ANOTHER YEAR... onward! (Part 152a)
There were still a lot of
other things happening in my life besides the matter of Jerry being
hired. Once that situation was somewhat resolved I was able to get back to a
semblance of normalcy. Elle ended up teaching for almost the whole month of January
and, because Bill, the principal, told his wife not to charge us for
having Kaye, our youngest, at her day care Elle was able to bank most of
the money. I’d been a little disappointed that the amount of money I
got back from the retirement system wasn’t more. Adding about $350 to it
got the amount almost up to what I’d guessed would be needed for Elle
and I to have a much delayed (10 years) honeymoon. So, that was a
definite positive. We still had to come up with money to get us to
Florida in April so we could take advantage of the offer from my
parents. I’d lined up some sign painting jobs that would help and was
weighing an offer from my brother to work the boat show in the city with
him. I’d done some preliminary research on air fares as that was all
we’d have to pay for the whole trip. If my calculations were correct I’d
have enough if we took the “red eye” flight leaving around midnight.
Elle didn’t like that idea but agreed that we shouldn’t touch the other
money. Even though that trip was three months away we were both getting
excited about it.
Happenings at the bank included moving Hobie
over to under the stairs and Bret and I moving further back on the platform so that Jerry, the new guy, could have Bret's old spot. I
hadn’t realized that from Hobie’s old desk I wouldn’t be able to see
very much of the lobby and my view of the teller line would be severely
reduced. I made a point of telling Bret that he had to be even more
aware of what was going on in both areas. I wasn’t about to give Jerry that kind of responsibility.
Before making the move
Hobie hadn’t realized how much traffic there was for the public rest
room. A low, waist high partition had been installed to effect a
designated space for him but it didn’t deter many people from walking right into
the area to get to the toilet. There was one incident shortly after
Hobie moved that was somewhat of interest to me. Hobie had someone at
his desk when this woman started to walk in, stopped and just stood
there. I was at Letitia’s window when I saw her. I remember her starting
to walk away, stop, turn and walk back. She stopped without going into
the area and it was then that I realized what the situation was. I
watched as she sort of bent over a bit and then saw her seem to be
walking in place. I knew the signs of a ‘potty dance’ and my focus was
completely on her and not on the transaction I was working with Letitia
on. I remember her standing there, feet moving and looking back over
her shoulder. Then, she abruptly turned and headed for the back door. I
couldn’t help but smile. As soon as I could get free I headed over in
that direction. Right where she’d been standing was some discoloration
in the rug but even more interesting was the sort of trail that I could
see heading across the lobby. I hadn’t recognized the woman, probably 40
something. but then again, we knew the general public would walk in off the street
to use the facilities.
One of the other happenings was in getting
Janet’s expected resignation. The decision (and permission) to keep Jaz on the
payroll after the conversion paid off. Having Jaz trained and ready to
fill in for her made the transition seamless. I’d talked a time or two with Bret about
moving Peggy from the drive up to the lobby teller line as she’d
performed well during the busy period but he had one reservation... the
school savings program that she’d reorganized and streamlined. In
casually chatting with her I sensed that she was proud of what she’d
done. In spite of that I felt it was only fair to ask if she’d consider
the move. When I approached her about it I could sense that if I’d
asked her to do it she would’ve. But I wanted her input and she said
she’d like to finish out the school year. I couldn’t disagree. As far as
Jaz was concerned, she’d been a teller in training for longer than any
that had been hired since I started so both Bret and I felt comfortable
in putting her on the line. She’d been working with most of the tellers
in her old position so she fit in with the dynamic of the group.
As
expected, Lillian continued to provide ‘free shows’ (panty peeks)
although she’d shown up in a pants suit a few times. The problem with
that was that her favorite color was navy blue which was not all that
conducive to VPL’s so it was a bit of a disappointment when she wore it.
Alice, the young teller I’d hired just before the ‘busy period’, had
performed very well. For someone so apparently shy, she’d managed to
handle some somewhat irate customers without making problems. She
dressed very demurely, mostly dresses with a few skirts thrown in, which
didn’t offer up much in the way of panty peeks. She, as opposed to
Lillian, knew how to bend over without compromising herself. It was
sometime about mid January when Peggy showed up in a pants suit. The
rule for them was that the jacket was supposed to cover the ‘dupa’. It
had not been an ‘issue’ because, after all the ‘noise’ made about
letting females wear pants, very few did on a regular basis. As the cold
weather approached we started to see more of them but on any given day,
never more than two or three for the whole bank. In Peggy’s case her jacket covered about half of her backside which was perfect
for observing a VPL. It was Bret who spied it first. When I saw him
approaching the look on his face was like that of a cat that had caught a
canary. He let me know and within minutes I’d confirmed that she was
wearing the SanSoucie panties that I’d gotten for her. That definitely put a smile on my face!
To be continued...
Sunday, October 30, 2016
Thursday, October 27, 2016
ANOTHER YEAR... with new adventures (Part 151p)
ANOTHER YEAR... new adventures (Part 151p)
Upon my return to the lobby floor I found Bret and Lorie trying to sort out a problem with the service bureau. We’d been on-line for a few weeks and the problems had been minor. I’d been the ‘lead’ on contacting the data center and with me not around they were struggling with who to call and how to describe the problem. I immediately got involved so when Hobie returned to his desk I wasn’t there to observe his mood. It took quite a while to track down the source of the problem and when we did I asked Lorie to write it up for future reference. By then it was approaching lunch hour and I noticed Hobie wasn’t at his desk. Trish said that he’d left early but would be back. Now, not fully engrossed in anything, I began to worry about what Hobie might say to me, if anything at all.
When he finally got back he had the salesman from the office supply store across the street with him That reminded me about his need for a desk and chairs for when he moved to under the stairs. When the salesman left I took the initiative and asked about what he’d ordered. I was pleased that Hobie seemed to be his every day self. Seizing on that I asked if the new man had been contacted. After all that had transpired over the past few days I wanted to see it come to an end. To me, that end was in actually meeting the man. Hobie said he had and would be there to meet us the following day. With that information in hand I let Trish and Bret know. Neither was surprised.
I don’t know why I was nervous but I was, right from the time I got up that morning. After all, I wasn’t the new guy. I had a customer at my desk when I saw a man and woman talking with Trish. I had to try and look at them with my customer blocking my view so wasn’t able to make a judgement about him. They weren’t there for long and when I was finally able to get up asked Trish. She nodded that he was the one we were looking for but wasn't able to ask her for her first impression. Then Hobie walked past us and headed for the elevator. When my customer finally left Trish was no where to be seen. So, all I could do was wait.
It was about a half hour when Hobie returned with a man and lady in tow. They all walked through the gate and I swear I started shaking my head, somewhat in disbelief, as I focused on the man. As humans, we all make snap judgements about people when we first see them. Many times, after a while, those judgements change. I can sit here writing this and tell you, unequivocally, that my first impression of Jerry (that’s what he wanted to be called) NEVER changed. What I saw was a person about 5’10”, with a slight build, thinning hair with sad eyes... not very impressive at all. My guess was that he was in his early 40’s. What really caught my attention as I walked up to the three of them was the position of his hands. He had the finger tips of each hand touching and they were placed at the height of his belt... similar to a priest in church. The look on his face was almost apologetic. Hobie introduced them to both Bret and I and as I stuck out my hand to shake his I thought I’d grabbed the hand of a dead person. Limp and cold like none that I’d ever touched before. I know I had to have had a strange look on my face as soon as we touched. When Bret did the same I was looking at his face and even though I can’t describe his look there was a definite negative reaction. At that juncture, Jerry spoke for the first time. The only way to describe his voice was that it was weak and mushy.
Let me say this... if this man had come in for an interview with me, for ANY position, it would’ve been over in thirty seconds. I know I’d only had a minute or two to observe him but from my viewpoint there was nothing redeeming about him. As I stood there and went though the introduction of his wife I immediately knew who was the boss in the family. Her name was Thea. Homely, with a voice that demanded attention, it didn’t take long for her to be running the conversation. It was she who asked where Jerry was going to be seated and it was she who stated (not asked) that Jerry should be allowed to leave by 4pm so he could be home to eat with his family (he lived in the city). I, nor Bret, ever said a word. When his wife was talking I noted that Jerry was looking down at the floor. Hobie responded that an effort would be made to get him out in a timely fashion but that, as an officer of the bank, he had to assume additional responsibilities that would sometimes interfere with personal plans. I watched her face as he spoke and I saw her wrinkle her brow. I thought she was going to say something but she just stood there with this sour look on her face. All I could think of was how the hell did this happen and how was I going to work with him. I was very, very upset but knew there was nothing I could do about it. Before Jerry left we found out he was to start the last week of the month. As he and his wife walked away Bret and I looked at each other and shook our heads. Without either of us speaking to each other we’d both come to the same conclusion. Jerry was a loser.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Wanting to put this thread to bed I’ll tell you what it took years for me to discover about his hire.
It turned out that Jerry’s wife was, in some way, related to the wife of one of the Trustees. As I’ve indicated, in bits and pieces, I did not hold the most of the Trustee’s in high regard, questioning their ability to oversee the running of the bank. I found out the background of Jerry’s hiring after one of the Trustees retired. Questionable decisions made by the Board continued right up to the time I resigned thirteen years later and was one of the primary reasons I did. But, back to Jerry’s hiring... evidently there was some kind of ‘quid pro quo’ among some of the Trustees. I also found out that when the vote was taken there were four who voted against his hiring. And we think things in Washington are bad!
To be continued...
Upon my return to the lobby floor I found Bret and Lorie trying to sort out a problem with the service bureau. We’d been on-line for a few weeks and the problems had been minor. I’d been the ‘lead’ on contacting the data center and with me not around they were struggling with who to call and how to describe the problem. I immediately got involved so when Hobie returned to his desk I wasn’t there to observe his mood. It took quite a while to track down the source of the problem and when we did I asked Lorie to write it up for future reference. By then it was approaching lunch hour and I noticed Hobie wasn’t at his desk. Trish said that he’d left early but would be back. Now, not fully engrossed in anything, I began to worry about what Hobie might say to me, if anything at all.
When he finally got back he had the salesman from the office supply store across the street with him That reminded me about his need for a desk and chairs for when he moved to under the stairs. When the salesman left I took the initiative and asked about what he’d ordered. I was pleased that Hobie seemed to be his every day self. Seizing on that I asked if the new man had been contacted. After all that had transpired over the past few days I wanted to see it come to an end. To me, that end was in actually meeting the man. Hobie said he had and would be there to meet us the following day. With that information in hand I let Trish and Bret know. Neither was surprised.
I don’t know why I was nervous but I was, right from the time I got up that morning. After all, I wasn’t the new guy. I had a customer at my desk when I saw a man and woman talking with Trish. I had to try and look at them with my customer blocking my view so wasn’t able to make a judgement about him. They weren’t there for long and when I was finally able to get up asked Trish. She nodded that he was the one we were looking for but wasn't able to ask her for her first impression. Then Hobie walked past us and headed for the elevator. When my customer finally left Trish was no where to be seen. So, all I could do was wait.
It was about a half hour when Hobie returned with a man and lady in tow. They all walked through the gate and I swear I started shaking my head, somewhat in disbelief, as I focused on the man. As humans, we all make snap judgements about people when we first see them. Many times, after a while, those judgements change. I can sit here writing this and tell you, unequivocally, that my first impression of Jerry (that’s what he wanted to be called) NEVER changed. What I saw was a person about 5’10”, with a slight build, thinning hair with sad eyes... not very impressive at all. My guess was that he was in his early 40’s. What really caught my attention as I walked up to the three of them was the position of his hands. He had the finger tips of each hand touching and they were placed at the height of his belt... similar to a priest in church. The look on his face was almost apologetic. Hobie introduced them to both Bret and I and as I stuck out my hand to shake his I thought I’d grabbed the hand of a dead person. Limp and cold like none that I’d ever touched before. I know I had to have had a strange look on my face as soon as we touched. When Bret did the same I was looking at his face and even though I can’t describe his look there was a definite negative reaction. At that juncture, Jerry spoke for the first time. The only way to describe his voice was that it was weak and mushy.
Let me say this... if this man had come in for an interview with me, for ANY position, it would’ve been over in thirty seconds. I know I’d only had a minute or two to observe him but from my viewpoint there was nothing redeeming about him. As I stood there and went though the introduction of his wife I immediately knew who was the boss in the family. Her name was Thea. Homely, with a voice that demanded attention, it didn’t take long for her to be running the conversation. It was she who asked where Jerry was going to be seated and it was she who stated (not asked) that Jerry should be allowed to leave by 4pm so he could be home to eat with his family (he lived in the city). I, nor Bret, ever said a word. When his wife was talking I noted that Jerry was looking down at the floor. Hobie responded that an effort would be made to get him out in a timely fashion but that, as an officer of the bank, he had to assume additional responsibilities that would sometimes interfere with personal plans. I watched her face as he spoke and I saw her wrinkle her brow. I thought she was going to say something but she just stood there with this sour look on her face. All I could think of was how the hell did this happen and how was I going to work with him. I was very, very upset but knew there was nothing I could do about it. Before Jerry left we found out he was to start the last week of the month. As he and his wife walked away Bret and I looked at each other and shook our heads. Without either of us speaking to each other we’d both come to the same conclusion. Jerry was a loser.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Wanting to put this thread to bed I’ll tell you what it took years for me to discover about his hire.
It turned out that Jerry’s wife was, in some way, related to the wife of one of the Trustees. As I’ve indicated, in bits and pieces, I did not hold the most of the Trustee’s in high regard, questioning their ability to oversee the running of the bank. I found out the background of Jerry’s hiring after one of the Trustees retired. Questionable decisions made by the Board continued right up to the time I resigned thirteen years later and was one of the primary reasons I did. But, back to Jerry’s hiring... evidently there was some kind of ‘quid pro quo’ among some of the Trustees. I also found out that when the vote was taken there were four who voted against his hiring. And we think things in Washington are bad!
To be continued...
