ENDING THE YEAR... Odds & ends (Part 167c)

ENDING THE YEAR… Odds & ends (Part 167c)

There were a lot of things that annoyed me about work at the bank but nothing more than having to face three audits of the bank’s ‘books’ and operations each and every year. One was by the Federal authorities and another by the State. The third, and most irritating, was one that the bank had to pay a private accounting firm to do for it. The latter one really ‘burned’ me as a waste of time and money. I’d observed how they did a lot of their investigative work… reading and using the reports generated by the other two audits. The audit team's arrival was always unannounced which created undue stress on just about everyone at the bank. I’d have to, at a moments notice, provide a dedicated work space for them, usually between nine and twelve people. Then, their first job was to count the cash of each teller as well as the cash in the vault. This process created a delay in being able to wait on customers which, of course, made them unhappy. Since they were there to audit all areas of the bank they would end up interrupting many employees doing their daily work to answer their questions. Back in September the accounting firm hired by the bank had arrived and started into doing their work when it was discovered by their lead person that they failed to realize we’d gone to an outside service firm to do the actual processing of our savings accounts. Not knowing this before they started meant they didn’t have the accounting records that they needed to use as their base. They should’ve sent staff to the service bureau to get copies of the saving account ledger before the bank opened to the public. The lead person, upon finding this out, aborted the audit and left. The end result was that I’d have to face them again… and this was the day.

It was a different lead person than the last time and, thankfully, he realized his people would not be looked at in a favorable light. There were two places they could operate from… the Board room or the work area on the first floor that had been where our bookkeeping (computer?) machine had been located. The caveat to the Board room was that they would have to vacate by 2:30pm the next day so the mortgage committee could meet. The decision was to use the Board room. The easiest way to access it was the back stairs. That way they wouldn’t be walking through the mortgage area every time they needed to get downstairs to the operations area. I, as the main office manager, had the responsibility to get them settled and to provide for their incidental needs. Of the group assigned to the project there were three women, one of whom was the assistant to the lead person. She was the one I had to work with. A typical accountant type wearing a pinstripe grey suit (skirt), prim and proper, I was not looking forward to my time with her. I would’ve much preferred to work with her boss. It didn’t take her long to establish that she was all business. By the time she got through her list of needs and I’d addressed most of them it was late morning. I was not pleased as I approached my desk for the first time that day.

In pulling my chair out from under the desk I saw an envelope on the seat. There was also a pile of papers that Joanie had put on the desk to be signed but I, curious as to just what the envelope contained, chose it first. Opening it up I pulled out a folded lined yellow sheet of pad paper. As I unfolded it four one dollar bills fell out. Looking to the bottom of the page to determine who it had come from was I somewhat taken aback that the signature revealed it was from Woody. She had signed it with her given name, Sandra, and that concerned me, a lot. I’d been standing when I opened the envelope but seeing her name I had to sit down to read it. It was hand written in cursive and somewhat readable. Expecting the worst I scanned it looking for the dreaded words “I’m resigning”. But, to my great relief, I didn’t see them. I know I took a deep breath as I to read it, word for word.

I regret not having kept the letter so I’m going to have to use my memory to reprise it. The thing I remember most about it was how disorganized it was. It was as if she had one purpose in mind when she started and then thought of something else and then another. It encompassed an apology for creating “trouble” for me and for disappointing me. She went on about her being “a little girl” about the whole thing with Trish and the costume and when I got to the part when she asked if she could “have another chance” I even smiled. As I’d written in earlier posts she would sometimes surprise me with her maturity but, then again, her youth and naivety would pop up. There was one thing she wrote that I didn’t really understand. It seemed like she was trying to explain her ’accident’. There were some other things that needed to be addressed with her, one on one, with the primary one being I needed to know that she and Trish were ‘OK’. My immediate problem was in finding the time for her.

Going out to get some lunch was out of the question. Trish, who usually went home for her lunch, hailed me as she approached the gate to leave the platform to say she’d be back in about 20 or so minutes. I immediately called out for her to come over to my desk. I asked her what she was doing for lunch and she pointed over towards the luncheonette. I asked if she’d get me a grilled cheese sandwich knowing that they kept making them one after another and it wouldn’t take much time. I’ve never been a big fan of grilled cheese but as soon as I spoke the words my mouth began to water. No sooner had she disappeared through the gate when Melissa, the lady that had been assigned to work with me, appeared with a number of additional requests. I could see she was going to be a royal PITA (pain in the ass). One of the requests was for information that the Federal examiners had asked for in their last examination… and that reinforced my belief that this group was using old examinations for their ’direction’ rather than to actually go ‘digging’ to find something new. In this particular case, I’d been unable to locate the requested documentation and told her so. I’d seen the final report from the FDIC citing that as a deficiency and challenged her as to why she was bringing it up again. I’ll admit, my attitude was less than cordial in talking to her so when she ’stormed’ away I knew I’d hear about it.

Lobby traffic wasn’t all that bad and the backlog that had built up after we’d opened the doors had dissipated. However, it seemed like a steady stream of people were appearing at my desk with most being from the accounting firm asking for different things. Some were so mundane that I took it upon myself to go find the lead accountant. He was talking with one of his staff but pushed away to see what I wanted. I told him I was concerned about the trivial nature of some of the requests being made by his people and that brought forth a bit of a smile. I didn’t think it funny but didn’t say anything about that. He apologized and explained that over half the people he had with him were either on their first or second full examinations and were “green”. I wanted to say something negative but, again, didn’t. As I returned to my desk to a cold grilled cheese sandwich I remember shaking my head. The bank was being charged good money to have an audit be done by neophytes who were using previous audits as a basis for their final product. Unbelievable!

To be continued...