Yesterday, I had one of those days where everything takes ten times longer to accomplish than it should. I thought I'd be able to breeze through a stack of things at my desk, but it was more like slogging through a tar pit!
When my parents lived in southwest Missouri, they had wonderful gardens. The year I lived with them, I discovered that my mother is a plant/bulb impulse buyer. She'd see something in a magazine and shoot off an order. When the order came, she'd hand the box to my Dad, and he would get his trusty shovel, and head out. By the time I got to watch this little ritual, they'd lived there about twelve years. Everywhere Dad put his shovel into the ground, he brought up six or eight bulbs that were already there. I think every inch of garden had been planted by then. So, for every new bulb she wanted planted, there were six or eight to be given away, shared with friends, or ditched!
There was something else about the land they'd settled on . They lived in STONE County. I've never seen a place more aptly named. Other than where my father had arranged for soil to be trucked in, there was just three inches of soil on top of rock. If you picked up a rock, you'd find it was nesting on two more just waiting their turn to get to the surface, so we really tried not to disturb the rocks! So, Dad was limited to the built-up gardens for his planting forays.
I know...that was a bit off the subject, but yesterday reminded me of those frustrating planting days. I had my union report finished early. It sat on my desk for a couple of days before I got ready to print the check that was to accompany it. Two minutes, tops, right? Nuh uh!
The last thing I do before I cut the check is to be sure that the totals on my report match the totals in the computer ledgers. My heart sank when I realized I was way off. I pulled up the Union Dues Payable account, and scrolled through it, and discovered that we have had a new employee for a full month, and no one had told me. (sigh...)
The report was already filled out. There was no room to amend it. I pulled up an electronic version of the report, corrected it for current charges, and filled it out for just the one employee, checked the totals (which looked much better) and then I cut the check. I made copies for the accounting firm, copies for us, and copies for a union representative. When the accounting people can't figure out that I've paid in full, using two report sheets, I want the union rep to be able to explain things to them. Finally, I addressed two envelopes, had Dear Husband sign everything, and gathered our copies together for filing.
This little chore should have taken two minutes. It took more like 90, and that put me behind on everything. I had to work in the office for a bit after dinner to be sure things that were needed today were done. I've had several chores turn out like this. It's no wonder that I can never see the surface of my desk.
I've been bookkeeping for our company for 20 years. You could say that I'm an old hand at it. But, every now and then, a spate of things occur that simply take longer than you expect them to. In this case, communication about the new employee would have helped, but it's not always this sort of problem. To work here, you have to be a self-starter. You have to be able to resolve things in a timely manner, and you have to be a mind reader! And, I wouldn't want to work anywhere else!