Tuesday, October 25, 2016
ANOTHER YEAR... with new adventures (Part 151o)
ANOTHER YEAR... new adventures (Part 151o)
Bert’s wife was an invalid suffering from polio. He was devoted to her to the extent that he was her caregiver from roughly 5pm to 9am each day. He prepared all her meals and actually fed her. While at work the nurse who had cared for my grandmother came to the house to look after her. Bert would usually arrive at the bank around 9:15am or so unless there was something really important happening. So... for him to have me meet him at 8:30am sent a message... and now I was going to find out what it was.
As usual, I climbed the stairs to the second floor. I stopped at the top and could see Bert standing behind his desk. To me, that wasn’t a good sign. I proceeded to the door and he waved me in and with another wave of his hand motioned for me to close it. He started talking even before it had latched. I did a bit of a ‘double take’ as I heard the words ”Think before you act.“ I could’ve sworn it was my deceased grandfather mouthing them. I’d heard the words many times as I was growing up around him. At that point I thought I was in for a diatribe.
Still standing, Bert, calmly, stated that he understood my frustration upon finding out about the details of the new hire. He went on to say that it had been his understanding at the close of the Board meeting that Hobie would speak to me and that now he understood that because of his mother in law’s health problem, that hadn’t occurred. BUT, (and it was emphasized) since it wasn’t a critical issue I should’ve waited to talk with Hobie before coming to see him. It was hard standing there and not saying anything... but I did. Bert went on to say that my taking the matter into my own hands and calling my friend at the new guy’s bank was the most egregious error. The man’s hiring was a Board issue and I had no right to make such a call. Not only that but my friend was also in error in giving out the information he did. Now I was really worried that Don was in trouble too.
All I could do was stand there and listen. Then, the mood of the meeting seemed to change. Bert acknowledged that he called my friend and the information that I’d passed on to Bert had been corroborated. The man was NOT an officer. Hearing that took a little pressure off me. Bert went on to say that he'd talked with the chairman of the branch committee to see what had been said or done to make him think that an assistant branch manager was a corporate officer. What he told me actually made me mad. The Board member had thought the new man was an officer. To me, it was just another example showing the Trustees were dealing in areas that they had no experience with. It was my understanding that they were to oversee the bank's performance, not manage it. That's why people like Bert, Hobie and I were hired and that was when I finally opened my mouth... but not for long.
I questioned Bert on why the people who actually run he bank, day to day, weren’t involved in the interviewing or in any of the decision making in the new hire. That made Bert put his hand up to shut me up. Only because I respected him as a person did I obey because I was just about to ‘go off’ on the whole concept of Trustees managing versus overseeing the running of the bank. With his hand still raised, as if he were about to take an oath, he asked me to let him finish. A couple of deep breaths later I nodded in agreement and he continued. Without going into specifics he stated that he got the Trustee to admit that he (and the others on the committee) had made a mistake. They agreed that it was necessary to contact the man and to have him come to the bank to renegotiate his title and that, if he agreed to it, would be the same as both Bret and I, assistant secretary, with him being third in line as far as authority was concerned.
To me, even knowing that the new man would have to agree to the proposal was a small victory. At that point Bert asked if that was satisfactory. I hesitated before answering because it still seemed wrong that he would be making more money than Bret and I and would, to some degree, be reporting to me... so I spoke up. I was watching his face as I spoke my piece and it didn’t seem to upset him. I waited to see if he was going to say anything and I’m glad I did. He reached for the phone and called Gee, the Trustee/attorney that was chairman of the salary committee. I listened as he questioned him about when he was calling for the special salary committee meeting that had been agreed to. When Bert hung up he told me that it would be addressed by the end of the month. I didn’t have an answer but the fact that Gee was involved gave me some confidence that there would be a favorable solution.
By then it was close to 9am. Bert had his secretary contact Hobie and to instruct him to come on upstairs. Hearing that kind of put a damper on what I’d taken as a somewhat favorable solution. Hobie was rather solemn and, not knowing the details about his mother in law, I could only hope that was the reason. Bert went over the conversation he had with me and repeated that he would get the new guy in on Friday to renegotiate his position. Hobie never said a word. Then Bert told me I was free to go but Hobie remained. The one good thing was that other than being told I hadn’t handled the situation all that well there was no punishment. For that I was thankful but wondered how my relationship with Hobie and members of the Board would be in the future as I made my way back downstairs.
To be continued...
Bert’s wife was an invalid suffering from polio. He was devoted to her to the extent that he was her caregiver from roughly 5pm to 9am each day. He prepared all her meals and actually fed her. While at work the nurse who had cared for my grandmother came to the house to look after her. Bert would usually arrive at the bank around 9:15am or so unless there was something really important happening. So... for him to have me meet him at 8:30am sent a message... and now I was going to find out what it was.
As usual, I climbed the stairs to the second floor. I stopped at the top and could see Bert standing behind his desk. To me, that wasn’t a good sign. I proceeded to the door and he waved me in and with another wave of his hand motioned for me to close it. He started talking even before it had latched. I did a bit of a ‘double take’ as I heard the words ”Think before you act.“ I could’ve sworn it was my deceased grandfather mouthing them. I’d heard the words many times as I was growing up around him. At that point I thought I was in for a diatribe.
Still standing, Bert, calmly, stated that he understood my frustration upon finding out about the details of the new hire. He went on to say that it had been his understanding at the close of the Board meeting that Hobie would speak to me and that now he understood that because of his mother in law’s health problem, that hadn’t occurred. BUT, (and it was emphasized) since it wasn’t a critical issue I should’ve waited to talk with Hobie before coming to see him. It was hard standing there and not saying anything... but I did. Bert went on to say that my taking the matter into my own hands and calling my friend at the new guy’s bank was the most egregious error. The man’s hiring was a Board issue and I had no right to make such a call. Not only that but my friend was also in error in giving out the information he did. Now I was really worried that Don was in trouble too.
All I could do was stand there and listen. Then, the mood of the meeting seemed to change. Bert acknowledged that he called my friend and the information that I’d passed on to Bert had been corroborated. The man was NOT an officer. Hearing that took a little pressure off me. Bert went on to say that he'd talked with the chairman of the branch committee to see what had been said or done to make him think that an assistant branch manager was a corporate officer. What he told me actually made me mad. The Board member had thought the new man was an officer. To me, it was just another example showing the Trustees were dealing in areas that they had no experience with. It was my understanding that they were to oversee the bank's performance, not manage it. That's why people like Bert, Hobie and I were hired and that was when I finally opened my mouth... but not for long.
I questioned Bert on why the people who actually run he bank, day to day, weren’t involved in the interviewing or in any of the decision making in the new hire. That made Bert put his hand up to shut me up. Only because I respected him as a person did I obey because I was just about to ‘go off’ on the whole concept of Trustees managing versus overseeing the running of the bank. With his hand still raised, as if he were about to take an oath, he asked me to let him finish. A couple of deep breaths later I nodded in agreement and he continued. Without going into specifics he stated that he got the Trustee to admit that he (and the others on the committee) had made a mistake. They agreed that it was necessary to contact the man and to have him come to the bank to renegotiate his title and that, if he agreed to it, would be the same as both Bret and I, assistant secretary, with him being third in line as far as authority was concerned.
To me, even knowing that the new man would have to agree to the proposal was a small victory. At that point Bert asked if that was satisfactory. I hesitated before answering because it still seemed wrong that he would be making more money than Bret and I and would, to some degree, be reporting to me... so I spoke up. I was watching his face as I spoke my piece and it didn’t seem to upset him. I waited to see if he was going to say anything and I’m glad I did. He reached for the phone and called Gee, the Trustee/attorney that was chairman of the salary committee. I listened as he questioned him about when he was calling for the special salary committee meeting that had been agreed to. When Bert hung up he told me that it would be addressed by the end of the month. I didn’t have an answer but the fact that Gee was involved gave me some confidence that there would be a favorable solution.
By then it was close to 9am. Bert had his secretary contact Hobie and to instruct him to come on upstairs. Hearing that kind of put a damper on what I’d taken as a somewhat favorable solution. Hobie was rather solemn and, not knowing the details about his mother in law, I could only hope that was the reason. Bert went over the conversation he had with me and repeated that he would get the new guy in on Friday to renegotiate his position. Hobie never said a word. Then Bert told me I was free to go but Hobie remained. The one good thing was that other than being told I hadn’t handled the situation all that well there was no punishment. For that I was thankful but wondered how my relationship with Hobie and members of the Board would be in the future as I made my way back downstairs.
To be continued...
Sunday, October 23, 2016
ANOTHER YEAR... more new adventures (Part 151n)
ANOTHER YEAR... more new adventures (Part 151n)
The information shared by Don really fired me up. I didn’t hesitate even a bit as I headed up the stairs and made straight for Bert’s office. Lena, his secretary saw that I was obviously upset and jumped up to cut me off from charging right into his office. I don’t remember what was said but she did convince me to let her go in and let Bert know I wanted to see him. Again, I have no idea how long it took before I entered through the door. As soon as I did I closed it behind me and walked right up to the front of his desk.
Bert was approaching 60 years of age but looked older. He had always appeared to be in control and he was leaning back in his chair as he looked at me. I remember the look he gave me... calm and cool... and it disarmed me for a few seconds. Since my appearance was unplanned I didn’t know what I was going to say... and, to be absolutely truthful, the only thing I remember clearly was that i was throwing words at him as fast as my mouth could get them out. He let me go for a bit before he, still leaning back in his chair put up one of his hands but didn’t say anything. I stopped talking and waited for him to speak. When he finally did I remember him saying that he got the gist of what I was complaining about but I would have to calm down if I wanted to continue to talk with him. He pointed to a chair and motioned for me to sit, something I really didn’t want to do.
Because my adrenaline was running so high I had a hard time understanding what Bert was saying. I remember him telling me to take a few deep breaths along with some other things. Then he leaned forward, towards me, and told me to start over again but to take my time. I still didn’t have a sequence of the things I wanted to say/ask but I knew I had to say something. I’m almost sure I started with the fact that ”the new guy“ (I couldn’t remember his name) was hired as an assistant vice president. Before I could go any further Bert interjected that the man had eighteen years of bank experience. That served to add fuel to my now simmering fire. I remember leaning forward towards him as I almost shouted that none of it was as an officer. I caught the frown that quickly appeared on his brow. He sharply asked how I knew that. I immediately thought that I’d blown my advantage. When I didn’t answer Bert, again, asked how I knew. Reluctantly, I told him of my friend Don, and our conversation. He leaned back again before speaking... ”He was an assistant manager for four years.“ I immediately shot back ”But that’s not an officer position!“. I remember him shaking his head from side to side as if to tell me that I was wrong. I did the same but, thankfully, didn’t say anything.
At this point in time I didn’t know what was going to happen. Bert was the first to speak and I heard words that I thought might work to my advantage. He said the chairman of the branch sub-committee had told the Board that the man was an officer. I sat there shaking my head again. Bert was definitely not an argumentative person and then, calmly, asked what else I’d gotten from my contact. I’d definitely calmed down a bit by then and, as slowly as I could, repeated as best I could, Don’s appraisal of the man, stressing that he’d been specifically assigned to the smallest branch in their system because of marginal performance. Again, I was not that aware of 'body language' at that time but I did notice that Bert seemed a bit troubled when he asked me to have a little patience as he did some ”research“. Basically, he was telling me that our meeting was over. I stood up and was somewhat disappointed. I’d not brought out the disparity in salary nor the difference in responsibility between what he’d have in the branch as compared to what I had.(46)
As the day progressed I began worrying about how Hobie, upon his return, would take the fact that I’d gone over his head. Even worse was worrying about what Bert thought of me for going outside the bank in talking to Don. And... even more than that was what the Board of Trustees would think of me. Based upon what Bert had shared about what the full Board had been told by the branch committee chairman I wondered if I hadn’t put myself in jeopardy when by pursuing the matter. The worst part of it all was that I had to just wait it out. That could be days or more. By the time I left for home I had an incredible headache.
Hobie returned on Wednesday and hadn’t been at his desk for more than a minute when Trish told him that Bert wanted to see him. My blood pressure went straight up upon hearing that. Bert had not said anything to me since I’d left his office and I can tell you I was holding my breath. I didn’t know if I was going to be called upstairs or would have to wait for Hobie to return to get any indication of what was happening. As it turned out, nothing happened... until much later in the day. Wednesday was the regular day for the mortgage committee to meet. The only thing was that I watched more than just the mortgage committee walking across the lobby. I pretty much sensed that the reason was to consider what I’d disclosed to Bert.
I was going to stay to see what happened (and my fate) but chickened out. At home I got a call from Bert. It was about 6:30pm and I stood in the hallway with the phone in my hand holding my breath. All he said was to be in his office at 8:30am. It was a no sleep night.
To be continued...
The information shared by Don really fired me up. I didn’t hesitate even a bit as I headed up the stairs and made straight for Bert’s office. Lena, his secretary saw that I was obviously upset and jumped up to cut me off from charging right into his office. I don’t remember what was said but she did convince me to let her go in and let Bert know I wanted to see him. Again, I have no idea how long it took before I entered through the door. As soon as I did I closed it behind me and walked right up to the front of his desk.
Bert was approaching 60 years of age but looked older. He had always appeared to be in control and he was leaning back in his chair as he looked at me. I remember the look he gave me... calm and cool... and it disarmed me for a few seconds. Since my appearance was unplanned I didn’t know what I was going to say... and, to be absolutely truthful, the only thing I remember clearly was that i was throwing words at him as fast as my mouth could get them out. He let me go for a bit before he, still leaning back in his chair put up one of his hands but didn’t say anything. I stopped talking and waited for him to speak. When he finally did I remember him saying that he got the gist of what I was complaining about but I would have to calm down if I wanted to continue to talk with him. He pointed to a chair and motioned for me to sit, something I really didn’t want to do.
