LIFE GOES ON… and on… (Part 171 l)
I wish I’d had an idea of what
I was facing when I walked in. I didn’t know exactly what Bert and
Hobie had planned for their meeting about Jerry and I certainly had no
idea of what they had just discussed. As I’ve mentioned in prior posts,
Bert was a very laid back person with always (almost) the hint of a
smile on his face. It was the same this time so I couldn’t read his
expression to know if their discussion had gone well or not. I’d given
Hobie my only copy of my idea to have Betsy and Mae sort of share the
number two position at the branch and reducing Jerry’s responsibilities.
I certainly hadn’t done the ’numbers’ as far as what their combined
salaries might be. So, for me to make a serious ‘pitch’ I was like a
gladiator going to battle without armor. I won’t draw this out and just
say that I focused on relieving Jerry of some of his duties that were
critical (in the sense of regulatory oversight) the bank would be in a
better position come the next audit examinations. My focus was on Bert
and not having him interrupt me sort of emboldened me and I began to
move beyond the Jerry/audit focus and into his day to day dealings with
the main office and what we had to endure while dealing with him.
Luckily, I noticed Hobie giving me a signal to back off. When I did, he
brought the conversation back to the original topic and gently to
conclusion. I didn’t know what to expect and there was a short period of
silence. Finally, Bert spoke and directed me to come up with some
numbers as far as salary costs would go. There were some other minor
things he wanted but as I exited the room I was truly excited.
I
stopped at Cliff’s restaurant to ask for the money he’d offered as
sponsorship for the race car. Being early in the week he claimed he
didn’t have that much cash on hand but offered $300 with the rest to be
picked up next week. I knew Cliffy wouldn’t be happy but I was because
that $300 was enough to buy us four new tires. Back at home there were
some messages for me that I knew had to do with the upcoming school
board election. I’d never agreed to run and I’d not turned it down but
now I had another excuse to do so… Elle’s pregnancy. Another call had
been about the rules sign I was painting for the country club. Their
season started at the end of April and I’d promised to have it done by
then. It wasn’t even half way finished. Also coming up was my monthly
visit to the city for the personnel management committee meeting and the
pending stock car racing season on top of that. I’d also be part of
opening the sailing club up in late May… and the list went on… and on.
The answer was going to be an emphatic “No!” as far as the school board
was concerned. I returned the calls of Bob and Jon and had to listen to
their pleas of how much they needed me to support their agenda but I was
unwavering. On the positive side, what the calls did accomplish was to
prompt me to get back to the basement to work on finishing the sign.
As
I understood it, Jerry was supposed to meet with Bert and Hobie to
discuss the audit report the next day. It didn’t happen and I wasn’t
told about it or why. I spent the morning expecting Jerry to walk across
the lobby heading for the elevator but, as of the noon siren, no Jerry.
After lunch I asked Hobie and he said that meeting had been postponed.
He explained that he and Bert had a discussion about the ramifications
that might occur if they went ahead and did what we’d discussed without
letting the branch committee know of the plan. The members of the
committee had initially been the ones to accept the conditions on hiring
a manager… and subsequently, Jerry. Hobie and Bert were concerned that
it would ‘backfire’ on them. So, Lena (Bert’s secretary), was trying to
arrange to have those committee members come in. I couldn’t comment
because there was always so much ‘back office stuff’ going on that I
knew nothing about I knew I’d only get myself in trouble. I stood there
listening to Hobie and was immediately thinking that any chance for
approval was was now gone.
I can’t even begin to go through all
the machinations that took place over the following days and to try and
fit these ‘parts and pieces’ in with my life at that time is impossible
so I’ll try to put this ‘thread’ to sleep. I’ll try and condense this
part and tell you most of what I’m writing was gleaned, in bits and
pieces, over a period of time. There were numerous sub committee
meetings of the branch and audit committees. It ended up they called a
special Board meeting to go over the whole thing. Think of the situation
in Washington DC right now… two groups… diametrically opposed. On the
one hand was the group of Trustees that recognized Jerry was a complete
mistake and, on the other, the group that was afraid to do anything
about him for fear of jeopardizing the application for the next branch.
The end result was in having Gee, the local Trustee/attorney and Jay,
the new Trustee/attorney who was on the Board to represent the area
where the branch was located, explain to the full Board the risk the
bank was taking if the branch deficiencies identified in the audit were
not remedied. It accomplished a truce between the two factions which
allowed the idea of keeping Jerry on but reducing his responsibilities
to be considered. The two attorneys were to work together with Hobie to
create a contract for Jerry that would clearly outline his reduced
duties and responsibilities. (It really pissed me off to not be included
in this process.) Once agreed to by Jerry it would leave the door open
“to hiring adequate staff to see that all required standards would be
met.” Jerry would retain his officer title and current salary. The
motion to act on that wasn’t unanimous but it did pass.
During
this period of time nothing had been said to Jerry. He had originally
been told to report to the main office to meet with Bert but that had
been cancelled. After the cancellation Jerry did ask Bret if he knew why
and, of course, Bret knew nothing. The only interaction I’d had with
Bert since the meeting when he, Hobie and I met to go over my idea was
when I provided him with the salaries of the two women and how much I
felt it should be increased to go with their additional responsibilities
should it be granted. It was frustrating! To me, the longer there was
no news the bigger chance that nothing would be done.
The final
result was to Jerry put on “probation”… and to have Mae go back to the
branch and to work with Betsy. Putting it all together was a
nightmare.The first thing was Hobie (not me) talking with Betsy to see
how she’d feel about sharing some additional responsibilities with Mae…
if she was amenable to it. It also bothered me that I wasn’t included in
at least that meeting. From what Hobie told me she was reluctant at
first but when told there was a pay raise and that Jerry would be ”on a
leash” (as I remember Hobie describing it) she said she was willing to
give it a try. As for Mae, Hobie told me she was “all in” with no
hesitation. Now, my idea had been to have the two of them get a new
title (administrative assistant) and have the same salary. That was
rejected by “the powers that be”. Betsy, who had the title of head
teller was to get the same title as Lorie had at the main office, chief
clerk, and Mae, who was officially a teller moving up to head teller and
with an adjustment in pay as well. Once the two of them were “in sync”
it was time to let Jerry know what was happening. We all have fantasies
from time to time and mine was that Jerry would react so negatively to
the proposal that he’d quit. His meeting was with Bert and Hobie and
when I tried to pry some information from Hobie on how it went I was
rebuffed. As I said, it was just my fantasy.
To be continued…
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