On the last business day of First Interstate Bancorp's 38-year existence, many of its employees came to work in black.
Early in 1995, before Wells Fargo & Co. launched its hostile takeover battle, First Interstate had bought black golf shirts with the company's "I" logo for all of its 27,000 employees.
On March 29, employees throughout the company's 13-state network wore the shirts as a gesture at farewell parties, signifying as well as anything the resignation that many employees said they felt as the company's independence ended.
"It's kind of disheartening," a First Interstate employee named Sue said while choking back tears outside the company's last shareholder meeting.
"I've worked at Bank of America, Security Pacific, and Wells, but First Interstate was No. 1," she said.
Nowhere was the mixture of resignation and pride more evident than at the March 28 shareholder meeting, where First Interstate shareholders overwhelmingly approved the Wells Fargo merger.
The meeting drew about 200 people and lasted less than 20 minutes. Only three comments were made from the floor: one in praise of the merger, the other two inquiries of an administrative sort. Only one ballot was cast.
Then, former First Interstate chairman William E.B. Siart made his last statement as the company's chief. At the end of the day, he said, First Interstate stood for "shareholder value."
Indeed, the company appears to be trying to make this idea its epitaph. The cover of its final annual report, distributed last week, has only the word "value" printed on a glaring orange and brown rendition of its logo.
Mr. Siart proclaimed at the meeting that "the shareholders owe the employees a debt of gratitude" for creating shareholder value. He also said that employees should take pride in the fact that at least half of the post-merger Wells employees and shareholders will be from First Interstate.
"Even though it carries the name Wells Fargo, I think in all of our minds it really ought to be Wells Fargo/First Interstate," he said.
Some 7,200 positions are to be eliminated from the merged bank, and those First Interstate employees who are losing their jobs appear to be taking it as well as they can.
Mr. Siart said he plans to vacation in Hawaii for a couple weeks before deciding what to do next. Most of First Interstate's top executives in its corporate headquarters worked a half-day Friday, their last day, and then attended a luncheon party.
On Thursday, Friday, and Monday, Wells Fargo gave termination notices to 1,750 people, 180 of whom were senior managers.
At a First Interstate credit card, debit card, and mortgage processing office in Los Angeles, workers appeared resigned to their fates as they left work on Monday. Nearly all of the 1,400 people who work there will either be terminated or moved outside of Los Angeles.
One young man named Mark, who was waiting for a bus outside the building, said he was happy about getting his termination notice. "I got the experience I need. I wasn't really all that interested in banking," he said.
Another employee, a 24-year-old named Derek, was also relatively upbeat about his prospects, although he was concerned for others.
"For me it's all right, because I'm young, and I have job skills," he said. "But I feel bad for a lot of the people who don't. There's a lot of people that have been there 15 or 20 years, and they've invested their lives here, and it's like they're not getting anything for it."
