"SPRING"ING AHEAD... Better days? (Part 170q)

“SPRING”ING AHEAD… Better days? (Part 170q)

When the clock reached 5pm and with most of the examiners still there I became concerned. Even though I’d only been in banking four years I’d witnessed and been part of at least ten audits. Other than for the lead examiner, the rest of the audit crew was usually out the door before 5 o’clock arrived. I was at my desk still waiting to hear from Lynda when I made that observation. I took it upon myself to find the lady who was leading the State contingent and asked if there was a problem. She made a ‘face’ and then gestured with one of her hands pointing upwards. I knew immediately what she was telling me. But, she then took it upon herself to formally introduce herself to me. I’d missed all of that when they all arrived the day before because I’d been at Ruthe’s house and had arrived late to work. She handed me her business card but before I could read it she told me to call her CeeCee. Looking down at the card I recognized the surname as being Italian… but I couldn’t even begin to pronounce it. I made an attempt with her first name and she helped me out with it (Chiara) but insisted that CeeCee would suffice. I continued to look at the card and read her title as Deputy Senior Auditor. We chatted a bit and she ended up telling me that she’d been told to send almost half her work crew back to the city. I wanted to learn more about her and the job she was now relegated to do but I heard my desk phone ringing. Being after 5pm Joanie had gone so I rushed back to take the call.

It was, as expected, Lynda. Bill, the office manager, had returned from the home office of the brokerage in Baltimore and she’d been going over items she’d been holding for him. As far a Ruthe was concerned, she’d just talked with her and had been told she was getting along well. Her main concern was her kids. Her parents had taken them up to Connecticut to hide them from her ex husband and she was missing them. She told me that Bill had indicated she’d relaxed some and had become more comfortable with staying at his home. The last thing she mentioned was that there was no news as to where Eddie, Ruthe’s ex was. Until he was located and arrested she wouldn’t be going home and wouldn’t see her kids. Since it was Lynda who’d offered that information up I didn’t feel comfortable in asking if she knew anything about the reason for the attack on Ruthe but I did anyway. She hesitated but ended up saying that it had to do with child support. Ruthe hadn’t gotten any money from her ex and went to the Sheriff’s office to get them to force him to pay up. Ruthe had told her she was convinced that when they did he got mad, got drunk and took it out on her. Hearing that made me mad. I didn’t understand how a man (?) could get mad enough to beat up a helpless female.

Since Mike (the messenger/custodian) was allowed to leave at 5:30pm someone had to be at the back door to let the auditors out… and that someone was me. I called Elle and let her know and then tried to stay busy until the Fed guy decided to release the two crews. Thankfully it was around 6pm so it wasn’t too bad. I worried that it might be the same every night while he was there. Back at home I was really curious as to how Paula made out with Cliffy and the repair of her car. In spite of my love of cars since I was a boy, Elle had no interest in them… at all. Put the key in the ignition and turn it. Period. End of sentence. All she could tell me was the needed part (a starter motor) was very expensive and that Paula didn’t have the money. I’d wondered why Elle hadn’t been upset with my getting home late (again) and I soon found out why… she'd told Cliffy to put it on my bill at the garage. She expanded it a bit admitting that Beth being Cliffy’s wife had also gotten involved. Elle assured me that I’d get paid back as soon as Paula got her first pay.

The turmoil created by the audit examination quickly calmed down. That is, except for J J. He was still P O’d about being moved from his office and continued to let everyone know it. By Friday, other than the issue of being tight on space, the audit staff had ‘blended into the woodwork’ as far as being a disruptive element. The Fed guy stayed mostly in J J’s office and we hardly knew he was there. Even the people doing the ‘grunt work’ had calmed down and that included CeeCee. It was mid afternoon when I saw him headed for the door with two brief cases in hand. It wasn’t long after that before his crew started to leave. In seeing that all I was thinking was the old saying “When the cat’s away the mice will play.” However, CeeCee stayed at the table where she’d been working. Around 4pm she released them and I went over to ask why she hadn’t gone with the others. She looked up and smiled and told me she wasn’t going back to her office in the city and that she was going to stay in the area to do some sightseeing over the weekend. I commented that she could’ve gotten a head start on it but that brought forth a laugh. Then, with a more serious bent she explained that a friend of hers was going to be stopping by and she’d leave when he arrived. That brought forth an ‘inner smile’ that I had to really work on to keep from expressing it outwardly.

I don’t know how long it was before she showed up in front of me with a sheet of paper which she thrust on my desk. Right on top the letterhead read “Peat, Marwick, Mitchell; CPA’s”. I knew it had come from the last audit the bank had had done. Looking at it I recognized that it was to explain a shortcoming in the operations area. I know I blushed when I read it and that was because I’d not taken care of it. It was a “Gotcha!”, in spades. The area of concern was passbook loans. Day of deposit to day of withdrawal type accounts had not yet been introduced. The standard for payment of earned interest was at the end of each 90 days. However, if a depositor needed money before the period ended and withdrew it, all the interest that had been earned up to that date was lost. So, to help depositors in need banks would issue passbook loans and the depositor would ‘pledge’ his or her passbook as collateral and be charged an interest fee for the amount of days until the period was up. Tellers hated it! To accommodate the depositor a whole raft of paperwork had to be processed which took a lot of time… and most didn’t put the necessary time into to making sure all the “T’s” were crossed and all the “I's” were dotted. So, CeeCee wanted to review all of them. Kept under lock and key I had to open the drawer where they were kept so she could do whatever it was that she needed to do. It was the bottom drawer of the end cabinet near the table where she was working. For me to get to it I had to squat down to open it. When doing it I looked over at where she was sitting and could see under the table. Totally engrossed in what was in front of her she didn’t see what I was looking at. With her knees spread about a foot apart I had an unobstructed view of her pantied crotch. The light wasn’t the greatest but, beggars can’t be choosy. BTW: the ‘peek’ lasted for at least ten seconds.

To be continued…