Because my adrenaline was running so high I had a hard time understanding what Bert was saying. I remember him telling me to take a few deep breaths along with some other things. Then he leaned forward, towards me, and told me to start over again but to take my time. I still didn’t have a sequence of the things I wanted to say/ask but I knew I had to say something. I’m almost sure I started with the fact that ”the new guy“ (I couldn’t remember his name) was hired as an assistant vice president. Before I could go any further Bert interjected that the man had eighteen years of bank experience. That served to add fuel to my now simmering fire. I remember leaning forward towards him as I almost shouted that none of it was as an officer. I caught the frown that quickly appeared on his brow. He sharply asked how I knew that. I immediately thought that I’d blown my advantage. When I didn’t answer Bert, again, asked how I knew. Reluctantly, I told him of my friend Don, and our conversation. He leaned back again before speaking... ”He was an assistant manager for four years.“ I immediately shot back ”But that’s not an officer position!“. I remember him shaking his head from side to side as if to tell me that I was wrong. I did the same but, thankfully, didn’t say anything.
At this point in time I didn’t know what was going to happen. Bert was the first to speak and I heard words that I thought might work to my advantage. He said the chairman of the branch sub-committee had told the Board that the man was an officer. I sat there shaking my head again. Bert was definitely not an argumentative person and then, calmly, asked what else I’d gotten from my contact. I’d definitely calmed down a bit by then and, as slowly as I could, repeated as best I could, Don’s appraisal of the man, stressing that he’d been specifically assigned to the smallest branch in their system because of marginal performance. Again, I was not that aware of 'body language' at that time but I did notice that Bert seemed a bit troubled when he asked me to have a little patience as he did some ”research“. Basically, he was telling me that our meeting was over. I stood up and was somewhat disappointed. I’d not brought out the disparity in salary nor the difference in responsibility between what he’d have in the branch as compared to what I had.(46)
As the day progressed I began worrying about how Hobie, upon his return, would take the fact that I’d gone over his head. Even worse was worrying about what Bert thought of me for going outside the bank in talking to Don. And... even more than that was what the Board of Trustees would think of me. Based upon what Bert had shared about what the full Board had been told by the branch committee chairman I wondered if I hadn’t put myself in jeopardy when by pursuing the matter. The worst part of it all was that I had to just wait it out. That could be days or more. By the time I left for home I had an incredible headache.
Hobie returned on Wednesday and hadn’t been at his desk for more than a minute when Trish told him that Bert wanted to see him. My blood pressure went straight up upon hearing that. Bert had not said anything to me since I’d left his office and I can tell you I was holding my breath. I didn’t know if I was going to be called upstairs or would have to wait for Hobie to return to get any indication of what was happening. As it turned out, nothing happened... until much later in the day. Wednesday was the regular day for the mortgage committee to meet. The only thing was that I watched more than just the mortgage committee walking across the lobby. I pretty much sensed that the reason was to consider what I’d disclosed to Bert.
I was going to stay to see what happened (and my fate) but chickened out. At home I got a call from Bert. It was about 6:30pm and I stood in the hallway with the phone in my hand holding my breath. All he said was to be in his office at 8:30am. It was a no sleep night.
To be continued...
Thursday, October 20, 2016
ANOTHER YEAR... with new adventures (Part 151m)
ANOTHER YEAR... new adventures (Part 151m)
The words I read hit me like a two by four in the head. They’d hired the new guy as an assistant vice president, a higher position than I (or Bret) held and at a higher salary. It was a good thing there was no one in the building because the ”WHAT THE F__K!“ I screamed could’ve been heard in the far reaches of the basement and the cobwebs in the attic. I don’t know how many times I screamed it before putting the papers back in the tray and headed for my car. I was steady making it for Hobie’s house. Being a Friday night, with most of the stores open, traffic was bad and I managed to get most of the red lights Because of the time it was taking my mind started going over all the reasons why it wasn’t fair. First of all he was only going to oversee four employees... an assistant manager and three tellers. As manager of the main office I had eleven reporting to me. Plus I was in charge of personnel for the whole bank; was responsible for advertising and purchasing. And, as of the first of January I’d been named security officer. By the time I finally reached the road he lived on I thought I was going to explode. I stepped on the gas and was definitely speeding when I came upon a new stop light. I never went home by this road and only used it occasionally in coming to work. I debated with myself as to weather to run the light or not but decided to stop. While waiting for the it to change I was starting to have second thoughts about going to Hobie’s house.
When the light finally changed I pulled forward and over to the side. As I sat there two things came to me, the first being that the house right there was where Lorie lived. The second was that, in spite of it being January and about 30 degrees outside, there was some wash on the line right there next to the fence. I could see two bras, a slip and two panties. Sitting there I was sure that if I got out of the car and walked up to the fence I could reach over and touch them. There were lights on in the house and an occasional car passing. I decided against making that move. But what it did was to calm me down enough to realize that confronting Hobie was definitely not a good move. However, I stayed on the road and drove past his house anyway.
At home, poor Elle had to sit there and listen to my ranting. I was wound up enough that she took the girls down to the basement. Over the course of the weekend I must’ve come up with a half dozen approaches to take come Monday morning. I left for work not knowing just what to do but one thing Elle reminded me of was that I should be careful and not get Trish in trouble for steering me towards the minutes. I agreed so the only firm plan I had upon my arrival was to talk with her. The concern was to make sure Hobie, in dictating the minutes to her, hadn’t instructed her to give them back to him for proof reading as Bert, the president, had done.
When walking up to the door she saw me and I could see her expression was one of embarrassment. I immediately thanked her. Without looking at me I heard her say something to the extent that she didn’t think it was fair... to me or to Bret. I was hoping for more but that was it. Then I asked about Hobie and she told me he wouldn’t be in for a few days as he had to take his mother in law to a hospital in the city. That was good and bad news all rolled up in one.
I ‘stewed’ over that for a while and before I knew it Trish had the finished version of the minutes for me to proof. While doing it I came up with my plan of action. I decided to tell Bret and to gage his reaction. For a person as ‘laid back’ as he was it was as expected. I think his words were something like ”That’s not right.“ which somewhat echoed Trish’s thoughts. After hearing that Hobie wouldn’t be in I gave some thought to going upstairs to speak to Bert (the president). It didn’t take much time to reject that Idea because it would mean by-passing my boss, Hobie, and going over his head. Definitely not a good idea.
Right after I returned from lunch Trish came over to my desk and sat down in the side chair. She’d never done that without my asking so was a bit surprised. She had a folder in her hands and, without saying a word, slid it in front me. I saw the tab and it read Gerard Michaels, a name I’d never seen or heard of before. I looked at it and then at Trish. She sort of smiled and then got up and walked back to her desk. I opened it up and saw a resume. It was for the new guy.
After a quick scan I found myself even more upset than I’d been Friday night when I’d peered at the minutes. The thing that jumped out at me was that the highest position he’d ever held was as an assistant branch manager and it wasn’t as an officer. I found myself perspiring I was so upset. After a couple of deep breaths I went back into it again. This time I noted what bank he was with. Ironically, I’d met the personnel officer from that bank at a one day workshop in the city and we’d hit it off right away. His brother owned a Summer bungalow not three miles from where we lived so we had some common ground with which to base our friendship. I wanted to call him right away but also wanted to re-read his experience first. Very interesting! I calculated that he’d worked for them for almost 18 years starting as a clerk and then to teller. He worked his way up to the head teller position and for the past four years he was an assistant branch manager. Doing a quick bit of math I calculated that it had taken him almost 14 years to get to that level. I knew it was a big bank, at least in comparison to us and it was possible that he’d gotten ‘lost’ . I was certainly not impressed with his history so I called my friend.
Don was a straight shooter. Today he’d be in serious trouble if he shared the information he gave to me. Basically, the guy was a marginal performer and that’s why it took so long for him to progress through the ranks. One VERY interesting fact he told me was that as an assistant manager he’d been assigned to the smallest branch with the least activity. Don covered himself by saying he’d never met the man and was just reading from a summary of his performance reviews. He closed the conversation by asking how we’d come to hire him. I know he heard the frustration in my voice when I told him I’d like to know the same thing.
To be continued...
The words I read hit me like a two by four in the head. They’d hired the new guy as an assistant vice president, a higher position than I (or Bret) held and at a higher salary. It was a good thing there was no one in the building because the ”WHAT THE F__K!“ I screamed could’ve been heard in the far reaches of the basement and the cobwebs in the attic. I don’t know how many times I screamed it before putting the papers back in the tray and headed for my car. I was steady making it for Hobie’s house. Being a Friday night, with most of the stores open, traffic was bad and I managed to get most of the red lights Because of the time it was taking my mind started going over all the reasons why it wasn’t fair. First of all he was only going to oversee four employees... an assistant manager and three tellers. As manager of the main office I had eleven reporting to me. Plus I was in charge of personnel for the whole bank; was responsible for advertising and purchasing. And, as of the first of January I’d been named security officer. By the time I finally reached the road he lived on I thought I was going to explode. I stepped on the gas and was definitely speeding when I came upon a new stop light. I never went home by this road and only used it occasionally in coming to work. I debated with myself as to weather to run the light or not but decided to stop. While waiting for the it to change I was starting to have second thoughts about going to Hobie’s house.
When the light finally changed I pulled forward and over to the side. As I sat there two things came to me, the first being that the house right there was where Lorie lived. The second was that, in spite of it being January and about 30 degrees outside, there was some wash on the line right there next to the fence. I could see two bras, a slip and two panties. Sitting there I was sure that if I got out of the car and walked up to the fence I could reach over and touch them. There were lights on in the house and an occasional car passing. I decided against making that move. But what it did was to calm me down enough to realize that confronting Hobie was definitely not a good move. However, I stayed on the road and drove past his house anyway.
At home, poor Elle had to sit there and listen to my ranting. I was wound up enough that she took the girls down to the basement. Over the course of the weekend I must’ve come up with a half dozen approaches to take come Monday morning. I left for work not knowing just what to do but one thing Elle reminded me of was that I should be careful and not get Trish in trouble for steering me towards the minutes. I agreed so the only firm plan I had upon my arrival was to talk with her. The concern was to make sure Hobie, in dictating the minutes to her, hadn’t instructed her to give them back to him for proof reading as Bert, the president, had done.
When walking up to the door she saw me and I could see her expression was one of embarrassment. I immediately thanked her. Without looking at me I heard her say something to the extent that she didn’t think it was fair... to me or to Bret. I was hoping for more but that was it. Then I asked about Hobie and she told me he wouldn’t be in for a few days as he had to take his mother in law to a hospital in the city. That was good and bad news all rolled up in one.
I ‘stewed’ over that for a while and before I knew it Trish had the finished version of the minutes for me to proof. While doing it I came up with my plan of action. I decided to tell Bret and to gage his reaction. For a person as ‘laid back’ as he was it was as expected. I think his words were something like ”That’s not right.“ which somewhat echoed Trish’s thoughts. After hearing that Hobie wouldn’t be in I gave some thought to going upstairs to speak to Bert (the president). It didn’t take much time to reject that Idea because it would mean by-passing my boss, Hobie, and going over his head. Definitely not a good idea.
Right after I returned from lunch Trish came over to my desk and sat down in the side chair. She’d never done that without my asking so was a bit surprised. She had a folder in her hands and, without saying a word, slid it in front me. I saw the tab and it read Gerard Michaels, a name I’d never seen or heard of before. I looked at it and then at Trish. She sort of smiled and then got up and walked back to her desk. I opened it up and saw a resume. It was for the new guy.
After a quick scan I found myself even more upset than I’d been Friday night when I’d peered at the minutes. The thing that jumped out at me was that the highest position he’d ever held was as an assistant branch manager and it wasn’t as an officer. I found myself perspiring I was so upset. After a couple of deep breaths I went back into it again. This time I noted what bank he was with. Ironically, I’d met the personnel officer from that bank at a one day workshop in the city and we’d hit it off right away. His brother owned a Summer bungalow not three miles from where we lived so we had some common ground with which to base our friendship. I wanted to call him right away but also wanted to re-read his experience first. Very interesting! I calculated that he’d worked for them for almost 18 years starting as a clerk and then to teller. He worked his way up to the head teller position and for the past four years he was an assistant branch manager. Doing a quick bit of math I calculated that it had taken him almost 14 years to get to that level. I knew it was a big bank, at least in comparison to us and it was possible that he’d gotten ‘lost’ . I was certainly not impressed with his history so I called my friend.
Don was a straight shooter. Today he’d be in serious trouble if he shared the information he gave to me. Basically, the guy was a marginal performer and that’s why it took so long for him to progress through the ranks. One VERY interesting fact he told me was that as an assistant manager he’d been assigned to the smallest branch with the least activity. Don covered himself by saying he’d never met the man and was just reading from a summary of his performance reviews. He closed the conversation by asking how we’d come to hire him. I know he heard the frustration in my voice when I told him I’d like to know the same thing.
To be continued...
Tuesday, October 18, 2016
ANOTHER YEAR... with new adventures (Part 151l)
ANOTHER YEAR... new adventures (Part 151l)
One thing that Elle really disliked was having the phone ring while eating. With it being after 6pm the girls had already eaten and it was just Elle and I. We allowed the girls to answer the phone and had taught them how to do it politely. The problem was the two oldest would race to get to the phone first. So, when it rang that night the last person I expected it to be was Hobie. Jean came to get me and when she told me who it was she used his surname, just as she was instructed to do, but it took me a few seconds for it to register.
My first reaction was that something had happened at the bank. His opening words were to apologize for cutting me short. He told me he didn’t want to take me away from my family and asked me to meet him in the Board room at 8:30am. I already knew that he had to have been upset about something that had happened in the meeting but didn’t think it concerned me. Now, with this call, I wasn’t sure. I tried to think of what it might have been. Random thoughts populated my thoughts for the rest of the evening. Elle, who continued to be in a good mood, picked up on it but didn’t make an issue of it.
It was a restless sleep for me and I was up well before the alarm went off. I was at the bank even before the scheduled time but noticed Hobie’s car was also there. Since it was prior to 8:30am, Mike wasn’t there to let me in. Once inside I headed up the back stairs and into the Board room. I found Hobie standing by the window looking out to the back parking lot. Before I could say anything he commented that by Monday we should have all our parking spaces back. I went to the window and saw he was looking at what was left of the pile of snow that had been plowed from the lot. He quickly turned towards the table and pointed at a chair indicating he wanted me to sit. I remember taking a deep breath.
