That would be me, Peggy, the Garland Group’s Administrative Assistant. I joined the company at the end of May and have been learning a bit since then about the banking industry. It’s changed quite a bit since i was a teller back in the seventies! Several of the guys I now work with weren’t even born when I was posting deposits on a computer that was almost the size of my desk here at the office, and I was opening savings accounts that paid 16% interest!! Lots of changes in the banking industry through the years. I recently found out that I can’t go into my bank and ask for an auto loan. Those, at least at my bank (which is one of the largest), are done completely online. I imagine it’s the same when applying for a mortgage loan.

Of course like everyone else in the world, I’ve been hearing for awhile now about identity theft and people getting into someone else’s bank account, etc. I’m now learning about some of the pitfalls…errors and carelessness that allow it all to happen. I kept my social security card in my billfold for many years. It’s just a subject that, until now, I hadn’t thought a whole lot about…one of those “That stuff always happens to somebody else” thoughts. I have to admit that I’ve been more careful in the last two months than I ever have been about what I leave lying around! My shredder’s getting a better work-out.

I’ve learned a lot in two months. Just hanging around these people is making me smarter! I’m liking that, and I’m really glad to be part of this great bunch of geeks…..I mean guys.