Pearls

Tonight was dinner from the local Chinese restaurant...which is really quite funny if you realize that today is Cinco de Mayo and the rest of the U.S. is face down in a plate of nachos and tossing back $1 Coronas. However, I just didn't get that far in the thought process. I was in search of vegetables...and although what I brought home was coated in heaven knows what calorically, it just seemed like the obvious choice when I was leaving work.

One of my favorite things about the Chinese restaurant meal is the fortune cookie. There's normally all kinds of wisdom loaded onto a strip of paper that is, unfortunately, becoming more and more difficult to see as time passes.

My fortune tonight was "Only if you dive for pearls shall you find one." WHAT? How exactly am I supposed to interpret this. Literally? Figuratively? Spiritually?

My Chinese word that is written out and looks like Pi Sigma in Greek...is "to eat"...well at least THAT'S appropriate for me. (And for those of you in Georgia or Florida and who give a rat's behind, my numbers are 9, 16, 23, 2, 20 and 38. Good luck. If you win...buy me dinner.)

I suppose that tonight I'll "dive deep and try to find a pearl" of something interesting to discuss...wait...I'll just be literal and discuss one of the Pearls I used to know...

Now, this lady, who I will call Pearl (because that was her name) was one of those lovely southern women that I call "magnolias". They keep a perfect home, cook delicious things that they refuse to give you the recipe to even if you beg, and keep Mary Kay in business. The hair is perfectly coiffed, the nails are manicured, and they use the words sugar/darlin'/precious/honey/baby in just about every sentence. They smell good and dress "cute" and always have a great handbag.

After the magnolias are the "Confederate jasmine"...they are sweet and feminine and strong, but have a certain inability to keep anything straight without the assistance of other people. They are a little less "classic Southern" but are extremely aware of the rules of etiquette and are mortified by anything "tacky."

Then there's the "climbing rose"...who can be really beautiful and sweet, but will slice you to bits with the unexpected thorn. These tend to be a little bit clingy and require strong support. Often liquid support.

Farther down the spectrum is the "honeysuckle". They tend to be a little wild, but indigenous to the South. They are kind of common, but sweet if you go to the trouble to deal with them.

This is a step up from "kudzu"...and I'm just not going to go there...too tacky. Let's just say that these are the ones we can't get rid of...and are the only ones who any news outlet will ever talk to in the event of a natural disaster or cultural event.

ANYWAY, Pearl was a magnolia, although she for some reason, was working in a bank. I never really understood this inconsistency, but it really doesn't matter. She had all of the trappings of the magnolia at home...help...family silver...and huge diamonds on her fingers. I just assumed that working was more by choice than actual necessity.

She was a supervisor in the Credit Department that I worked in early in my banking career. She gave me as a gift some place mats to match my china (naturally) that I still possess. She also gave me the recipe for "Blueberry Salad" that my family now insists that I bring to every potluck family function or special occasion dinner that we have. I was honored that I received this recipe, because she basically drew the line there and would not let me have the one for the chocolate covered cherries for which she was famous.

Anyway, she oversaw quite a motley crew...I believe that there were five other permanent members of the department and me...a "management trainee." This, of course, was a position that did not exist, but apparently they thought I had some potential. This was back in the days before budget cuts required a staffing model. This was also before interstate banking...so competition between banks was intense, but we had our market in Montgomery, and that was that. We didn't compete outside of our market area...and we all pretty much liked it that way.

My perceived "potential" could have been the 73 page manual I wrote in my spare time while in the Investment Department on how to do my job. A manual that came in handy two years later when I was recalled to my former department as the manager. Or, it could have been that I was driving the people in the Investment Department crazy and they thought it would be easier to sell my "potential" than to try to get rid of me since I was actually doing my job and trying to do theirs as well.

The five of us were supposed to answer the phone, manually post paid out notes to a card, call for insurance on vehicles we had taken as collateral, and keep the credit files up. That would have been fine except nobody would answer the phone.

A myriad of excuses...one girl was told not to because she was supposed to be calling for insurance, another had some serious morning sickness and was up and down up and down. The third one was "above" answering the phone since she worked on credit spreads, the fourth would shuffle like she was 85 years old in the direction of the phone and answer it on the 18th ring if nobody else would...the fifth one would be anywhere but her seat...and then there was me.

So, guess who answered the phone in the Credit Department? Bingo.

The first thing I had to do was to remember that I did not really work in the "Credick Department" and that no matter how often I heard that phrase, I was not to assimilate it into my speech. I was also taught that I was not supposed to be especially helpful. In fact, I got into a heated discussion with the slow moving employee because she said that if we help them, they will just keep calling back. This was part of the way that they did things, and no yahoo "management trainee" was going to change that. Answer the phone? Yes. Actually answer a question? Um...no.

Pearl never really got involved in all of that. During the six months and one day (yes, I was counting) I worked there, I do not recall her coming out of her office. I'm sure that she did, though, because it seemed like someone had a birthday every week I was in that department...and a birthday meant food...lots of food...and Pearl liked to cook.

Now that I think about it...Pearl was probably then the age that I am now. She used to give me little "tips" on homemaking and entertaining...which is how I wrestled that blueberry salad recipe from her. I wonder if any of the "pearls" I am sharing with younger women are even worth diving for at all. I'd like to think that they are. Maybe I'd better pay closer attention...

All in all, that time in my working life taught me a lot...including words like "Credick" and "ax" rather than "ask." I learned how to work with other women, an experience that led me to face my fears and to start looking for other areas that were more male dominated...which eventually landed me in the Collections Department and then later to Commercial Lending. And frankly...Pearl taught me a lot. And...whether they intended to or not...so did those ladies who wouldn't answer the phone and who tried to tell me that taking care of customers was not the thing to do. I went the other way entirely...which eventually made me successful as a lender. Well, one of the lessons learned, unfortunately...stuck...and that was the phone. I'm now worse about answering a ringing phone then they ever thought about being. If it rings here at the house...I shuffle to answer it...and hope that someone else actually will. Ah...they trained me well. Later!