As important as what he had to tell me was I really can’t remember the exact words he used. Basically, what he said was that the Board had approved the hiring of a manager for the new branch. He was still talking as I was trying to understand why they would do that when the earliest the branch would open was five and a half months away. With my mind on that thought I missed the first part of the next thing he had to say. I did pick up that he would be starting at the end of the month. The next thought was on just where he’d sit. Thinking of how the desks on the platform were placed I couldn’t visualize another one being added as Bret, Hobie and I barely had enough room to wait on customers. But Hobie wasn’t done and he continued on by saying that the guy would be joining the bank as an officer. That news took me back to when I was hired and the fact that I had to go through a probationary period before being promoted. By then I had a lot of questions and as soon as I started he got defensive. Without letting me finish even my first one he stated, rather firmly, that he was not a party to any of the decision making concerning his hire. The branch sub committee had done the interviewing, made the choice and the person was presented to the whole Board. I knew him well enough to be able to recognize he wasn’t all that pleased with the way it had been handled but kept quiet. He finished up by asking me to have patience and to see how it all worked out. Before leaving he gave me the task of figuring out how to get another desk on the officer’s platform. I don’t really know how long I sat there before going downstairs to my desk. My head was spinning.
Hobie hadn’t told me not to say anything about the new person. Since he’d be located with Hobie, Bret and me I went right to Bret. He wasn’t quite as concerned as I until I told him that he would be sharing space on the platform. That did get his attention. I told him about having to figure out a location for another desk and he volunteered to come up with some ideas. I liked that because he was continuing to show initiative.
One of the things that I’d taken to doing was proof reading the minutes of the Board meetings after Trish typed them up. It was to not only help her but also a way for me to keep up with the ‘inner workings’ of the bank. I hadn’t seen the ones for the special meeting from the week before so asked her about it. She said Bert, the president, wanted to do it and she hadn’t seen them since giving them to him. I asked about the previous day’s minutes and was told Hobie hadn’t yet dictated them to her. Those were actually the minutes I wanted to see.
By Friday afternoon Bret had concluded that there was no way to add another desk. However, with a stroke of luck we stumbled on a place for another desk... under the stairs to the second floor. We laid out some yardsticks we used as give-aways to simulate the space a desk and chairs would occupy and felt it had possibilities. We located Hobie and as soon as I saw him blurted out that ”we found a place for the new guy“. I could see he didn’t take too kindly to way I phrased it but followed us to the stairs. After looking it over he totally surprised us by saying he’d move over to it. I had to ask why and his answer was something like ”he’s going to be here to work, not hidden away“. I got the message. Then he said he’d go across the street to the office supply store to pick out a desk and chairs on Monday.
It was my Friday to work late but before she left for the day Trish managed to slip a message to me. It told me to wait until everyone was gone and then go check her pending file. As I’ve written before, Trish and I were pretty much ‘in sync’ so I knew it was important. The hard part was waiting until after 6pm. After I made a complete ‘sweep’ of the building I made my way to her desk. Under the typewriter return was a pull out that had three trays. The top one was for things she had yet to type. Positive that there was no one there but me, I pulled the tray out and right there on top was the draft of the minutes from Wednesday’s meeting. I scanned the pages and on the third one I found the reason why she’d given me the note.
To be continued...
One thing that Elle really disliked was having the phone ring while eating. With it being after 6pm the girls had already eaten and it was just Elle and I. We allowed the girls to answer the phone and had taught them how to do it politely. The problem was the two oldest would race to get to the phone first. So, when it rang that night the last person I expected it to be was Hobie. Jean came to get me and when she told me who it was she used his surname, just as she was instructed to do, but it took me a few seconds for it to register.
My first reaction was that something had happened at the bank. His opening words were to apologize for cutting me short. He told me he didn’t want to take me away from my family and asked me to meet him in the Board room at 8:30am. I already knew that he had to have been upset about something that had happened in the meeting but didn’t think it concerned me. Now, with this call, I wasn’t sure. I tried to think of what it might have been. Random thoughts populated my thoughts for the rest of the evening. Elle, who continued to be in a good mood, picked up on it but didn’t make an issue of it.
It was a restless sleep for me and I was up well before the alarm went off. I was at the bank even before the scheduled time but noticed Hobie’s car was also there. Since it was prior to 8:30am, Mike wasn’t there to let me in. Once inside I headed up the back stairs and into the Board room. I found Hobie standing by the window looking out to the back parking lot. Before I could say anything he commented that by Monday we should have all our parking spaces back. I went to the window and saw he was looking at what was left of the pile of snow that had been plowed from the lot. He quickly turned towards the table and pointed at a chair indicating he wanted me to sit. I remember taking a deep breath.
As important as what he had to tell me was I really can’t remember the exact words he used. Basically, what he said was that the Board had approved the hiring of a manager for the new branch. He was still talking as I was trying to understand why they would do that when the earliest the branch would open was five and a half months away. With my mind on that thought I missed the first part of the next thing he had to say. I did pick up that he would be starting at the end of the month. The next thought was on just where he’d sit. Thinking of how the desks on the platform were placed I couldn’t visualize another one being added as Bret, Hobie and I barely had enough room to wait on customers. But Hobie wasn’t done and he continued on by saying that the guy would be joining the bank as an officer. That news took me back to when I was hired and the fact that I had to go through a probationary period before being promoted. By then I had a lot of questions and as soon as I started he got defensive. Without letting me finish even my first one he stated, rather firmly, that he was not a party to any of the decision making concerning his hire. The branch sub committee had done the interviewing, made the choice and the person was presented to the whole Board. I knew him well enough to be able to recognize he wasn’t all that pleased with the way it had been handled but kept quiet. He finished up by asking me to have patience and to see how it all worked out. Before leaving he gave me the task of figuring out how to get another desk on the officer’s platform. I don’t really know how long I sat there before going downstairs to my desk. My head was spinning.
Hobie hadn’t told me not to say anything about the new person. Since he’d be located with Hobie, Bret and me I went right to Bret. He wasn’t quite as concerned as I until I told him that he would be sharing space on the platform. That did get his attention. I told him about having to figure out a location for another desk and he volunteered to come up with some ideas. I liked that because he was continuing to show initiative.
One of the things that I’d taken to doing was proof reading the minutes of the Board meetings after Trish typed them up. It was to not only help her but also a way for me to keep up with the ‘inner workings’ of the bank. I hadn’t seen the ones for the special meeting from the week before so asked her about it. She said Bert, the president, wanted to do it and she hadn’t seen them since giving them to him. I asked about the previous day’s minutes and was told Hobie hadn’t yet dictated them to her. Those were actually the minutes I wanted to see.
By Friday afternoon Bret had concluded that there was no way to add another desk. However, with a stroke of luck we stumbled on a place for another desk... under the stairs to the second floor. We laid out some yardsticks we used as give-aways to simulate the space a desk and chairs would occupy and felt it had possibilities. We located Hobie and as soon as I saw him blurted out that ”we found a place for the new guy“. I could see he didn’t take too kindly to way I phrased it but followed us to the stairs. After looking it over he totally surprised us by saying he’d move over to it. I had to ask why and his answer was something like ”he’s going to be here to work, not hidden away“. I got the message. Then he said he’d go across the street to the office supply store to pick out a desk and chairs on Monday.
It was my Friday to work late but before she left for the day Trish managed to slip a message to me. It told me to wait until everyone was gone and then go check her pending file. As I’ve written before, Trish and I were pretty much ‘in sync’ so I knew it was important. The hard part was waiting until after 6pm. After I made a complete ‘sweep’ of the building I made my way to her desk. Under the typewriter return was a pull out that had three trays. The top one was for things she had yet to type. Positive that there was no one there but me, I pulled the tray out and right there on top was the draft of the minutes from Wednesday’s meeting. I scanned the pages and on the third one I found the reason why she’d given me the note.
To be continued...
Monday, October 17, 2016
An EXTRA post...
An EXTRA post...
Elle and I went out to dinner last night with another couple to celebrate our anniversary. They share the same date and we’ve celebrated together for the last few years. We used to see them fairly regularly until we moved two years ago. Since then it’s just on our anniversary so we spent the afternoon ‘visiting’. Then we went to our favorite Italian restaurant located at our regional mall. After a delightful meal we were out in the parking lot saying our goodbyes when something caught my eye.
Elle and I were facing the other couple and I could see a woman standing behind a partially open car door. What got my attention was that I could see her bare legs under the door and they were going up and down like she was marching or something. What was especially interesting was that she wasn’t wearing shoes. Initially, I’d seen her sort of duck down and disappear for a few seconds. I tried to keep an eye on her while we finished up with our friends. As I was shaking Tom’s hand I saw something white appear at her ankles. THAT... got my full attention and fortunately the people had started walking away. I was sure that Elle, standing beside me, was oblivious to what I’d witnessed. And, I wasn’t really sure myself... but desperately wanted to find out. Then the lady got in the car and had started it up as we walked in front of it.
We walked to our car, which was about six or seven cars down the line, with me trying to come up with some way to go back to inspect the little pile of white. As soon as I unlocked the door I called to Elle that I’d left the credit card at the table. Without waiting for her acknowledgement I started jogging back hoping that no one had pulled into the spot. As I rounded the last parked car I saw it. Still jogging, I reached down and picked it up. I could feel it was damp and balled it up in my left hand to hide it. To make the situation ‘real’ I had to go inside the restaurant. I stood in the waiting area for a minute and then headed back. There was no chance to peek at what I was holding but I had to figure out what to do with it when I got to the car. Still in my left hand I opened the door and saw the little tray next to the seat that holds the ice scraper. I climbed in and promptly dropped it into the tray, Elle completely unaware.
Needless to say I was super excited but didn’t know for sure just what I had. I had to wait until this morning to find out... but it was worth the wait. It was what I hoped they were... panties... and were damp with pee... a real prize. The only missing piece was that I had no real idea of what the woman looked like or her age. But as they say... beggars can’t be choosey.
BTW: they are made by Vanity Fair and are size7. I’m not sure what the material is though... feels somewhat like cotton but I’m sure it isn’t. I think it’s one of the new fabrics that have come on the market. They don’t have tags that tell you what the fabric is or how to launder it any more. Now they just print the logo and size on the panty. I liked it the old way!
Elle and I went out to dinner last night with another couple to celebrate our anniversary. They share the same date and we’ve celebrated together for the last few years. We used to see them fairly regularly until we moved two years ago. Since then it’s just on our anniversary so we spent the afternoon ‘visiting’. Then we went to our favorite Italian restaurant located at our regional mall. After a delightful meal we were out in the parking lot saying our goodbyes when something caught my eye.
Elle and I were facing the other couple and I could see a woman standing behind a partially open car door. What got my attention was that I could see her bare legs under the door and they were going up and down like she was marching or something. What was especially interesting was that she wasn’t wearing shoes. Initially, I’d seen her sort of duck down and disappear for a few seconds. I tried to keep an eye on her while we finished up with our friends. As I was shaking Tom’s hand I saw something white appear at her ankles. THAT... got my full attention and fortunately the people had started walking away. I was sure that Elle, standing beside me, was oblivious to what I’d witnessed. And, I wasn’t really sure myself... but desperately wanted to find out. Then the lady got in the car and had started it up as we walked in front of it.
We walked to our car, which was about six or seven cars down the line, with me trying to come up with some way to go back to inspect the little pile of white. As soon as I unlocked the door I called to Elle that I’d left the credit card at the table. Without waiting for her acknowledgement I started jogging back hoping that no one had pulled into the spot. As I rounded the last parked car I saw it. Still jogging, I reached down and picked it up. I could feel it was damp and balled it up in my left hand to hide it. To make the situation ‘real’ I had to go inside the restaurant. I stood in the waiting area for a minute and then headed back. There was no chance to peek at what I was holding but I had to figure out what to do with it when I got to the car. Still in my left hand I opened the door and saw the little tray next to the seat that holds the ice scraper. I climbed in and promptly dropped it into the tray, Elle completely unaware.
Needless to say I was super excited but didn’t know for sure just what I had. I had to wait until this morning to find out... but it was worth the wait. It was what I hoped they were... panties... and were damp with pee... a real prize. The only missing piece was that I had no real idea of what the woman looked like or her age. But as they say... beggars can’t be choosey.
BTW: they are made by Vanity Fair and are size7. I’m not sure what the material is though... feels somewhat like cotton but I’m sure it isn’t. I think it’s one of the new fabrics that have come on the market. They don’t have tags that tell you what the fabric is or how to launder it any more. Now they just print the logo and size on the panty. I liked it the old way!
 |
| Found 10/16/16 |
Sunday, October 16, 2016
ANOTHER YEAR... with new adventures (Part 151k)
ANOTHER YEAR... new adventures (Part 151k)
With the ‘busy period’ over lobby traffic had returned to normal. Bret and I were able to get together Friday to assess the performance of the tellers over the previous two weeks and were generally pleased. I’d been impressed with Lorie. With absolutely no preparation and no teller experience she’d done an admirable job of overseeing the tellers during the whole time. I was surprised... but still wished that it had been Gina in the position. I made a mental note to call to her new bank to see how she was doing. While Bret and I were talking I reminded him that there was a good chance that Janet would be leaving before the next busy period, Her husband, a pilot stationed at the Air Force base just down the road, was only there on a temporary basis. I’d hired her knowing that and, in spite of some minor personality problems, had been pleased with her performance. During the ‘busy period, I’d used Jaz as a runner at the drive up window. Technically, she should’ve been let go when we converted to the service bureau but I convinced Hobie to keep her on until we were comfortable that there were no problems. I threw the idea of training her as a teller to Bret, mentioning the potential loss of Janet. He liked the idea but didn’t think Hobie would go for it. I told him that the worst case was he’d say ”No“. Bret also brought up the fact that customer complaints about the new system had dropped off. I told him that I thought that they’d soon see how much faster making deposits had become. As I was talking I was watching Cara, in the nearest teller window, take a deposit, put the passbook into the machine and then hand it back to the depositor in less than a minute. It was then that I wished that we’d timed a deposit before the change.
