She Had a Gun
Until recently, this was confidential information. I signed an oath of confidentiality in the '50s and have taken it seriously for six decades. The year was 1954, and I had just left high school, a young woman of 19 who was lucky enough to get a job at the Lac La Biche Treasury Branch, now called the ATB.
I began my banking career as a ledger keeper and then a teller.
In those days, each teller sat inside an enclosed teller’s cage about the size of a telephone booth that had side walls with windows at the top and a door on the back wall. I had a drawer for a small sum of money and a stool where the cash box sat with a larger sum. Under the counter was a shelf.
I have now been given authorization from ATB to reveal that inside that cage, tucked on the shelf out of view was a gun.
I was a teller, and I was security. Not only was I issued a revolver, but I had the ammunition to go with it. It was stored overnight in the vault, and several times a month I would do target practice after hours with the manager.
I remember going to the basement of the construction site where the York Hotel was being built, now the La Biche Inn. In the corner was a pile of coal that made a great backdrop for target shooting. Clearly, with the gun, ammunition, and target practice, I was being trained to use that gun in the event of a robbery, not just to wave it around to scare off a thief. With all that target practice, I can tell you that I was a crack shot when I went out hunting prairie chickens with my husband.
Going to the safe
Every morning I would go into the vault, unlock the safe, and carry out my cash box and the gun that stayed beside me all day in that teller’s cage. Fortunately, in the six years that I worked at the treasury Branch, I never had to use that gun, but I do have other stories to share about working at the Treasury Branch.
During that time it was located on Main Street in the Century 21 building, on the main floor.
In addition to the usual duties and more challenging ledgers, I also sold vehicle license plates. I confess I once forgot to collect for a license plate, so the manager had to locate the customer to pay. Allow me to share some entertaining memories. Let’s see . . .
I remember . . . that our unsuspecting rookies were given two tasks. The first was to run an errand to the Imperial Bank to borrow their scale so that we could balance the books. The staff at the Imperial knew about our rookie pranks and would reply that they didn’t have the scale at the moment because it had been lent out. The second task was to tighten the knob on the combination lock on the vault. After a period of time, the rookies became very frustrated with how long it was taking to tighten the knob, so we would confess that it couldn’t be tightened.
The bank had an interesting assortment of customers.
One day a gentleman, let’s call him Mr. Wood, walked into the bank dragging a long 1 x 6 board attached to a rope. He dragged the board to the back where the table stood for customers to write out documents. He tied up his 1 x 6 board to the table and got in line to do his banking. Meanwhile, his “horse” remained tied up to the table.
Knowing the customers’ signatures was essential. One day I refused to cash a cheque Mr. Broke brought in. Although it had been correctly made out to him, and it was signed and dated by Mr. Cash, it was not Mr. Cash’s signature. In those days we tellers knew the signatures of our customers, and we knew them well. This was not Mr. Cash’s signature, so Mr. Broke wasn’t about to get any money from this teller. Several days later a sheepish Mr. Cash came into the bank to explain that yes, it was his signature, but he had been very drunk when he signed that cheque and gave it to Mr. Broke.
Mr. Cash wasn’t the only one who was drunk. One night I was at a town function and felt a tap on my shoulder. Behind me stood Tap who was very anxious. It seems Tap had been drinking with one of my colleagues, and my colleague had gone into the bank and passed out with the doors locked. Tap insisted that I not tell anyone. Tap desperately needed me to go home to get my bank keys so that we could get my colleague out of the bank. That night we did successfully get my drunk colleague out of the bank without anyone catching on, another secret I’ve kept since the 50’s.
But it wasn’t all fun and games at the bank.
We did serve the public too.
The bank was open weekdays from 10:00 – 3:00 for customers and 9:00- 3:00 for staff (or until we balanced which could be a few minutes or a few hours). The bank was closed from 12:00-1:00. Before the 50’s, there was no such thing as government-regulated coffee breaks, so we didn’t have any.
Then one day the branch manager announced that everyone would start getting coffee breaks. Well, we just didn’t know what to do with that.
The first week we walked down the block to the nearest café to order a coffee, but we discovered there just wasn’t enough time to walk there, order, drink the coffee and get back to work in the few minutes we were given. So we stopped going.
When the branch manager asked us why we were not taking our coffee breaks, we said there wasn’t enough time for coffee. He realized it would appear that he was not carrying out the new policies. Lucky us, he gave us a little more time for coffee breaks. It wasn’t until years later that someone came up with the concept of a staffroom with a table, chairs, and coffee.
Different times
It wasn’t just coffee breaks that have changed in the workplace over decades.
In the 50’s, female tellers were required to wear skirts or dresses. Pants were forbidden. It wasn’t until the 70’s that the rules changed and female employees were allowed to wear slacks, but it had to be pant suits.
Yes, it was a different world. A pregnant employee had to leave her job before she started to show. So, I left in 1960, and that was the end of my Treasury Branch career.
Triggering a memory
I wonder whatever happened to my gun.
Well, it’s 58 years later. I learned many good things that I’ve carried with me through the years. I still balance my chequebook to the penny but haven’t shot a gun in years.
I was at the bank the other day, and a nice young woman served me. I don’t imagine she would believe me if I told her I once did her job and had a loaded gun beside me all day.
