MAYHEM IN MAY... life goes on (Part 159d)

MAYHEM IN MAY… life goes on (Part 159d)

By Tuesday morning the euphoria of having won on Saturday night had worn thin and I was ready to concentrate on my job at the bank. With the full Board meeting on Wednesday there were a lot of peripheral things to be addressed on top of my ongoing projects. Not the least of them was in getting blanket samples for the branch committee to choose from. I’d been promised I’d have some on Monday but the day had come and gone and there were no blankets. I was on the phone to both of my ‘contacts’ as soon as I got to my desk but with no success. I was sitting there ’steaming’, when Trish came over and said I was needed in the president’s office. Because of the proximity of the Board meeting it was not unusual for him to go over some things with me before the meeting. However, not this time!

Bert was, by nature, a very ‘laid back’ person. As soon as I saw Lena, his secretary, I knew it was important. He was sitting behind his desk holding the handset of his phone in his hand. When he saw me he started waving it above his face and in as loud a voice I’d ever heard from him he demanded to know when the phones were going to be fixed. As I’ve previously written it had been deemed that our PBX switchboard was not only obsolete but was basically unfixable. There was only one technician at the telephone company who had any experience with a PBX. He’d made some changes right after J J had blown up at the switchboard operator, Netta, and caused her to quit. As soon as I was informed of the situation with the PBX I contacted the telephone company about a replacement. After the telephone company sales rep made his ridiculous proposal I told Hobie I was getting at least one other. I had no idea if he’d kept Bert aware of it so when he lit into me I didn’t know how to react. I’m not sure exactly what my answer was but I think I said something like “I’m working on it.” That was not the answer he was looking for. Still holding the handset in his hand he pointed it towards me and angrily stated that he’d been trying to talk with “Gee” (the Trustee/attorney) and been cut off three times. Then he sort of spit out the words “Get it fixed!”

Back at my desk there was a note that one of the gift/premium distributors had finally returned my calls but didn’t leave a message. With Bert’s words still ringing in my ears I ignored it and looked for Norman’s, (the Northern Telecom salesman) business card to see if he could accelerate the proposal he was working on for me. Not surprisingly, he wasn’t in the office. A nice woman took the message and promised that he’d check in with me by lunch time.

If my day wasn’t already filled with enough problems the next thing was Jerry wanting to talk with me. He didn’t have a customer at his desk so I was unsure as to just what was up. Sitting down in the side chair he thrust a piece of paper in front of me. I took a quick glance and saw it was a pencil sketch of a help wanted ad. That was the last thing I wanted to get involved with right at that moment. However, since I was somewhat aware that he was getting some direction from unknown sources I asked what prompted it. In a matter of fact way told me that it was only six weeks until the branch was to open and he felt we should start interviewing right away. I had to ask why it was suddenly so important hoping to find out who was prodding him to move on this subject. I fully expected him to tell me but he didn’t. All he’d say was he thought he was running out of time.

To get rid of him I explained that the bank had an ad agency and they would make up an ad and place it in the papers that served the new branch area when the time came. Just for the fun of it I asked just where did he think the interviews would take place. All I got was a blank stare in return. My frustration level was always high when talking with Jerry and it was just about at it’s peak. Finally, I told him I'd work with him on a plan come Friday. He had a sort of a disgusted look on his face as he got up but didn’t say anything. I’m not sure what I would’ve done if he had.

Next in line to talk with me was Bret. When we’d gone to the restaurant supply company to find stools for the tellers that company didn’t have anything acceptable to us. The salesperson had told us he’d do some research to try and find what we were looking for. Well… he’d done just that and now wanted us to come out to look at what he’d uncovered. I wanted to laugh when Bret asked if we could go out to the showroom. By then I was ready to scream “Enough, already!”… but I didn’t.

By mid afternoon I’d convinced one of the premium/gift distributors to hand deliver some blanket samples by 3pm on Wednesday in time for the branch committee meeting. He wasn’t happy about it but when I told him if he didn’t he could forget about doing business with us. I’d also talked with Norman at Northern Telecom and he said he’d have a preliminary proposal to us by noon the next day. I quizzed him about costs and he assured they’d be reasonable. He let slip that if we were to sign a contract with them that we’d get free publicity from the deal. I ended up sending Bret to the  restaurant supply place to view the materials and told him that it the product looked ‘decent’ to order six but with a return clause built in. By the time I left for home I had a headache worse than the one I’d woken up with on Sunday... but I had made it to the end of the day.

To be continued…