Needing to Adapt

With a fresh day-before haircut, a brand-new tan suit and his favorite red clip-on tie, Jeremy felt ready for the new job. As he got out of his car to enter the office, his eyes caught a female blonde, perhaps in her teens or early twenties, strolling about a half a block away on the sidewalk, tilting her head back and consuming something out of a strawless large paper cup.

       Greeted by Nina behind the counter at the office, he was surprised by her gasp and reaction, “You look like you’re going to church!”

       “I want to try to make a good impression on people,” Jeremy responded with a straight smile-absent face, “just like I did when I interviewed here.” 

       “Ah, that’s okay,” Nina assured him, “but we’re pretty casual here. You don’t have to dress up for us. We’re just regular people.”

       “What should I be wearing?” he wondered silently, a t-shirt and jeans? He decided to see how things develop and choose his wardrobe based on his conclusions. Or perhaps Nina was just joking and the business appropriate look should continue.

       Having heard the conversation in the front, George Kinder came around the corner and bellowed, “Welcome aboard!” while extending his puffy right hand for a firm yet not punishing shake of a greeting.

       George summoned Jeremy into the company owner’s office and encouraged him to relax and sit down. He told Jeremy there were a few places in town he needed to visit in order to get himself oriented to the community and vice versa.

       “Everything’s close by, within walking distance if you prefer,” George said in a softer voice. “Here’s a village map with the locations on it and I have circled the ones you should go to this week.”

       Jeremy scanned the map showing, with George’s circles around them, the village hall, the post office, the police department, the parochial school, the public school, the bank, the supermarket, the gas station, five churches and both funeral homes.

       “Now here is a list of who you need to ask to see at these places,” George continued, handing another sheet of paper to Jeremy, the destinations typed in a column on the left side and people’s names down the right side.

       “We’re going to start slow so you can get acclimated and some important people know who you are,” George went on, “then in a couple weeks, we’ll have you up and running full speed.”

       With a half-shrug to indicate no hesitancy or concern, Jeremy said, “I’m ready” and stood up when George did.

       “Take your time and whoever you don’t see today, you can go to tomorrow or the next day all the way through Friday. These people are going to want to know about you and you should know about them. Most of them won’t be real busy and can visit with you awhile.”

       As he was leaving, Nina told Jeremy the office closes at 430 p.m. and if he was not back by then, to not be concerned, just get in his car and go home then return tomorrow.

       Map in hand, and head alternately down looking at it along with peering up at the corner street name signs, Jeremy strolled along in the nice 75-degree sunshine, presuming that he would have been able to drive himself if it were raining.

       As he passed by a small home where an older woman was bent down tending to some tulips, Jeremy gave her what he felt was a warm glance then when she looked up and saw his eyes pointed her way, she quickly swiveled her head back in the direction of the flowers.

       First stop – to see Mel Hangsleben at the post office. Jeremy told the clerk who he was there to see then was asked to identify himself. The clerk left from the counter without a word and in about two minutes, a short sleeved white-shirted older male appeared with his hand extended, saying, “Jeremy, I‘ve been expecting you. George said he would send you over.”

       What followed was the introductory protocol remarks of it being a pleasure, nice to meet you, a passing remark about how nice of a day it is, then an invitation for Jeremy into Mel’s office.

       “So you’re going to be our town’s newspaper reporter?” Mel opened with.

       “Yes, sir. I am looking forward to it,” Jeremy responded.

       It felt like another job interview for Jeremy. Where did he work before? How did he end up here? Where did he grow up and go to school? All of the queries posed to him by Mel with a gentle smile, slowing asking the questions rather than firing them at him, not a grilling by any means but still bordering on the almost too personal considering this was an initial meeting.

       “We’re glad George canned the bozo that was here before you,” Mel said. “He was off in his own world somewhere and wrote so little about what was really going on in town.”

       “That will not be a problem for me,” Jeremy said with straightened horizontal lips. “I have five years of local weekly newspaper experience and I feel like I know what people will want.”

       Mel sat back in his chair, pushed his head back up against the top of it and took a breath, “What people are not going to want is some snooty guy in a suit coming here and thinking he knows it all.”

       “Well I don’t feel that way, that’s why I am here,” Jeremy soft fired back. “I want to be part of the community and have people like you tell me what is expected from their newspaper.”

       “That is the way you need to look at it,” Mel advised. “but you look like a rich banker in that suit. You don’t have to dress like that to impress people. It’s more important that you blend in and I’ll be honest with you, a suit is not the way to do it.”

       “Okay, thanks, I will keep that mind.”

       The meeting proceeded with Mel telling Jeremy about a local men’s club that was in charge of the annual town picnic and did a lot of work on the annual parade, all of it to raise money for improvements in the park and recreation programs for the kids.

       Jeremy told Mel he looked forward to being part of all of that then after a few more pleasantries that were less rigid than the opening words they had, it was time to move on to the next stop.

       More of the same followed, different people, different town related subjects but similar reactions to the suit. As Larry Owens walked out of the supermarket with Jeremy, the store owner noticed the new reporter’s eyes being caught by the same blonde he had seen on the sidewalk when first arriving in town.

       “That’s Pam,” Larry said, “You’ll like her. She enjoys being outside in the sun on days like this. Say hi to her and tell her who you are, but not today, some other time when you are dressed more normally.”

       Pam had stopped abruptly and gazed at the two. But in two seconds, she stared straight ahead as if she did not see them and kept walking.

       Jeremy was quizzed by Ann at one of the funeral homes about his marital status, whether or not he served in the military, how many brothers and sisters he had and if his parents were still alive.

       As Jeremy was leaving Ann’s office, she chuckled, “The only time I wanna see you dressed like that again is if you come here to visit someone who is laid out or if you are laid out yourself. Loosen up, this isn’t New York City.”

       Before going to many other places, and since there were  only a couple hours left in the work day time period that most people went by, Jeremy was back at his car, removing the tie and suit coat then throwing them in back seat.

       The door of the office popped open and Nina shouted out, “So ya been to church already?”

       “Yeah, I said some prayers,” Jeremy smiled back.

       While this was going on, Larry from the grocery store was driving by in his pick-up truck with the market name on each door.

       Larry slowed and rolled down his driver’s side window that was facing Jeremy,  broadly grinning, so much that the sun glistened off his gold tooth, “Hey, newspaper man, why you locking the door on your car? You don’t feel safe here? Nobody’s gonna steal your tie and suit coat!”