HEADING FOR SUMMER… and whatever it brings (Part 160j)
It was
almost 3pm by the time I got something in my stomach. I’d not gone out
of my way to avoid Jerry but by the time he left for the day I still hadn’t spoken
to him. I’d been able to contact the just hired head teller, Betsy, and used the upcoming training
schedule as my excuse. After hanging up with her I decided to make the
calls to the tellers Jerry had hired to apprise them of when and where they
were to appear for their training. The first one I called was the one
with the relative who had been a race car driver. I was able to quickly
‘bond’ with her with that as a background. On the phone she sounded
energetic, positive and anxious to start her training. That was encouraging. The next call was
to the woman who’s application was hard to decipher in that it didn’t
contain any information as to just what she did in her present job. It
took a bit of explaining for me to get her to understand that I was not
the man who’d interviewed her. I was scratching my head by the time she
grasped that. When I told her that training would start the following Wednesday I waited for her response. None came. I had to ask
if she was still on the line. She finally answered that she couldn’t
make it. I remember sitting there thinking that I must’ve dialed the
wrong number… but it was the right number. It turned out the reason she
couldn’t come to the main office was because she didn’t have a car. Upon
hearing that I wanted to laugh.
I was on the phone to Rita, the
lady I’d interviewed that morning, within seconds. I didn’t get the
excited response I’d hoped for but got a nice measured one indicating
that she’d probably accept but only after talking to her husband. I made
an attempt to get an acceptance right then and there. However, she said
that in thinking back to the interview with Jerry, being passed over by
him and my leaving in the middle of her interview that morning had left her with a bit of
an uneasy feeling about the bank and the management. There was not much
I could say to that. I was about to tell her to think it over and to
try to get back to me as soon as she felt comfortable when she kind of
blurted out a question… “Why was the interviewer’s wife in the room when
she was being interviewed?” Now it was my turn to go quiet. I had to
make a quick decision… lie and say I didn’t know about it, or… just say I
had no idea why. I chose the lie. For sure, I wanted to know myself. I
still couldn’t wrap my mind around the reason for her being there. I
know I hesitated for a few seconds before I asked her to describe what
had taken place. I don’t think she was expecting the question as she,
in turn, hesitated before answering.
She said she saw the other
woman when she first walked into the room. She said she asked about her as she
was sitting down and said the interviewer (Jerry) just sloughed off
her question saying something like “Oh, she’s just my wife.” She said
the interviewer started in asking questions with no further reference
to the other woman. I jumped in at that stage and asked if his wife ever
spoke during the interview. She said she didn’t remember if she did or
didn’t but she did remember seeing her make some sort of hand signal. I
had to ask where Jerry’s wife was seated during the exchange. She
hesitated again and finally said “In the other window.” Not having seen
the room I couldn’t really place all their positions so asked. Rita
said it was a really nice room with two bow windows that faced a wooded
area with a stream running though it. I honestly remember the stream
from when my family had stayed there after WWII. She went on to say that
she and the interviewer were seated facing each other in one of the
windows. The other woman was in the other bow window but the curtains
were drawn. The more I heard the stranger it seemed to get. I
interrupted her to say that I really had no idea that the situation had
occurred or why the other woman was in the room. I got the sense that
Rita had had enough and I’d probably gone too far with that subject. I closed by
asking her to think seriously about the offer I’d made (It was for a lot more money than the
woman who said she couldn’t come to the training sessions) and to get
back to me as soon as possible.
Have you ever been in a
situation where you had ’news’ but didn’t know what to do with it?
Betsy, the woman I’d hired as a head teller, had told me of Jerry’s wife
being present during her interview and, strange as it was, I’d not
mentioned it to anyone. Now, I’d just gotten confirmation, with details,
of Jerry’s unorthodox interviews. I sat there wondering what to do with
the information. I remember wishing I’d had it before Jerry had his
meeting with Bert and Hobie. As a result of it though, I was happy about getting
clear delineation of my authority over Jerry but his strange behavior
was troubling. I don’t remember how long I sat there debating with
myself on taking the information to Hobie. He hadn’t seemed too put out
about my going ‘over his head’ but I wondered if he’d take this latest
bit of ’news’ as ‘bashing’ Jerry. It had been made clear to me that
Jerry wasn’t going anywhere so I just ‘sat on it’.
The last thing
I did for the day (at work) was to co-ordinate with Lorie and Bret
about ‘baby sitting’ the Northern Telecom people the next day. I told
Lorie I’d be at the bank by 7:45am and would stay until she got there,
hopefully by 8:15 or so. She was OK with that and Bret confirmed he’d be
there a little after noon. I remember looking forward
to the new phone system… no more dropped calls… being able to dial an
extension without having to go through the old PBX board and having the
switchboard operator do it for us… being able to put a call on ‘hold’
and then dialing another extension. I knew it would be a period of
adjustment until the system was understood but it would be a big step in
the right direction.
I was a bit apprehensive on my trip home
knowing that Elle hadn’t been happy with how late I’d come in the night
before. I knew she’d be totally unhappy with my heading back that night
to work some more on the race car. I tried to be positive and upbeat
when I walked in fully expecting to see a frown but was greeted with a
smile and the announcement that we were going to a party for our dessert. I
had no idea what she was talking about. It turned out to be a small
farewell party for the German twins that had spent the past few months
staying next door with Phyllis and Bill. They were headed back to
Pennsylvania the next day to get ready for Summer school to prepare them for college.
I’d not seen all that much of them but our kids had and Phyllis thought
it would be a nice parting gesture. Since it was all decided I knew
better than to open my mouth.
To be continued…
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