<Begin Segment 20>

TI: So you said earlier, so you started working at the Federal Reserve. So what did you do at the Federal Reserve?

RK: I started off in the supply room. I would have to make, deliver supplies or whatever, whoever ordered what, I would have to make a run over to... I'd actually make two runs, one before lunch and then one after, or whenever we shut down, because I would have to take the truck back to the garage, which was downstairs in the basement in the garage.

TI: So when I think of the Federal Reserve, do they have a lot of, what's the right word, money, or I always think of gold and stuff like that. So there's a lot of high security there, right?

RK: Oh yeah, you bet. Where I used to park the truck, at the far end of that was the vault. So they had money in there, they had gold, and whenever I'd get all the supplies, they would open the front gate, I would go in and they would close behind me, and they would open the inner gate. And I would drop off the supplies and then go back the same way. Close one gate, open up the other one.

TI: And I suppose, when you say "they" opened it, they were all armed, I suppose.

RK: Yeah...

TI: Probably your military background was comforting to people, that was a good fit.

RK: Yeah, it helps. And I know after that, I started working for Wells Fargo.

TI: Now did you do any computer operation at the Federal Reserve or was that only at Wells Fargo?

RK: I worked what they called the electronics department, which was actually, they had to checks orders. We get the checks for different banks, and then we would break them down by branch, by bank, and then they would go back to whatever bank it was, and they would go through their own process.

TI: So you would help operate the machinery that would process these checks?

RK: Yes.

TI: Okay. And then from there, you then, you said, went to Wells Fargo?

RK: Right.

TI: So why did you switch from the Federal Reserve, which is probably this stable government kind of job?

RK: Well, it was kind of a dead end job at the Fed. I mean, they didn't have any kind of development people, no programming staff. I didn't want to go back to the supply room, that's taking a step backwards.

TI: And so how did you hear about Wells Fargo? Why Wells Fargo?

RK: Well, Wells Fargo at the time was one of the better banks. Wasn't as big as BofA, but it was still one of the better banks. And then I started in what they call the check sorting department.

TI: So that's kind of similar to what you were doing at the Reserve, Federal Reserve?

RK: Right, except these were all Wells Fargo items. So that we would just, what department I was in, we would break 'em down, we would block the work by branch, and then we'd put 'em in trays, and then we'd take the trays and then we would sort the checks by account. That's what I did for three years, four years, something like that.

<End Segment 20> - Copyright © 2024 Densho. All Rights Reserved.