Hi, Jim. Jim, don’t you just love your job at the bank. Isn’t First Merchants the best company you’ve ever worked for, Jim? I bet you feel like a brand new Jim at the beginning of every shift, like Jim of the mountain! Dontcha, Jim? Hey Jim, what kind of benefits do you get at the bank, I bet they’re great, huh? I bet they give you a discounted gym membership to the Y, don’t they Jim? Jim, you are one Lucky bastard.

It’s true; all of it is true. I love my job. I love working for this bank. I get to see hundreds of people every day and I stay fairly busy too. I get to read the paper on my down time if I like, though I barely ever do. I more of a magazine guy, myself. Anyway, yeah, the bank is great. I thought I’d be stressed out working with so much money at first, but it’s really grown on me. In fact, I’m pretty wonderful at it. You should see me count twenty dollar bills! Man, am I quick! My boss likes to brag about how fast I can count the money. He brags about how my drawer is never off either. Nope, not me. My drawer is never off a penny. Now, the other employees, they’re drawers are off pretty regularly, but not me. I figure I just take more pride in my job. The customers really appreciate it. They love me too. I’ve counted. I’ve got 24 customers at the bank who exclusively come to my line. If I don’t work that day, then they don’t come in. Sometimes I’ll even hand out my personal cell number to customers so that they can call me before they come in to make sure I’m there. Of course, I can’t answer the phone while I’m working, so I change my voicemail message to, “Hey, this Jim! I can’t answer the phone right now cause I’m at work at First Merchants! Come in and see me!” Hahaha, oh the customers…they get a kick out of it.

There’s this one older lady, her name is Josie. She comes in every Saturday morning at 8:35 on the dot. She gets money out of her savings account for her grandkids. I think she sees them at church.  Five dollars for each of them every Sunday. She’s always dressed nice; usually with a floral patterned dress and a matching cardigan. She smells musky, like 15 year old perfume. I like to imagine that it’s the perfume that her late husband gave to her.