Christmas 2010

Pretty subdued this year.
They had been hyping up a possible snow storm for a week, and
today there were a few snow flakes on top of the leaves, officially
it goes down as a white Christmas ~rolling my eyes~ .

Merry Christmas

Speaking of customers

I have worked with the public through most of my working career.
I have lots of stories.

The bank alone could fill up several pages. People just
in general can get rude, cranky, funny, stupid, absent
minded, and obnoxious.

I usually never got mad at a customer. Especially if I
worked for someone else...I mean, let them bawl out the
business all they wanted, what did I care? At the
International Bank though, one person stands out. Can't
quite remember his name offhand though. I waited on him
one day - he cashed a paycheck. He worked at the mine.
Didn't have an account at the bank but we would cash their
checks anyhow...the mine was a big employer at the time.

I counted out his money to him and handed him an envelope.
He pushed the envelope back to me, swooped up his money
and walked out. An hour later he returned.

He calmly told me that he counted his money and it was
$100 short. Not knowing at this point if I had shorted
him or not, I invited him to take a seat while I closed
and tried to balance my drawer. He did. I counted and
balanced to the penny. I went and told him that I had
not shorted him, as my window drawer balanced. He was
ever somber when he looked me in the eyes and said, "Of
course you balance, because you stole my money."

Well.
Knock me over with a feather.

At that point I went to the savings department
manager, and told him what was going on. I invited
the customer to go see him. I guess he went in there
and gave some story about how there was an unfortunate
error, and he had been accidentally short changed on
his paycheck. I wasn't there but heard this later.
WHAT? What about me stealing from him?? He didn't
mention that to the manager.

Manager told the head teller to go count and balance
my drawer with me watching and with customer watching.
Head teller was ready to crawl through the floor by
the time I was done.
As head teller counted and my window balanced to the
penny, the customer, in a low voice, said to us:
"Of course it balanced because she took my money."
(All the while looking at me).

I said something like "Excuse me?"
It was then that head teller told me to be quiet and
not say anything else. After all, it was a bank
you know, reputation and all.
It was then that I told head teller quietly to
shut up. It was then that I started yelling at
customer walking away. I shouted stuff - don't
remember exactly what I shouted as he was walking
away but I remember it ended with, "...AND I DON'T
APPRECIATE BEING ACCUSED OF STEALING!"
As bank employees all turned red and lowered
their eyes to their desks.

That guy worked with my brother in law who had
nothing bad to say about him, except that he was
a bit of a space cadet at times. Because he had
left the bank with the money before returning saying
I had shorted him, because my window balanced, the
bank backed me up. And I didn't get in any trouble
for yelling at the guy either. And I never, ever
waited on him again.

The random stupid stuff one suddenly thinks about

As I was waiting for my hot chocolate to get uhm,
well, hot, I was writing in the calendar for January, 2011.
I looked at the calendar, it was from the USO. Probably
something that came in the mail soliciting for donations.

That got me thinking about how the propane man used
to bring us calendars every year, but stopped about
two years ago. Then I remembered when I worked at
International Bank in Raton, NM. The bank used to give
these beautiful calendars away to their customers
every December...filled with beautiful photographs of
New Mexico. Customers, especially older people, would
get irate if they didn't get offered a calendar, or
we were temporarily out. I mean, they'd start yelling
and going into a tirade about how long they've
been a customer, yada yada. I was not responsible for
the supply of calendars at the bank. I just would stare
blankly at them and think about a what I was going
to have for dinner or something.

Seriously

Last Tuesday morning at 2am the phone started ringing.
I have elderly parents in another state. I know
people. No one EVER calls in the wee hours of the night.
Well except for that one time 2 years ago when the
neighbor's were fighting, she threw him out, he called
at 2ish am to see if I'd go over and tell her to
answer the phone (no I didn't).
Anyway.
Said a quick prayer and answered the phone. The voice
on the other end:
"Hello? This is (name) with (name) Security Company.
I'm calling for (husband's name)."
Me: "HUH?"
Voice: "He's on the contact list for the (business name),
and the security alarm is going off there. May I speak
to him please?"
I go give hubby the phone. He tells her to call the
sheriff's department and if they find anything to call
him back. I lay awake waiting for the phone to ring.
At least 60 minutes later I fall asleep.

Come to find out something tripped the motion sensor.

The next night, 3am, phone rings. I spring out of
bed still half asleep and answer.
Voice: "Hello? This is (name) with (name) Security Company.
I'm calling for (husband's name)."
Me: "Yep right here, this is getting old."
Voice: "Well if you know the password I can talk to you."
Me: "I know the password but no way am I getting in
on this one, thanks anyway."
I hand hubby phone. He mutters why did I answer it.
I don't know why I answered it.

That night the phone got turned off. Apparently the
alarm went off again too. If they tried to call too
damn bad. So for awhile at night I was turning the
phone off, then I was forgetting to turn it on
again the next morning. Oops. Can't find good help
anymore.