Well, This Is Emerald City

[rowyn]

On Sunday evening, several tornadoes touched down in the area where I live. My cell phone was out of service for hours ... on the rare occasion when I was trying to call someone, even.

This morning, as I walked to work, I looked up at the sky. It was clear blue, almost from edge to edge. I was a little disappointed; I like the way the sky looks at morning and evening with some clouds scattered over it, with silver highlights and deeper greys and sunlight flashing in the gaps.

Now, the sky outside the bank is dark with storm clouds, moving in high winds. The flags outside whip out straight and fluttering, the tree tops waving and bending. No tornado warning here, yet. But I can hear thunder now, and I've seen lightning flashes. Others at the bank have been clustering around the glass walls that frame the bank, looking up at the sky, watching the clouds. The clouds on the southern front, earlier, were scultped by the winds into a solid mass with a base like a contusion, distorted but not broken. Overhead, little circles of cloud -- not swirling -- opened to the blue sky beyond. Everyone speculated on whether this or that might be evidence of a tornado coming.

One of the loan officers from another location, Al, called me a few minutes ago.

Al: Have you looked outside?
Me: Yes.
Al: What are you going to do if there's a tornado?
Me: The branch manager is keeping an eye on it. We'll all go hide in the vault.
Al: Oh. Well, if the bank gets blown away, who am I supposed to call? I mean, if I need a payment made or something?
Me: Try downtown.

Don't worry about me. When a tornado flattened one of the little towns in southern Missouri, the vault for the bank was the only thing left standing. We'll be fine.

Comments

[koogrr.livejournal.com]

Hee! I'm left with images of you chucking money out to make room. I know you wouldn't, you're too responsible, but it's still fun to imagine a vault protecting people and the money blowing away.

Good luck weathering the storm, and is there a game tomorrow?

[rowyn]

The vault downstairs is lined by safe-deposit boxes built into the walls. We couldn't pull them out to make room for people if we wanted to. (pity). Same thing with our cash vault, actually -- there's a big vault protecting a large space, which includes stuff like all our original loan notes. But the cash itself is in a much smaller safe inside the vault. We don't keep a lot of cash, and it doesn't take up that much space.

[rowyn]

Is there a game tomorrow?

Not that I'm running. :) I'm not certain when the game will be ready to kick off -- probably in two weeks, at a guess. Hey, I did say late May/early June. :)

[brennabat.livejournal.com]

There also won't be a game to observe Wednesday either. One of the players has canceled. So looks like nothing will be happening today.

[rowyn]

Aww. Poor batling. *comfort*

[brennabat.livejournal.com]

Well you're a more important treasure than money anyway! *smile* I certainly seem to be on a roll with these compliment posts. I wonder if I'm being too sweet. Naw.

Y'know in a way I rather wish I could be there to see it. I like lightning and all sorts of bad weather. The only thing I miss about Phoenix AZ was the incredible lightning storms it would get. You just don't see them very often out this way. Bring me some weather would you Rowyn?

[rowyn]

You can have all our tornados, sweetie, if you want 'em. :) They're gone now.

[brennabat.livejournal.com]

Great. Because y'know I've been flying around in circles for a week now and I still can't make a tornado. *grin*

[rowyn]

I think you need bigger wings for that. :)

[minor-architect.livejournal.com]

*reads the conversation with Al, blinks, and reads again*

My brain is having a hard time parsing this. I believe in quickly bringing things back to normal after a misfortune just as much as the next person, but... Shouldn't the protection and/or evacuation of employees be considered first, then the question of who to contact if the bank gets blown away? I certainly understand his concern, just not why it is of the first priority.

[rowyn]

He was joking. We both were. In a deadpan sort of way. :)

[minor-architect.livejournal.com]

Righto. Apparently, my brain can't decipher deadpan humor in print sometimes. *gets out the brain-cleaning brush and rotates it a few times* ;-)

[rowyn]

Aww, don't feel bad. I didn't give much in the way of hints on that one. The least I could've done was tacked on a smilie. :)

[prester-scott.livejournal.com]

Sure is handy having a nice thick, heavy bank vault there to hide in. :)

[rowyn]

Yup! You just never know when a vault will come in handy.

[level-head.livejournal.com]

This is why others must pay more for no-vault tornado insurance.

Curious; keyboard processor crashing? I've had to enter about a third of these characters by ASCII code.

===|==============/ Level Head

[tuftears.livejournal.com]

A heavy bank vault is released by the tornado and thuds heavily into the ground. Employees inside wobble about as some of the safe deposit boxes pop open, unleashing a torrent of unexpected contents. Rowan makes her way to the door and cranks it open to observe a crowd of munchkins staring up at her with amazement.

Munchkins: "Ding dong! The wicked witch is dead!"

Rowan: "Um... Do you have an account with our bank?"

Munchkins: "Uh... No?"

Rowan: (patiently) "Would you like to open an account?"

Munchkins: (cheer wildly and line up to keep their money somewhere safer than with the Wizard of Oz in the Crystal City)

[rowyn]

Heeheehee. :)

You got just one part wrong: A mere tornado is not enough to get those safe deposit boxes open. Those things are tough.

[krud42.livejournal.com]

Hence the term "safe deposit boxes".

(Our branch uses cardboard "unsafe deposit boxes".)

[rowyn]

You've got the idea. :)

A friend was once talking about lacking confidence in the security of safe deposit boxes, saying "the employees can get into them any time, after all."

I said, "No, they can't."

"Well, but what would they do if I lost the key? There has to be some way for them to get in."

"Yes. Drill."

[kagetsume.livejournal.com]

Ooooo. Power tools...

[level-head.livejournal.com]

I am glad you are safe; I had missed this post yesterday.

===|==============/ Level Head

[rowyn]

I'm glad I'm safe, too. :) The weather's lovely today, sunny with a nice breeze and pretty clouds scattering a blue sky. Wish I was outside. Well, another couple of hours and I will be.