It was about 2pm when I saw a courier come across the lobby floor. He went to Trish and asked for where he could find the president of the bank. She directed him to the elevator and then turned to me and said she thought he had the retirement statements for us. I’d been wondering just when the material would get there. I’d been excited all day. The night before I got out some of my old pay stubs and tried to figure out how much I’d paid in. My guess was around $500 but I’d been told when I switched banks that what I’d paid in by the other bank would be carried forward. I had no idea what that amount might be so, all in all I knew I’d be in for a surprise.
It was Lena, the president’s secretary, who handed the envelopes out. I took a deep breath as I tore the envelope open. The amount was over $600. I know it was wishful thinking but I hoped that it was more. My thoughts quickly switched to where Elle and I could go on that amount of money to celebrate our anniversary. I had disciplined myself to not do much in the way of searching places to go but now I could. One of the bank’s customers owned a travel bureau and my plan was to stop on my way home.
Mrs. B had a good reputation and I’d hinted to her that I might be interested on taking a trip the last time she’d been at the bank. I gave her a call to see how late she’d be at her office. Initially, she said she’d be leaving at 5pm but asked why I wanted to know. I explained and she, willingly, agreed to stay and to meet with me. Long story short, I told her how much money I had to spend and she said she’d come up with some package deals that might be of interest. I left highly excited but under enough control not to give any hints to Elle. It was hard. At home, Elle asked me why I was in such a good mood. I put her off by saying that it was due to the fact that the ‘busy period’ was over and things would slow down at work for awhile. There’s no memory of anything of significance for the rest of the weekend.
The next week at work was when the regular Board of Trustees was to meet. With so much happening at the special meeting I wondered why they were even having it. I asked Hobie about it and he seemed a little short with his answer. I knew well enough not to press him on it. When Trish was typing up the agenda I made a point of trying to get a peek at it. The only thing I could see that caught my interest was the item ”Nominating Committee“. As far as I knew the only time they would be on the agenda was when there was someone being made an officer or for an officer being promoted to a higher position. I went through the roster of employees and couldn’t imagine anyone fitting either category. All I could do was wait until after the meeting.
I made a point of watching the Trustees as they arrived. I knew who was on the nominating committee and wondered why I didn’t see any of them entering. It was about fifteen minutes later when I saw them walking across the lobby floor. What made it interesting was that they were escorting someone who I’d never seen before. I was confused but not concerned. It was about a half hour later when I saw the man being escorted to the rear door by the chairman of the nominating committee. I began to wonder if one of the Board had decided to retire and this man was his replacement. I knew they had talked about finding representation from the area where the new branch would be built and figured that was the answer.
As usual, I waited for Hobie to go over the meeting with him. However, Hobie, quite uncharacteristically, told me he had to leave right away and , basically, walked away from me. That bothered me... a lot.
To be continued...
With the ‘busy period’ over lobby traffic had returned to normal. Bret and I were able to get together Friday to assess the performance of the tellers over the previous two weeks and were generally pleased. I’d been impressed with Lorie. With absolutely no preparation and no teller experience she’d done an admirable job of overseeing the tellers during the whole time. I was surprised... but still wished that it had been Gina in the position. I made a mental note to call to her new bank to see how she was doing. While Bret and I were talking I reminded him that there was a good chance that Janet would be leaving before the next busy period, Her husband, a pilot stationed at the Air Force base just down the road, was only there on a temporary basis. I’d hired her knowing that and, in spite of some minor personality problems, had been pleased with her performance. During the ‘busy period, I’d used Jaz as a runner at the drive up window. Technically, she should’ve been let go when we converted to the service bureau but I convinced Hobie to keep her on until we were comfortable that there were no problems. I threw the idea of training her as a teller to Bret, mentioning the potential loss of Janet. He liked the idea but didn’t think Hobie would go for it. I told him that the worst case was he’d say ”No“. Bret also brought up the fact that customer complaints about the new system had dropped off. I told him that I thought that they’d soon see how much faster making deposits had become. As I was talking I was watching Cara, in the nearest teller window, take a deposit, put the passbook into the machine and then hand it back to the depositor in less than a minute. It was then that I wished that we’d timed a deposit before the change.
It was about 2pm when I saw a courier come across the lobby floor. He went to Trish and asked for where he could find the president of the bank. She directed him to the elevator and then turned to me and said she thought he had the retirement statements for us. I’d been wondering just when the material would get there. I’d been excited all day. The night before I got out some of my old pay stubs and tried to figure out how much I’d paid in. My guess was around $500 but I’d been told when I switched banks that what I’d paid in by the other bank would be carried forward. I had no idea what that amount might be so, all in all I knew I’d be in for a surprise.
It was Lena, the president’s secretary, who handed the envelopes out. I took a deep breath as I tore the envelope open. The amount was over $600. I know it was wishful thinking but I hoped that it was more. My thoughts quickly switched to where Elle and I could go on that amount of money to celebrate our anniversary. I had disciplined myself to not do much in the way of searching places to go but now I could. One of the bank’s customers owned a travel bureau and my plan was to stop on my way home.
Mrs. B had a good reputation and I’d hinted to her that I might be interested on taking a trip the last time she’d been at the bank. I gave her a call to see how late she’d be at her office. Initially, she said she’d be leaving at 5pm but asked why I wanted to know. I explained and she, willingly, agreed to stay and to meet with me. Long story short, I told her how much money I had to spend and she said she’d come up with some package deals that might be of interest. I left highly excited but under enough control not to give any hints to Elle. It was hard. At home, Elle asked me why I was in such a good mood. I put her off by saying that it was due to the fact that the ‘busy period’ was over and things would slow down at work for awhile. There’s no memory of anything of significance for the rest of the weekend.
The next week at work was when the regular Board of Trustees was to meet. With so much happening at the special meeting I wondered why they were even having it. I asked Hobie about it and he seemed a little short with his answer. I knew well enough not to press him on it. When Trish was typing up the agenda I made a point of trying to get a peek at it. The only thing I could see that caught my interest was the item ”Nominating Committee“. As far as I knew the only time they would be on the agenda was when there was someone being made an officer or for an officer being promoted to a higher position. I went through the roster of employees and couldn’t imagine anyone fitting either category. All I could do was wait until after the meeting.
I made a point of watching the Trustees as they arrived. I knew who was on the nominating committee and wondered why I didn’t see any of them entering. It was about fifteen minutes later when I saw them walking across the lobby floor. What made it interesting was that they were escorting someone who I’d never seen before. I was confused but not concerned. It was about a half hour later when I saw the man being escorted to the rear door by the chairman of the nominating committee. I began to wonder if one of the Board had decided to retire and this man was his replacement. I knew they had talked about finding representation from the area where the new branch would be built and figured that was the answer.
As usual, I waited for Hobie to go over the meeting with him. However, Hobie, quite uncharacteristically, told me he had to leave right away and , basically, walked away from me. That bothered me... a lot.
To be continued...
Friday, October 14, 2016
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...
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...
Wednesday, October 12, 2016
ANOTHER YEAR.. with new adventures (Part 151i)
ANOTHER YEAR... new adventures (Part 151i)
**************************************
BRAIN FADE... I was really tired the other night when I wrote the closing part of the previous post (Part 151h) and completely overlooked my notes. Having said that... here’s more. Sorry ‘bout that.
***************************************
With a memory of Barbara’s DP fresh in my mind and a burning desire to know about the two waist elastics I’d seen I headed for home. The first thing I smelled when I walked in was an apple pie baking in the oven. It had been months since the last one. Elle was at the kitchen sink and as soon as she saw me I saw a big smile on her face. It had been a week since I’d seen the last one. An apple pie and a smile... for sure, something was up. It turned out that Gracie’s letter of thanks and Elle’s panties had come that day. As soon as she told me I wanted to see the letter but she wouldn’t show it to me. I had to settle for her being in a good mood and a fresh, warm apple pie. It was mid afternoon but I asked if I could have a piece while it was still warm. Under normal circumstances she would’ve held me at bay saying it was for dinner. But, she cut me a big piece and, on the plate, I could see the steam rising from it. While I waited for it to cool she nodded her head for me to follow her. I asked where the girls were and she pointed to the den. I thought that was where she was taking me but she stopped and turned into the bathroom. Another surprise!. Now I was really wondering what was in that letter.
Sitting down on the toilet with her panties down, I wasn't sure what she had in mind. It turned out that she managed to save some for when she stood up. With my hand between her legs it was certainly enough for a substantial ‘rising’. Because the girls were right around the corner she didn’t let me 'visit' very long. However, after week of no touching it was a major improvement, enough for me to start thinking about bedtime.
The pie, as always, was scrumptious. When the girls discovered me eating it they wanted some too. By the time we’d all finished so was half the pie. Elle had sat down with us which surprised me. Knowing her panties were wet I thought, for sure, she’d go upstairs to change. When it was time to clear the table I could see a nice wet spot on her rear. As I’ve written a number of times in prior posts, the older girls were well aware of Elle’s ‘problem’ and had been well schooled about saying anything about it. Kaye, at a little over three years old, sort of understood but as Elle walked away from the table blurted out ”Mommy’ you wet your pants!“. It was actually funny because the older two were all over her telling her not to ever talk about that. I thought Elle would promptly go and change... but she didn’t. We all ended up playing games on the living room floor. I wasn’t sure just what was going through Elle’s mind but I sure was enjoying it. My hope for some bedtime ‘action’ did come to fruition. It had been some time since the last and I do remember that my performance was less than sterling. As we snuggled up to go to sleep I remember thinking that I’d do better in the morning. However, when morning arrived we found that the 7am alarm hadn’t gone off. Since I was the vestryman on duty at the early service at church I had to hustle to get there to open the doors... and there would be no time for ‘amour’. However, upon my return Elle made me waffles for breakfast... almost as good as sex. (NOT!)
Monday was shaping up to be a ‘bear’ of a day what with Friday being so slow because of the snow. Many of the ‘regulars’ who would usually come in to cash their paychecks hadn’t, plus, we were still in the 'busy period'. My focus was on having all the tellers prepared for the expected onslaught. What I hadn’t figured on was when the snow was plowed in the parking lot it ended up being pushed to the back and in such a way that we lost a whole bunch of parking places. So... some of the customers were ‘steamed’ because they had a hard time finding a place to park. As if that wasn’t enough, we had intermittent interruptions with the phone lines. Basically, there were a lot of unhappy customers.
What really blindsided me was when I started hearing some employees asking when they were to receive their money from the retirement plan. The only three people who knew that the dollar amounts were ready were Trish, Hobie and me. I knew I hadn’t ‘leaked' it and was positive that Hobie wouldn’t do such a thing. That left Trish and I felt terrible when I asked her if she’d mentioned it to anyone. When she said she hadn’t she gave me a ‘look’ that I hadn’t seen from her going all the way back to right after I’d started. I was really puzzled and turned to Hobie to warn him that there were some ‘rumblings’ going around. I don’t remember him saying anything but I do remember him leaving his desk and heading for the elevator.
I’ll admit I was a bit concerned about the possibility of J J finding that his picture was missing. I’m not sure if it was wishful thinking on my part or not but I felt somewhat confident that with all the other pieces of paper in that drawer that it would be a while before he made the discovery. When the phone rang and I picked it up to hear J J’s voice... I held my breath. He was mad... actually, he was pissed... but not directly with me.
It turned out that the source of the question of where the retirement money was had came from him. He was calling me to say he didn’t understand why he’d just gotten reamed out by Bert and Hobie for asking. I only asked him one question and it was to ask him just who he asked about the money. He told me it was the lady who was his assistant. She was a long time employee and one who was going to be getting a fair amount of money back. As soon as he told me I knew what had happened. She was the ‘gossip queen’ of the bank. I also knew why he’d gotten an earful and that was because, typical J J, he didn’t think the situation through. If he’d asked me, the person who’d worked on the project (and a bank officer) or Hobie it would’ve stayed quiet. I wanted to call him an A__ H___ right then and there but Bret had a customer at his desk.
When Hobie returned to his desk I could see he was not very happy. I knew better than to say anything. A few minutes later he called to me to say there was going to be a special Board of Trustees meeting on Wednesday, a week earlier than the regularly scheduled one. I asked if it had to do with the retirement money and he nodded that it did but it was primarily to finalize the contract on the new branch office. I’d just about forgotten about that. I thought he was finished but he closed by saying that the owner of the local radio station would be there as well. It had been a very interesting morning!
To be continued...
**************************************
BRAIN FADE... I was really tired the other night when I wrote the closing part of the previous post (Part 151h) and completely overlooked my notes. Having said that... here’s more. Sorry ‘bout that.
***************************************
With a memory of Barbara’s DP fresh in my mind and a burning desire to know about the two waist elastics I’d seen I headed for home. The first thing I smelled when I walked in was an apple pie baking in the oven. It had been months since the last one. Elle was at the kitchen sink and as soon as she saw me I saw a big smile on her face. It had been a week since I’d seen the last one. An apple pie and a smile... for sure, something was up. It turned out that Gracie’s letter of thanks and Elle’s panties had come that day. As soon as she told me I wanted to see the letter but she wouldn’t show it to me. I had to settle for her being in a good mood and a fresh, warm apple pie. It was mid afternoon but I asked if I could have a piece while it was still warm. Under normal circumstances she would’ve held me at bay saying it was for dinner. But, she cut me a big piece and, on the plate, I could see the steam rising from it. While I waited for it to cool she nodded her head for me to follow her. I asked where the girls were and she pointed to the den. I thought that was where she was taking me but she stopped and turned into the bathroom. Another surprise!. Now I was really wondering what was in that letter.
Sitting down on the toilet with her panties down, I wasn't sure what she had in mind. It turned out that she managed to save some for when she stood up. With my hand between her legs it was certainly enough for a substantial ‘rising’. Because the girls were right around the corner she didn’t let me 'visit' very long. However, after week of no touching it was a major improvement, enough for me to start thinking about bedtime.
