ANOTHER YEAR... More adventures (Part 168f)

ANOTHER YEAR… More adventures (Part 168f)

Not knowing what I’d say I remember sort of holding my breath. I heard Lynda say “Hello…” but I couldn’t get any words to come out of my mouth. I finally squeezed out my “Hello…” and then heard the phone go ‘click’ and go dead. Knowing that Lynda was there I dialed her number right back. It rang and rang and rang. I decided to just stay there to see what, if anything, would happen. Then it stopped ringing but I was sure it was because Lynda had picked up the receiver and put it right back. I went right back to dialing… and hearing the ringing. I think it was maybe the sixth time when I heard her voice. I didn’t expect it so there was a pause before I, not really knowing what to say, asked if she was OK. There was another pause before she answered with a question… “Are you upset with me?” I’m not sure but I might’ve laughed. I think I told her “No…” and again asked if she was OK but added that Ruthe had told me she’d left work early. Now it was her turn to laugh before saying she was still working off the effects of New Year’s Eve. With the ‘ice’ broken she, jokingly, reminded me that it was “my dime”. Because her letter rambled I told her I thought she needed to go over it with me… and there was something she needed to do for me. That last statement brought forth an animated “Anything!” She repeated that a few times but I didn’t want to make my request without explaining exactly what had happened after I got her home. And… it was getting late. I’d made some progress with Elle and didn’t want to jeopardize that. I had no preconceived idea(s) as to when or where to do it and threw it back to her. It didn’t garner a response and just as I was going to think about it she asked if I ever came in to the bank on Saturday’s. I didn’t but, wanting to get the situation resolved, said I thought I could find a reason to do so. That was the way we left it… and I took another deep breath.

Things were still a bit ’stilted’ at home but tolerable. I was still waiting for Elle to bring the subject up and didn’t want to say much of anything for fear of triggering an ‘attack’ so focused on playing with the kids. They were eating it up because they had someone to play their new Christmas games with. I was sure Elle knew why I was spending so much time with them but she was always on me to find more time for the kids. Going to bed I was ready to try to get some snuggling in, even if was to her back. When I wasn’t rebuffed I charged it up to my being patient and letting the whole situation drift away.

The data canter problems that I’d mentioned happening the day before accelerated. We were off-line most of the morning. Occasional ‘drops’ were manageable but extended outages, especially during the ‘busy period’, meant a lot of extra work for the staff. With this being a Friday, the doors were open until 6pm. I didn’t feel it fair to ask the tellers who’d already put in more than a normal day to stay a couple of hours longer. After a chat with Hobie I got his permission to offer overtime to those who were willing to come in on Saturday to re-enter all the transactions that didn’t get into the system. He agreed so I asked for volunteers and had three who stepped up, one being Mae. It didn’t surprise me. With Bret subordinate to me it should’ve been him to come in and oversee the women but I stepped in and said I’d take the duty. It was perfect. I had a legitimate reason to come in and then could also arrange to meet up with Lynda.

A quick call to Lynda got a somewhat favorable response. The broker trainees at her office were preparing to take their exam to become licensed financial planners and were coming in to the office on Saturday mornings to study. Normally, one of the lower level brokers working in the office would come in to “baby sit” them and to answer their questions. Lynda told me she’d try to get permission to be the one to open the office the next day and would give me a call back. Wanting to put the matter behind me I hoped that she’d get the necessary permission. When it got to 5:30pm or so and I hadn’t heard from her I figured it was a dead issue. I don’t know why I waited until just after the bank closed the doors to call but I did and there was no answer. It was after 6:30pm before I finally left the bank for home. I’d really hoped that the meeting would take place because now it meant another few days with the situation hanging over me.

As I slid behind the steering wheel I saw something under the windshield wiper. At the last Chamber of Commerce meeting there had been a warning to the members to cease putting flyers on cars in the public parking lots. Seeing one on my windshield made me mad. I got out and when I pulled it off, even in the dim light, I saw handwriting on the paper. Once inside the car I could see my name written on the folded paper and then, opening it up, saw that it was a note from Lynda. She said she’d tried calling but no one answered which, to me, was hard to believe but that’s what it said. She would be in the office from 9am to noon and for me to call when I got in to let her know if and at what time I could make it over. I’m sure I let out a sigh of relief.

My thoughts for that evening and night were all on just what I was going to say to Lynda when I saw her face to face. Since Elle and I were still not back to having normal conversations, my being a little ‘quiet’ that evening wasn’t a cause for question(s) from her. However, sleep wasn’t easy. I remember being awake for each of Elle’s bathroom visits. In the morning, on my way to the bank my focus shifted to the re-entry work to be done. I was hoping that the problems at the data center had been resolved and we’d be able to get all the work done within three hours so I’d be able to meet with Lynda. The data center would only be open to handle re-entry work until 1pm and I hoped we wouldn’t need that extra time.

An unexpected benefit of the overtime was in seeing how good a worker Mae was. As we started in with the project it only took her a short time to suggest a more efficient way to process the transactions. She had a way to command respect even though she had less experience as a teller than the others. As the clock approached 11am it was obvious we’d be done before noon. Because of the way they worked together I made the decision to pay them for the full three hours. Of course, that brought forth smiles. I let them out and locked the door with plenty of time to spare but waited a few minutes to call Lynda.

As the re-entry work had progressed and the meeting with her became a reality it dawned on me that she possibly had some questions of me and exactly what had transpired. Her letter to me didn’t mention anything about that and I’d managed to avoid that fact. It was just about noon when I finally called. I definitely wasn’t prepared to hear a male voice answer the phone and immediately wondered if Lynda’s plans had changed. It only took a few seconds before she was on the line. She told me to give her about fifteen minutes and then come on over. I took another deep breath and hung up the phone.

To be continued…