HEADING FOR SUMMER... and whatever it brings (Part 160h)

HEADING FOR SUMMER… and whatever it brings (Part 160h)

There had been a man who would show up at the garage, stand around in the background while smoking a cigar. He was almost as wide as he was tall. But that wasn’t what distinguished him. It was his Ford Fairlane 500 Skyliner, a hardtop convertible. All I knew him as was Fairlane John. I had no idea what he did or, for that matter, anything about him. When I pulled up to the garage I saw the car… and about a half dozen people gathered around it. I walked over and saw him sitting behind the wheel (with the hardtop down) and heard him say something like “now get to work and get that car to the track.”

We all walked inside and ‘attacked’ the car, with some pulling the broken rear end out and others unboxing the new one. I wanted to know what had happened to change the situation. I don’t remember who threw out the fact that John had stepped up with five $100 bills. I liked hearing that but wondered why. There was no time for ‘chatter’ as we only had two nights to do a week’s worth of work. There really wasn’t much I could do once the rear was out of the car. The real work was in cutting the fittings off the broken rear and welding them onto the new one. Cliffy, Dick and Joe were the only ones who were capable of handling that sort of thing. But Buster, Alan, Robo and I felt we should stick around. It was after midnight when we all finally left. Needless to say, Elle was asleep when I got home. I knew I’d hear about my late night in the morning.

I was really tired when I got up… not the way I wanted to feel with the day I was expecting. It didn’t help that Elle wasn’t being all that nice either. On my way to work I tried to figure how the meeting with Bert, Hobie, Jerry and I would go… and I couldn’t even come up with even one (reasonable) possibility. However, there were two things that I was looking forward to with the main one being delivery of the new Xerox machine. The other was in hearing what Bret and Lorie had come up with in the way of a plan to train the new tellers for the branch. At least a week of it was going to have to be done at the main office and the logistics of that were daunting. I’d tasked the two of them to make it work and was anxious to confirm what they planned so we could contact the new hires and tell them their start date.

As promised, Rita, the lady who was “on the potty” when I’d called was at the back door at 9am. The now normal late arrival of Jerry was a good thing as it gave me a chance to interview her for a short time, alone. The application was impressive and she, herself, was even more so. A little on the short side and with average looks, her banking knowledge overshadowed that. Like Betsy, the woman hired the day before, she made a great impression. I was actually a bit intimidated by her. She answered my questions directly and even asked a few that I had a little difficulty in answering. I’d gone over her experience with her but wanted to get her ’take’ on the interview with Jerry. That brought out a big smile and I noticed that she looked down into her lap as she did. I'd just started to ‘press’ her for details when Trish let me know I was needed in the Board room. I apologized to her and explained that it was a scheduled meeting and I’d be back to her in a little while. I started to leave when it came to me that Jerry would probably arrive and not know what was happening. As I passed by Trish’s desk I asked her to escort her over to Hobie’s area and to get her some coffee. I remember her giving me a ‘look’ before standing up. I was concerned for a second.

In the Board room it was obvious that Bert had briefed Hobie before my arrival. I concentrated on Hobie’s expression and body language. I was, of course, concerned about my having gone ‘over his head’ and could only hope Bert had done a good job of explaining just what had taken place in his absence. The first words I heard from Bert were along the lines of “What do you think of her?” alluding to the woman downstairs. Knowing I was ‘in up to my neck’ I told them just what I thought… she was more qualified than the others that Jerry had hired and that we should hire her. I was looking right at Hobie when I said it but I didn’t see a change of expression so couldn’t ‘read’ him and his reaction. Bert spoke up and repeated what he’d said the day before… the bank was committed to the ones Jerry had already offered the position. I immediately spoke up and asked if I could offer her a temporary position, at least through the first few weeks, to open new accounts. They were conferring when Jerry knocked on the door. I remember shaking my head wishing that he could’ve been a few minutes later.

Again, it was Bert who took the lead and explained to Jerry what had taken place in his absence. I watched him sitting there with a sort of distressed look on his face. He tried to speak but Bert put up his hand to silence him. When he was finished he told Jerry to stay while I was excused. He added one thing to that and it was but one word... "Yes." I hoped I was right in that it was the OK to offer the temporary position. However, I had mixed emotions about leaving the room… glad that I could go and talk some more with the applicant without Jerry but disappointed because I really wanted to know what both Hobie and Bert were going to say to Jerry.

Approaching Hobie’s work area I could tell the woman was uneasy, squirming a bit in her chair. I apologized saying it was a very important meeting. I desperately wanted to go back to the point of asking about Jerry’s interview with her and how she felt about it but… wanted to propose the idea of the temporary position to her before Jerry appeared.

The hardest part of the whole situation was in how to present the idea of temporary work to her. I know she was disappointed but I pulled out my best persuasive personna and told her to listen to what I had to say. The look on her face said she wasn’t buying it but she did get up and followed me over to my desk. I tried sweetening the offer telling her that if she took it there was a very good chance something permanent would happen. She didn’t respond and I was concerned. Finally she said she’d have to think about it and got up to leave. I got up and escorted her to the door where I went out (far) on a limb and told her I was almost positive that it would work out for her if she said “yes”. I remember her looking up at me (she was much shorter) and smiling… and then walking out the door.

To be continued...