The pie, as always, was scrumptious. When the girls discovered me eating it they wanted some too. By the time we’d all finished so was half the pie. Elle had sat down with us which surprised me. Knowing her panties were wet I thought, for sure, she’d go upstairs to change. When it was time to clear the table I could see a nice wet spot on her rear. As I’ve written a number of times in prior posts, the older girls were well aware of Elle’s ‘problem’ and had been well schooled about saying anything about it. Kaye, at a little over three years old, sort of understood but as Elle walked away from the table blurted out ”Mommy’ you wet your pants!“. It was actually funny because the older two were all over her telling her not to ever talk about that. I thought Elle would promptly go and change... but she didn’t. We all ended up playing games on the living room floor. I wasn’t sure just what was going through Elle’s mind but I sure was enjoying it. My hope for some bedtime ‘action’ did come to fruition. It had been some time since the last and I do remember that my performance was less than sterling. As we snuggled up to go to sleep I remember thinking that I’d do better in the morning. However, when morning arrived we found that the 7am alarm hadn’t gone off. Since I was the vestryman on duty at the early service at church I had to hustle to get there to open the doors... and there would be no time for ‘amour’. However, upon my return Elle made me waffles for breakfast... almost as good as sex. (NOT!)
Monday was shaping up to be a ‘bear’ of a day what with Friday being so slow because of the snow. Many of the ‘regulars’ who would usually come in to cash their paychecks hadn’t, plus, we were still in the 'busy period'. My focus was on having all the tellers prepared for the expected onslaught. What I hadn’t figured on was when the snow was plowed in the parking lot it ended up being pushed to the back and in such a way that we lost a whole bunch of parking places. So... some of the customers were ‘steamed’ because they had a hard time finding a place to park. As if that wasn’t enough, we had intermittent interruptions with the phone lines. Basically, there were a lot of unhappy customers.
What really blindsided me was when I started hearing some employees asking when they were to receive their money from the retirement plan. The only three people who knew that the dollar amounts were ready were Trish, Hobie and me. I knew I hadn’t ‘leaked' it and was positive that Hobie wouldn’t do such a thing. That left Trish and I felt terrible when I asked her if she’d mentioned it to anyone. When she said she hadn’t she gave me a ‘look’ that I hadn’t seen from her going all the way back to right after I’d started. I was really puzzled and turned to Hobie to warn him that there were some ‘rumblings’ going around. I don’t remember him saying anything but I do remember him leaving his desk and heading for the elevator.
I’ll admit I was a bit concerned about the possibility of J J finding that his picture was missing. I’m not sure if it was wishful thinking on my part or not but I felt somewhat confident that with all the other pieces of paper in that drawer that it would be a while before he made the discovery. When the phone rang and I picked it up to hear J J’s voice... I held my breath. He was mad... actually, he was pissed... but not directly with me.
It turned out that the source of the question of where the retirement money was had came from him. He was calling me to say he didn’t understand why he’d just gotten reamed out by Bert and Hobie for asking. I only asked him one question and it was to ask him just who he asked about the money. He told me it was the lady who was his assistant. She was a long time employee and one who was going to be getting a fair amount of money back. As soon as he told me I knew what had happened. She was the ‘gossip queen’ of the bank. I also knew why he’d gotten an earful and that was because, typical J J, he didn’t think the situation through. If he’d asked me, the person who’d worked on the project (and a bank officer) or Hobie it would’ve stayed quiet. I wanted to call him an A__ H___ right then and there but Bret had a customer at his desk.
When Hobie returned to his desk I could see he was not very happy. I knew better than to say anything. A few minutes later he called to me to say there was going to be a special Board of Trustees meeting on Wednesday, a week earlier than the regularly scheduled one. I asked if it had to do with the retirement money and he nodded that it did but it was primarily to finalize the contract on the new branch office. I’d just about forgotten about that. I thought he was finished but he closed by saying that the owner of the local radio station would be there as well. It had been a very interesting morning!
To be continued...
Monday, October 10, 2016
ANOTHER YEAR... new adventures (Part 151h)
ANOTHER YEAR... new adventures (Part 151h)
I knew that if I found what I was looking for there wouldn’t be much time to get it to Gee and for him to get to the court house. In J J’s office I started with the middle drawer and found it to be locked. I checked the side drawers and saw no obvious envelope. What I did see was a key in a small tray holding pens, paper clips and the like. I hesitated before picking it up. Remembering the tone of Gee’s voice, I placed it in the lock and was hoping that I didn’t find it as I didn’t want J J to know I’d been prying into his stuff. Pulling it open I breathed a sigh of relief when there was no large envelope. However, now that it was open I did take a quick look at what he had in it. Mostly scraps of paper with notes scribbled on them. I did see a small white envelope with a picture partially exposed. I hesitated before picking it up. Once in my hand I quickly pulled the picture out... and, to put it bluntly... almost s__t myself. I recognized who it was immediately... Lynne, J J’s secretary.
There had been some ‘whispers’ that J J and Lynne were just a bit too ‘cozy’. I’d overheard Bob, the bank appraiser, mentioning that to Lena. I, myself, had a suspicion and had mentioned it to Bret one night when we were working late. I thought everybody from the second floor had gone and then I saw Lynne come down the stairs with J J. They never looked over where we were working and I told Bret that it appeared that they were surprised to find us still there. He just smiled.
I stared at the picture and tried to conjure up how J J had convinced Lynne to even have a picture like this taken. As I was putting it back in the envelope I noticed some writing on the front of it. In script were the words ”To John“ with a big cursive ”L“ underneath it. John was J J’s given name but I’d never heard anyone call him by that in all the time he’d been working at the bank. Seeing what was on the front of the envelope was, to me, proof of his having some sort of relationship with Lynne. Even after all these years I can’t give a specific reason why I decided to take the picture and the envelope.
It was probably a combination of things. Being mad at J J was probably my main focus. I liked J J but he continually failed to use good judgement. One of the comments I’d heard Hobie say, on more than one occasion, was that J J knew his mortgages but lacked good common sense about life in general. I’ve written about how he’d come to see me wanting something right away and be totally ignorant of what I was doing being it waiting on a customer or talking on the phone. Not that I condone ”affairs“, but I do remember thinking that he could’ve found someone other than his secretary to get involved with.
I was disappointed in Lynne, even cutting her some slack for being young and naive. Her family was well known in the Polish community with her mother leading one of the Catholic charities in the area. I was concerned back when J J ‘appropriated’ her as his secretary and even spoke to her giving her a gentle warning about J J. It was obvious that it went unheeded. J J, with five kids, was struggling financially and, to my way of thinking, if something happened and Lynne got pregnant he’d be in real trouble.
So, as I left the bank that night I had the picture. I was almost positive that when J J found it missing he’d not be able to trace it back to me. I’d put it in my briefcase with the intention of putting it with all my other pictures. I’d purchased a few mini photo albums that held 72 pictures each and I could fit four of them in a shoe box. The shoe boxes were perfect for most of my ‘stash’ of panties because they’d fit behind the drawer in the bottom of the cedar closet in Anne’s room. Now, the question was when I could get into the closet without being seen.
The roads were clear on the way home so I made it in good time. I neglected to call Elle to tell her I’d be early so she was surprised. We’d made good progress on overcoming the fallout from Gracie’s visit and arriving early helped even more. It meant she could start supper early and be out of the kitchen in time to watch the news on TV. Eating dinner the conversation was normal with the kids describing the fun they had with the ”mountain“ that John, the farmer, had made with the snow from the driveway. Later, with Elle still in a good mood, I even started thinking about some ‘extra curricular activity’. However, that didn’t pan out but she did let me snuggle into her backside when we went to bed. ”Little victories!“ was my thought as I drifted off to sleep.
As a result of the heavy wet snow there was some residual yard clean up to do on Saturday. As was typical for the area when it snowed, the temperature had risen about 10 degrees making for the snow to turn to slush. The kids were disappointed and so was I. The sidewalks around the church had to be shoveled and it was my turn for the duty. Not fun! While I was there Phyllis and her girls showed up. When the day care was closed on Thursday night it was expected that it would be open Friday and at the end of the day the place would be cleaned up so it would be ready for the church goers on Sunday. It didn’t happen so they were there to do it Saturday. I always enjoyed seeing the girls, especially Barbara. I came inside after finishing up and saw that they’d gotten most of their things boxed up. Barbara was in the process of attempting to push a big cardboard box into the closet but it was stuck so I went over to help. As she bent down I was presented with a very nice DP (downpants). It was especially nice because there were two waist elastics to view. I recognized one as being on the Lollipop panties I knew she wore but didn’t recognize the other. Something new to ponder.
======================================
Since I’ll be putting this thread (Part 151) to bed I thought I’d fill you in on the missing envelope which is what led me to Lynne’s picture.
J J had given it to Mike, the messenger custodian, when he left on Thursday night telling him to deliver it first thing on Friday morning. Since Mike never made it in it didn’t get delivered until Monday morning. Also, the reason J J didn’t answer the phone was that he’d been called by someone at his church to come and help them out. The heavy snow had collapsed the roof in the annex of the building and they were trying to move the priest’s vestments to a dry area and to get the hole covered. His wife had gone with him so no one was home to answer the phone. I never did find out where Lynne was when I'd called, not that it mattered.
To be continued...
I knew that if I found what I was looking for there wouldn’t be much time to get it to Gee and for him to get to the court house. In J J’s office I started with the middle drawer and found it to be locked. I checked the side drawers and saw no obvious envelope. What I did see was a key in a small tray holding pens, paper clips and the like. I hesitated before picking it up. Remembering the tone of Gee’s voice, I placed it in the lock and was hoping that I didn’t find it as I didn’t want J J to know I’d been prying into his stuff. Pulling it open I breathed a sigh of relief when there was no large envelope. However, now that it was open I did take a quick look at what he had in it. Mostly scraps of paper with notes scribbled on them. I did see a small white envelope with a picture partially exposed. I hesitated before picking it up. Once in my hand I quickly pulled the picture out... and, to put it bluntly... almost s__t myself. I recognized who it was immediately... Lynne, J J’s secretary.
There had been some ‘whispers’ that J J and Lynne were just a bit too ‘cozy’. I’d overheard Bob, the bank appraiser, mentioning that to Lena. I, myself, had a suspicion and had mentioned it to Bret one night when we were working late. I thought everybody from the second floor had gone and then I saw Lynne come down the stairs with J J. They never looked over where we were working and I told Bret that it appeared that they were surprised to find us still there. He just smiled.
I stared at the picture and tried to conjure up how J J had convinced Lynne to even have a picture like this taken. As I was putting it back in the envelope I noticed some writing on the front of it. In script were the words ”To John“ with a big cursive ”L“ underneath it. John was J J’s given name but I’d never heard anyone call him by that in all the time he’d been working at the bank. Seeing what was on the front of the envelope was, to me, proof of his having some sort of relationship with Lynne. Even after all these years I can’t give a specific reason why I decided to take the picture and the envelope.
It was probably a combination of things. Being mad at J J was probably my main focus. I liked J J but he continually failed to use good judgement. One of the comments I’d heard Hobie say, on more than one occasion, was that J J knew his mortgages but lacked good common sense about life in general. I’ve written about how he’d come to see me wanting something right away and be totally ignorant of what I was doing being it waiting on a customer or talking on the phone. Not that I condone ”affairs“, but I do remember thinking that he could’ve found someone other than his secretary to get involved with.
I was disappointed in Lynne, even cutting her some slack for being young and naive. Her family was well known in the Polish community with her mother leading one of the Catholic charities in the area. I was concerned back when J J ‘appropriated’ her as his secretary and even spoke to her giving her a gentle warning about J J. It was obvious that it went unheeded. J J, with five kids, was struggling financially and, to my way of thinking, if something happened and Lynne got pregnant he’d be in real trouble.
So, as I left the bank that night I had the picture. I was almost positive that when J J found it missing he’d not be able to trace it back to me. I’d put it in my briefcase with the intention of putting it with all my other pictures. I’d purchased a few mini photo albums that held 72 pictures each and I could fit four of them in a shoe box. The shoe boxes were perfect for most of my ‘stash’ of panties because they’d fit behind the drawer in the bottom of the cedar closet in Anne’s room. Now, the question was when I could get into the closet without being seen.
The roads were clear on the way home so I made it in good time. I neglected to call Elle to tell her I’d be early so she was surprised. We’d made good progress on overcoming the fallout from Gracie’s visit and arriving early helped even more. It meant she could start supper early and be out of the kitchen in time to watch the news on TV. Eating dinner the conversation was normal with the kids describing the fun they had with the ”mountain“ that John, the farmer, had made with the snow from the driveway. Later, with Elle still in a good mood, I even started thinking about some ‘extra curricular activity’. However, that didn’t pan out but she did let me snuggle into her backside when we went to bed. ”Little victories!“ was my thought as I drifted off to sleep.
As a result of the heavy wet snow there was some residual yard clean up to do on Saturday. As was typical for the area when it snowed, the temperature had risen about 10 degrees making for the snow to turn to slush. The kids were disappointed and so was I. The sidewalks around the church had to be shoveled and it was my turn for the duty. Not fun! While I was there Phyllis and her girls showed up. When the day care was closed on Thursday night it was expected that it would be open Friday and at the end of the day the place would be cleaned up so it would be ready for the church goers on Sunday. It didn’t happen so they were there to do it Saturday. I always enjoyed seeing the girls, especially Barbara. I came inside after finishing up and saw that they’d gotten most of their things boxed up. Barbara was in the process of attempting to push a big cardboard box into the closet but it was stuck so I went over to help. As she bent down I was presented with a very nice DP (downpants). It was especially nice because there were two waist elastics to view. I recognized one as being on the Lollipop panties I knew she wore but didn’t recognize the other. Something new to ponder.
======================================
Since I’ll be putting this thread (Part 151) to bed I thought I’d fill you in on the missing envelope which is what led me to Lynne’s picture.
J J had given it to Mike, the messenger custodian, when he left on Thursday night telling him to deliver it first thing on Friday morning. Since Mike never made it in it didn’t get delivered until Monday morning. Also, the reason J J didn’t answer the phone was that he’d been called by someone at his church to come and help them out. The heavy snow had collapsed the roof in the annex of the building and they were trying to move the priest’s vestments to a dry area and to get the hole covered. His wife had gone with him so no one was home to answer the phone. I never did find out where Lynne was when I'd called, not that it mattered.
To be continued...
Saturday, October 08, 2016
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...
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...
