we had to get a temporary replacement for J J’s secretary, Lynn. Now it was my turn to have a questioning look on my face. Trish didn’t answer my direct question of “Why?” but said it was a temporary thing and laid a few applications she’d picked out in front of me. Reviewing applications, at that point in time, was not what I wanted to do and told her I’d get to them before leaving for the day. She wasn’t happy with that but as she stood up Joanie called to her. I watched as she walked over to the entry gate to the platform and saw a very cute young woman standing there.

Right from the time I got involved with the personnel function at the bank I’d had Trish make sure that everyone who walked in the door looking for a job filled out an application. Then, if I had a bit of free time I’d do a quick interview with that person. The reason… I wanted to put a  ‘code’ on the application for future reference. It was fairly simple… a ‘+’ meant this was someone I’d want to see again. A ‘-‘ meant someone who, if necessary, would be called back for another look. A ‘?’ meant, no way Jose! With time I’d been letting Trish do that preliminary interview. From just looking at this woman I knew I wanted to sneak a peek at her background. Trish ushered her to her desk and I made a point of observing her actions. Actually, it was a good thing as it got my mind off the  ‘beat down’ I’d just taken from Hobie. I made a guess that she was probably around 25 or so and hoped that she had some relevant experience, even if it meant working under the resident “wolf”, J J.

With that thought in mind I grabbed the applications that Trish had given to me and took a quick look at the experience they each had. To fill Lynn’s position, typing was paramount and stenographer’s experience was a plus. None of them had both. Aside from that there was nothing to disqualify any of them as they all had some clerical experience. Looking at the young woman at Trish’s desk again, I liked what I saw. A cute, round face with her brown hair cut to just above her shoulders. In spite of mini skirts that were much in vogue hers was just above her knees. Sitting there I noticed she seemed a bit nervous. She was sitting forward in the side chair and would occasionally ouch forward a little more and then would slide back. When she relaxed and went back she would open her knees up a bit… enough for my heart to flutter a bit… but not enough to see anything. At this point I had to have the patience to wait to look at the application and to talk with Trish.

The first thing Trish said was “definitely NOT for J J…”. I hadn’t even seen the application but I knew what she meant. She and Joanie had had many conversations about her time working under J J and Joanie told her she was “thankful” she’d been “rescued” from the mortgage department. When Trish had shared that information with me it made me feel really good. But, now I wanted to see what experience was on the application. The shock was in seeing that she was only 20 and her experience was minimal. Trish did say that she wished we had something for her as she had a really nice personality and was willing to try just about anything. After our chat it was time to take a close look at the original applications. By that time my ‘dust up’ with Hobie had faded and I was fully back to work.

To be continued…