Thursday, October 06, 2016
ANOTHER YEAR... with new adventures (Part 151f)
ANOTHER YEAR... new adventures (Part 151f)
Long story short... A call was made to the station owner asking him for a meeting. Bert and Hobie went right over but they had gone down the back stairs and out the back door so I didn’t see them leave. With Hobie not back after about an hour I started getting really worried. When I saw him walking across the lobby I was puzzled... but not for long. I, more or less, expected to get reamed out for not letting him know about what had transpired the previous day but he was very calm. I was sitting at my desk and he was standing next to it when he told me that the bank was pulling all our advertising from the radio station. I was shocked. Then, he told me to call to have the owner’s wife’s car towed from our parking lot. That was almost as shocking. In fact, I don’t remember saying anything. As soon as he walked away I got Bret’s attention to tell him about towing the car. He was oblivious to all that had happened so far that morning but when he heard about the car I remember him pumping his fist. It was actually funny because we both absolutely hated that woman.
The customer fallout from the ‘news’ on the radio was fairly limited. We had prepped all the tellers to it and told them to get one of the officers if anybody seemed especially upset. I let Hobie know that the retirement numbers would be there in a few days and that seemed to lift his spirits as well. The only other thing that I remember from that day was calling Gracie, as I’d promised, to let her know how the day had gone. Of course I told her I was sending her panties. That triggered concern on her part of just how Elle had taken finding them. I didn’t tell her the truth saying that she understood about “those things”. I had to reassure her that everything was OK. Once I did I heard her chuckle so asked what was so funny. She didn’t want to tell me at first but I coaxed her into it. She said that she’d been so embarrassed when she'd asked to borrow panties that she just took them and put them right on. It wasn’t until later that she took a look at them and discovered that they were the same kind (Carter’s Spanky Pants) that her mother made her wear until she was in high school. Judging that she was in a good mood I decided to tease her a bit and asked if they made her feel like a little girl again. She laughed and when she did I took it a little further to ask how they felt after all these years. There was silence for a few seconds and then I heard her say “tolerable” and then laugh. I laughed too. Then she asked about returning them. Since Elle knew the whole story I decided to have her send them to the house. She said she liked that idea and would have a thank you letter to Elle along with them.
One thing I haven’t mentioned in a long time is snow. It wasn’t that we hadn’t had any but what little we had was more of an annoyance than trouble. We hadn’t had to plow the parking lot even once. I’d heard mention on the way to work that we might have some snow by the time it got dark. The weather man was right... for once. By the time I headed out the back door for home there was at least an inch on the ground. It didn’t concern me all that much at the time because the roads were relatively clear. It wasn’t until I listened to the car radio and found the forecast had changed. Even though I was listening to a city station there was mention made that our area might be in for as much as a foot of snow. Definitely not good news!
However, it gave me a great topic to arrive home with. Not sure how Elle’s mood would be I opened the door and yelled that there might not be school the next day. That got the attention of everybody, even Kaye. They were unaware that it had started to snow. Because the house was so drafty Elle would pull the curtains over the windows as it started to get dark. All of them walked out onto the patio to take a look and with the garage light on it was quite obvious that it was a heavy snow. Back inside, it was the topic of conversation which was fine with me. Elle remained cordial the rest of the evening. One type of storm had passed and now there was a different kind to weather.
I was awakened by the sound of a tractor outside our bedroom window It was our neighbor, John (the farmer) removing the snow from our driveway. It was around 6am. By the time I was dressed and outside he was gone. I looked at the pile of snow that he’d pushed out onto the lawn and was somewhat amazed as it was as high as my shoulders. I knew the kids would have fun with that. Back inside the house I tuned the radio for the station that covered our township to see if school had been cancelled. I had to wait because there were so many announcements. Finally, I got confirmation and headed upstairs to tell Elle. She was sound asleep but was glad to get the news. It had been a while since she'd taught on consecutive days and it had caught up with her. I told her I was leaving early because of the unknown condition of the roads. She offered to make my breakfast which was a complete surprise. It was progress but we still weren’t quite ‘there’ yet.
Picking out old clothes to wear for the trip in seemed to make sense to me. I took a change of clothes that would be acceptable for work after things got sorted out. I called Bret before I left just so he’d know I was on my way. Since he lived within walking distance I knew he could be there to open the doors for those who could make it in. He added that he’d called two of the tellers who also lived close by to say they would definitely be to work. Hearing that, I was proud of Bret. He didn’t always take the initiative and this was a good sign. Now it was time for me to ‘face the elements’.
To be continued...
Long story short... A call was made to the station owner asking him for a meeting. Bert and Hobie went right over but they had gone down the back stairs and out the back door so I didn’t see them leave. With Hobie not back after about an hour I started getting really worried. When I saw him walking across the lobby I was puzzled... but not for long. I, more or less, expected to get reamed out for not letting him know about what had transpired the previous day but he was very calm. I was sitting at my desk and he was standing next to it when he told me that the bank was pulling all our advertising from the radio station. I was shocked. Then, he told me to call to have the owner’s wife’s car towed from our parking lot. That was almost as shocking. In fact, I don’t remember saying anything. As soon as he walked away I got Bret’s attention to tell him about towing the car. He was oblivious to all that had happened so far that morning but when he heard about the car I remember him pumping his fist. It was actually funny because we both absolutely hated that woman.
The customer fallout from the ‘news’ on the radio was fairly limited. We had prepped all the tellers to it and told them to get one of the officers if anybody seemed especially upset. I let Hobie know that the retirement numbers would be there in a few days and that seemed to lift his spirits as well. The only other thing that I remember from that day was calling Gracie, as I’d promised, to let her know how the day had gone. Of course I told her I was sending her panties. That triggered concern on her part of just how Elle had taken finding them. I didn’t tell her the truth saying that she understood about “those things”. I had to reassure her that everything was OK. Once I did I heard her chuckle so asked what was so funny. She didn’t want to tell me at first but I coaxed her into it. She said that she’d been so embarrassed when she'd asked to borrow panties that she just took them and put them right on. It wasn’t until later that she took a look at them and discovered that they were the same kind (Carter’s Spanky Pants) that her mother made her wear until she was in high school. Judging that she was in a good mood I decided to tease her a bit and asked if they made her feel like a little girl again. She laughed and when she did I took it a little further to ask how they felt after all these years. There was silence for a few seconds and then I heard her say “tolerable” and then laugh. I laughed too. Then she asked about returning them. Since Elle knew the whole story I decided to have her send them to the house. She said she liked that idea and would have a thank you letter to Elle along with them.
One thing I haven’t mentioned in a long time is snow. It wasn’t that we hadn’t had any but what little we had was more of an annoyance than trouble. We hadn’t had to plow the parking lot even once. I’d heard mention on the way to work that we might have some snow by the time it got dark. The weather man was right... for once. By the time I headed out the back door for home there was at least an inch on the ground. It didn’t concern me all that much at the time because the roads were relatively clear. It wasn’t until I listened to the car radio and found the forecast had changed. Even though I was listening to a city station there was mention made that our area might be in for as much as a foot of snow. Definitely not good news!
However, it gave me a great topic to arrive home with. Not sure how Elle’s mood would be I opened the door and yelled that there might not be school the next day. That got the attention of everybody, even Kaye. They were unaware that it had started to snow. Because the house was so drafty Elle would pull the curtains over the windows as it started to get dark. All of them walked out onto the patio to take a look and with the garage light on it was quite obvious that it was a heavy snow. Back inside, it was the topic of conversation which was fine with me. Elle remained cordial the rest of the evening. One type of storm had passed and now there was a different kind to weather.
I was awakened by the sound of a tractor outside our bedroom window It was our neighbor, John (the farmer) removing the snow from our driveway. It was around 6am. By the time I was dressed and outside he was gone. I looked at the pile of snow that he’d pushed out onto the lawn and was somewhat amazed as it was as high as my shoulders. I knew the kids would have fun with that. Back inside the house I tuned the radio for the station that covered our township to see if school had been cancelled. I had to wait because there were so many announcements. Finally, I got confirmation and headed upstairs to tell Elle. She was sound asleep but was glad to get the news. It had been a while since she'd taught on consecutive days and it had caught up with her. I told her I was leaving early because of the unknown condition of the roads. She offered to make my breakfast which was a complete surprise. It was progress but we still weren’t quite ‘there’ yet.
Picking out old clothes to wear for the trip in seemed to make sense to me. I took a change of clothes that would be acceptable for work after things got sorted out. I called Bret before I left just so he’d know I was on my way. Since he lived within walking distance I knew he could be there to open the doors for those who could make it in. He added that he’d called two of the tellers who also lived close by to say they would definitely be to work. Hearing that, I was proud of Bret. He didn’t always take the initiative and this was a good sign. Now it was time for me to ‘face the elements’.
To be continued...
Tuesday, October 04, 2016
ANOTHER YEAR... with new adventures (Part 151e)
ANOTHER YEAR... new adventures (Part 151e)
You could call it a standoff. I’d told Elle the truth with no embellishments or omissions. In my mind it was up to her to make a move. I don’t really know how long I stood there but eventually she spoke to tell me to take the towels back down to the washing machine and run them through the rinse cycle. By the time I returned she was gone. I could see a light was on in our bedroom but it was way too early for bed for me so I stayed down and watched TV. I ended up falling asleep. When I woke I had no idea what was showing on the screen so headed up the stairs wondering where I stood in Elle’s eyes. I had to wait until morning to find out.
She was up and out of bed before I woke up and was in the process of getting dressed. Seeing me awake she asked if I could oversee getting the girls out to the bus on time. The first thing I noticed was that her voice no longer had the hard ‘edge’ to it and it was a far cry from what it had been. I looked at the clock and saw it wasn’t even 7:30am so asked where she was going. In a matter of fact way she said she had to be to school to get the paperwork done so she’d get credit towards her retirement and to get the information on a new student assigned to her class. As she started down the stairs she asked, with a bit of a sneer, what I was going to do with the panties. I don’t know if she asked it as a kind of ‘trap’ but my answer sort of covered me when I said I didn’t know but that we ( and I did use we) could mail them back to her. That answer brought forth a second question... what about her own panties. There was no hesitation when I told her that Gracie told me she’d wash them and mail them back. With that, Elle disappeared down the stairs. At that point I had a lot to do in a short time so never even got to see Elle leave. I rationalized that the situation was at least better than it had been when I got home the night before.
Gracie’s panties had ended up on the floor so I picked them up. They were exactly the same as the ones I’d taken from her basement. Dry by then, I took a sniff and could smell the scent of the hand soap from the bathroom. I figured they were clean enough to mail so folded them up to take with me to work. I had to hustle to get the older girls outside for the bus. Kaye was a great dawdler and was true to form. By the time I left the house it was after 8am and I knew I’d get to work later than I wanted.
At least the crowd of customers at the back door was much reduced which gave me hope that the day would be a relatively smooth one. By 9:15am there were lines at the teller's windows, but manageable. Since we were still getting customers in who were experiencing the on-line service for the first time we were still barraged with questions. By then, though, the tellers had pretty much mastered the answers. Alice was back at her window and Peggy was back at the drive-up. I made a point of commenting on how well she’d done while filling in for Alice the previous day. I’d made special note of it for when I’d need a replacement on the lobby side. I was talking with her when Trish walked up saying that Hobie wanted to see me and right away. I’d seen him right after he arrived and we’d made ‘small talk’ for a minute or two. As I walked back to me desk I wondered what was so important. He met me half way and indicated he wanted me to follow him. We rode the elevator to the second floor and then headed for the president's office. As soon as we walked in he closed the door. I knew this wasn’t a good sign.
Bert wanted to know if either of us had heard the local news that morning. As I’ve previously written, I didn’t listen to the local station. When Hobie said he hadn’t either Bert told us that they were reporting that we were having “difficulties” with new equipment and that there was a chance that the numbers the depositors were having posted to the passbooks was wrong. I know my jaw dropped open when I heard it but he went on. He said it was also reported that because of it people were withdrawing their money. I’d not briefed Hobie on my run-in with the station owner’s wife nor the conversation with the reporter/announcer so he was unaware of it and upon hearing Bert I knew that it was directly related.
All I could do was explain what had happened. I brought up the fact that the bank’s relationship with the owner’s wife had been confrontational for a while and that she was hard to deal with. She'd left in a 'huff' and soon after I ended up having a conversation with the reporter/announcer from the station. I stressed that in my conversation with him he told me he'd report only facts. I told them that I’d gone over our whole on-line process and explained the problems customers had been having understanding it. I couldn’t ‘read’ either Bert of Hobie and was extremely uncomfortable. Hobie confirmed that the woman was difficult so I felt a little better. Bert asked Hobie if he knew the radio station owner saying that he only casually knew him. Before he could answer Bert told me I could leave.
Arriving back at my desk more than a bit concerned, Trish told me to contact the retirement system people. I know it’s hard to believe but I’d actually forgotten that all the employees were to get back the money they’d paid in. For accounting and tax reasons it had been deferred until after the first of the year. I hadn’t talked with the lady who handled our account for quite a while. We’d hit it off well right from the start so hearing her very pleasant voice took my mind off the current crisis. She was calling to say that all the paperwork from their end had been completed and she had the dollar amount that each employee was entitled to. Selfishly, I wanted to ask what I’d be getting back... but didn’t. She said the information would be mailed out that afternoon. After hanging up I felt great and completely forgetting about what was transpiring upstairs. It had been weeks since I’d thought about it. It made me think about Elle’s and my 10th wedding anniversary that was coming up in the Fall. I was hoping it would be enough money to be the basis for a special trip. I’d not mentioned anything about it to Elle because I wanted to surprise her. Now, I couldn’t wait to find out just how much money it was.
To be continued...
You could call it a standoff. I’d told Elle the truth with no embellishments or omissions. In my mind it was up to her to make a move. I don’t really know how long I stood there but eventually she spoke to tell me to take the towels back down to the washing machine and run them through the rinse cycle. By the time I returned she was gone. I could see a light was on in our bedroom but it was way too early for bed for me so I stayed down and watched TV. I ended up falling asleep. When I woke I had no idea what was showing on the screen so headed up the stairs wondering where I stood in Elle’s eyes. I had to wait until morning to find out.
She was up and out of bed before I woke up and was in the process of getting dressed. Seeing me awake she asked if I could oversee getting the girls out to the bus on time. The first thing I noticed was that her voice no longer had the hard ‘edge’ to it and it was a far cry from what it had been. I looked at the clock and saw it wasn’t even 7:30am so asked where she was going. In a matter of fact way she said she had to be to school to get the paperwork done so she’d get credit towards her retirement and to get the information on a new student assigned to her class. As she started down the stairs she asked, with a bit of a sneer, what I was going to do with the panties. I don’t know if she asked it as a kind of ‘trap’ but my answer sort of covered me when I said I didn’t know but that we ( and I did use we) could mail them back to her. That answer brought forth a second question... what about her own panties. There was no hesitation when I told her that Gracie told me she’d wash them and mail them back. With that, Elle disappeared down the stairs. At that point I had a lot to do in a short time so never even got to see Elle leave. I rationalized that the situation was at least better than it had been when I got home the night before.
Gracie’s panties had ended up on the floor so I picked them up. They were exactly the same as the ones I’d taken from her basement. Dry by then, I took a sniff and could smell the scent of the hand soap from the bathroom. I figured they were clean enough to mail so folded them up to take with me to work. I had to hustle to get the older girls outside for the bus. Kaye was a great dawdler and was true to form. By the time I left the house it was after 8am and I knew I’d get to work later than I wanted.
At least the crowd of customers at the back door was much reduced which gave me hope that the day would be a relatively smooth one. By 9:15am there were lines at the teller's windows, but manageable. Since we were still getting customers in who were experiencing the on-line service for the first time we were still barraged with questions. By then, though, the tellers had pretty much mastered the answers. Alice was back at her window and Peggy was back at the drive-up. I made a point of commenting on how well she’d done while filling in for Alice the previous day. I’d made special note of it for when I’d need a replacement on the lobby side. I was talking with her when Trish walked up saying that Hobie wanted to see me and right away. I’d seen him right after he arrived and we’d made ‘small talk’ for a minute or two. As I walked back to me desk I wondered what was so important. He met me half way and indicated he wanted me to follow him. We rode the elevator to the second floor and then headed for the president's office. As soon as we walked in he closed the door. I knew this wasn’t a good sign.
Bert wanted to know if either of us had heard the local news that morning. As I’ve previously written, I didn’t listen to the local station. When Hobie said he hadn’t either Bert told us that they were reporting that we were having “difficulties” with new equipment and that there was a chance that the numbers the depositors were having posted to the passbooks was wrong. I know my jaw dropped open when I heard it but he went on. He said it was also reported that because of it people were withdrawing their money. I’d not briefed Hobie on my run-in with the station owner’s wife nor the conversation with the reporter/announcer so he was unaware of it and upon hearing Bert I knew that it was directly related.
All I could do was explain what had happened. I brought up the fact that the bank’s relationship with the owner’s wife had been confrontational for a while and that she was hard to deal with. She'd left in a 'huff' and soon after I ended up having a conversation with the reporter/announcer from the station. I stressed that in my conversation with him he told me he'd report only facts. I told them that I’d gone over our whole on-line process and explained the problems customers had been having understanding it. I couldn’t ‘read’ either Bert of Hobie and was extremely uncomfortable. Hobie confirmed that the woman was difficult so I felt a little better. Bert asked Hobie if he knew the radio station owner saying that he only casually knew him. Before he could answer Bert told me I could leave.
Arriving back at my desk more than a bit concerned, Trish told me to contact the retirement system people. I know it’s hard to believe but I’d actually forgotten that all the employees were to get back the money they’d paid in. For accounting and tax reasons it had been deferred until after the first of the year. I hadn’t talked with the lady who handled our account for quite a while. We’d hit it off well right from the start so hearing her very pleasant voice took my mind off the current crisis. She was calling to say that all the paperwork from their end had been completed and she had the dollar amount that each employee was entitled to. Selfishly, I wanted to ask what I’d be getting back... but didn’t. She said the information would be mailed out that afternoon. After hanging up I felt great and completely forgetting about what was transpiring upstairs. It had been weeks since I’d thought about it. It made me think about Elle’s and my 10th wedding anniversary that was coming up in the Fall. I was hoping it would be enough money to be the basis for a special trip. I’d not mentioned anything about it to Elle because I wanted to surprise her. Now, I couldn’t wait to find out just how much money it was.
To be continued...
Sunday, October 02, 2016
ANOTHER YEAR... with new adventures (Part 151e)
ANOTHER YEAR... new adventures (Part 151d)
I’m sure you’ve all experienced situations where you’ve been ‘waiting for the other shoe to drop’. That was me that evening. Elle didn’t say anything except to tell me if that if I wanted to eat, sit down, because she was cleaning up the kitchen. That took away any chance I had to check out the upstairs bathroom and to see if Gracie’s panties were still behind the faucet. I could see Elle had changed from her school clothes which was an indication that she’d been in that bathroom. I tried to make conversation but most of what I got was one or two word answers. I certainly didn’t enjoy my dinner and just sat there waiting for her to ‘pounce’ on me. It was an uncomfortable situation.
When the girls realized I was home they came charging into the kitchen wanting me to play Situation Four (the game they got for Christmas) with them. It was one way to escape the ice cold atmosphere I was in but it didn’t help to answer the question about the panties. I tried to beg off saying I wanted to change out of my “good clothes” but they were relentless. So, onto the floor of the living room I went. I could probably use the excuse that I was ‘distracted’ for losing to both of them. Elle and I’d forbidden them to play each other because they would end up fighting so that was it for the game. Now it was time to find out about the panties.
Elle had finished in the kitchen and had gone out into the den to look at the newspaper. I was anxious to get up the stairs but took my time. Because our bedroom was right above the den and had hardwood floors I decided to go in there first as I knew she'd hear my footsteps. I turned on the light and started unbuttoning my shirt when I saw something on my pillow. I walked over towards it and immediately recognized the puckered material. In less than a second I was wet from perspiration. I immediately realized that Elle would be waiting for me when I returned to the first floor and I also realized that she was in control of the situation. With the kids still up I was pretty sure she wouldn’t do or say anything that might upset them so, after changing and holding my breath, I headed down the stairs.
I’m sure she was pretending to read but watching me as I walked through the living room. I wasn’t sure what to do especially with the kids right there so took advantage of that. Kaye was coloring in one of the books she’d received at Christmas so chose her as my ‘target’, asking how she liked day care. That was a good move as she bounced up and started babbling about all the things she got to do. That lasted for a few minutes and gave me a chance to take a peek at Elle. Still hiding behind the newspaper I couldn’t get a ‘read’ on her at all. I grabbed a section of the paper and sat on the couch but had no intention of reading. I don’t know how long it was before Elle called for the girls to start getting ready for bed. It was while they were headed up the stairs that I made my decision on just what to say and do when she returned.
My grandfather had a number of pet sayings, almost all of them cliches, that he used frequently. One that had resonated with me a few times in my past went something like this... ‘If you tell the truth you have nothing to forget.’ In spite of the number of ideas I’d generated on my way home, none seemed plausible. I remember sitting there with a half smile on my face thinking that even the truth didn’t seem plausible. I also remember thinking that, worst case, I could call Gracie to have her explain to Elle what had happened... but knew that wouldn’t be fair to her. So, I just sat there and waited for Elle to return.
There was an opening in the wall adjacent to the stairs that allowed you to see anybody descending the last six or so steps. I took a deep breath when I saw Elle’s form appear. I sort of expected that her facial expression would show anger but it didn’t. It was basically blank. But, in her hands were the panties. For a few seconds it was a standoff, neither of us speaking a word. From out of the deep recesses of my ‘gray matter’ I came up with a question that I think surprised both of us... “Did you find Gracie’s towels?”
“Why?” was her answer. Then I told her that if she had she would’ve found one that was soaked in urine. That made her face wrinkle up in disbelief. I wasted no time at all in describing the situation that Gracie had described to me. I never hesitated because I didn’t want to give Elle a chance to ask any questions until I finished. I wasn’t a student of ‘body language’ back then but now I know that when she crossed her arms across her chest she was saying “Bull shit!” I wasn’t sure it was the right time to to tell her about me giving Gracie a pair of her panties but I went ahead anyway. Her arms remained across her chest for a short time before she asked which panties I’d given her. When I told her a pair of Carter’s Spanky Pants she immediately blurted out “You didn’t!”. The look on her face was a cross between disbelief and embarrassment. All of a sudden some of the pressure was off me. “Why would you do that? They’re all stained!” were the next words I heard.
I assured her that the pair I’d given her were the newest ones and were not noticeably stained. It was obvious that her concern had shifted from me doing something wrong (with Gracie) to me embarrassing her. (The female mind has always amazed me) My answer gave her pause and with it I asked where she’d put the towels. I’m almost sure her answer was one of reflex as she said they were in the washing machine down in the basement. Not wasting a second I bolted for the cellar door. I was back in less than a minute and had the towels which were all rolled up in a ball. The outside one was the bath towel, still a bit damp. As I unrolled it the hand towel dropped to the floor. It was wet but a lot of the wetness had wicked out to the edges. I picked it up and started to hand it to her but, naturally, she wouldn’t touch it. At that point I just stood there looking at her and shrugged my shoulders waiting for her to say something.
To be continued...
I’m sure you’ve all experienced situations where you’ve been ‘waiting for the other shoe to drop’. That was me that evening. Elle didn’t say anything except to tell me if that if I wanted to eat, sit down, because she was cleaning up the kitchen. That took away any chance I had to check out the upstairs bathroom and to see if Gracie’s panties were still behind the faucet. I could see Elle had changed from her school clothes which was an indication that she’d been in that bathroom. I tried to make conversation but most of what I got was one or two word answers. I certainly didn’t enjoy my dinner and just sat there waiting for her to ‘pounce’ on me. It was an uncomfortable situation.
When the girls realized I was home they came charging into the kitchen wanting me to play Situation Four (the game they got for Christmas) with them. It was one way to escape the ice cold atmosphere I was in but it didn’t help to answer the question about the panties. I tried to beg off saying I wanted to change out of my “good clothes” but they were relentless. So, onto the floor of the living room I went. I could probably use the excuse that I was ‘distracted’ for losing to both of them. Elle and I’d forbidden them to play each other because they would end up fighting so that was it for the game. Now it was time to find out about the panties.
Elle had finished in the kitchen and had gone out into the den to look at the newspaper. I was anxious to get up the stairs but took my time. Because our bedroom was right above the den and had hardwood floors I decided to go in there first as I knew she'd hear my footsteps. I turned on the light and started unbuttoning my shirt when I saw something on my pillow. I walked over towards it and immediately recognized the puckered material. In less than a second I was wet from perspiration. I immediately realized that Elle would be waiting for me when I returned to the first floor and I also realized that she was in control of the situation. With the kids still up I was pretty sure she wouldn’t do or say anything that might upset them so, after changing and holding my breath, I headed down the stairs.
I’m sure she was pretending to read but watching me as I walked through the living room. I wasn’t sure what to do especially with the kids right there so took advantage of that. Kaye was coloring in one of the books she’d received at Christmas so chose her as my ‘target’, asking how she liked day care. That was a good move as she bounced up and started babbling about all the things she got to do. That lasted for a few minutes and gave me a chance to take a peek at Elle. Still hiding behind the newspaper I couldn’t get a ‘read’ on her at all. I grabbed a section of the paper and sat on the couch but had no intention of reading. I don’t know how long it was before Elle called for the girls to start getting ready for bed. It was while they were headed up the stairs that I made my decision on just what to say and do when she returned.
My grandfather had a number of pet sayings, almost all of them cliches, that he used frequently. One that had resonated with me a few times in my past went something like this... ‘If you tell the truth you have nothing to forget.’ In spite of the number of ideas I’d generated on my way home, none seemed plausible. I remember sitting there with a half smile on my face thinking that even the truth didn’t seem plausible. I also remember thinking that, worst case, I could call Gracie to have her explain to Elle what had happened... but knew that wouldn’t be fair to her. So, I just sat there and waited for Elle to return.
There was an opening in the wall adjacent to the stairs that allowed you to see anybody descending the last six or so steps. I took a deep breath when I saw Elle’s form appear. I sort of expected that her facial expression would show anger but it didn’t. It was basically blank. But, in her hands were the panties. For a few seconds it was a standoff, neither of us speaking a word. From out of the deep recesses of my ‘gray matter’ I came up with a question that I think surprised both of us... “Did you find Gracie’s towels?”
“Why?” was her answer. Then I told her that if she had she would’ve found one that was soaked in urine. That made her face wrinkle up in disbelief. I wasted no time at all in describing the situation that Gracie had described to me. I never hesitated because I didn’t want to give Elle a chance to ask any questions until I finished. I wasn’t a student of ‘body language’ back then but now I know that when she crossed her arms across her chest she was saying “Bull shit!” I wasn’t sure it was the right time to to tell her about me giving Gracie a pair of her panties but I went ahead anyway. Her arms remained across her chest for a short time before she asked which panties I’d given her. When I told her a pair of Carter’s Spanky Pants she immediately blurted out “You didn’t!”. The look on her face was a cross between disbelief and embarrassment. All of a sudden some of the pressure was off me. “Why would you do that? They’re all stained!” were the next words I heard.
I assured her that the pair I’d given her were the newest ones and were not noticeably stained. It was obvious that her concern had shifted from me doing something wrong (with Gracie) to me embarrassing her. (The female mind has always amazed me) My answer gave her pause and with it I asked where she’d put the towels. I’m almost sure her answer was one of reflex as she said they were in the washing machine down in the basement. Not wasting a second I bolted for the cellar door. I was back in less than a minute and had the towels which were all rolled up in a ball. The outside one was the bath towel, still a bit damp. As I unrolled it the hand towel dropped to the floor. It was wet but a lot of the wetness had wicked out to the edges. I picked it up and started to hand it to her but, naturally, she wouldn’t touch it. At that point I just stood there looking at her and shrugged my shoulders waiting for her to say something.
To be continued...
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