-
O is for office stories
2009-11-06 14:30:25
I'm going to start sharing some accounting office stories with all of you. Mostly because I feel it would be beneficial to you all in the long term about things you should generally NOT do if you own a business or lack common sense.
But I know what you're thinking. ZOMG. you can't share that information! That's a lawsuit!
Not really. I already asked my boss, and I've been approved to actually write a weekly article in my business college's newspaper about it in terms of seeing things through the eye of an intern. I'm fine giving general details, but can't give out figures, names or what the business was or what type of business it was.
__________________
Anyway, I was working in our "Human Relations" department yesterday. This is the department where new clients come in and get quizzed over finances/expenses their business or household, and the information is entered into the computer and shipped off to the accountant who will be working with the account.
So a new client walked in, and I asked the general stuff. Amount of income, profit, expenses, yadah-yadah. I immediately knew there was a huge problem, because he was spending WAY more than what he was getting in.
So I asked for bank statements to see what the problem was [I have to give a quick synopsis of each account to whomever I send this to].
Listed for "expenses" included a big screen plasma TV, very expensive furniture and a fancy fridge. I can't legally disclose how much it cost him, but I can say that it was more than he was taking in.
I asked him "Why did you need these things".
He replied. "My workers said they needed them for the break room!"
I facepalmed. Literally.
Lesson of the day:
If an accounting firm that brings in a butt-load of cash has a break room with a coffee maker and a mini-fridge, small and new opening businesses do not need extravagant break rooms with plasma TV's and expensive furniture and a fridge.
Start small! In the three weeks I've worked there, 75% of all the failing businesses spent too much on appearance and ended up falling short in profits. While appearance is important, there's no shame in shopping at wal-mart. Same looks, cheaper prices and they have great business discounts.
____________
Story #2
A woman came in right after I finished with the man in the previous story. She was a single mother and was coming in more for financial counseling and budget-making than actual business accounting. Which is fine, we have a department made just for that!
She explained about her terrible job pay, and that she was running out of money in about a week, and needed to know what to do to make it last longer.
So I took the general info as usual, and started to see large charges in her bank statements at a local grocery.
When I asked what the deal was, she stated: "Oh. that's when I go and buy my cigs"
I facepalmed. Again.
Lesson of the day: Speaking in terms of finances and not health, smoking is very painful to your bank account! The prices of cigarettes are ridiculously high with rising tobacco costs and taxes. Having a aunt that owns a gas station, I called her up and found out a carton of cigarettes costs nearly 50-70 dollars depending on what brand you get! And depending on how bad you're addicted to smoking, you can go through 2-3 cartons a week! That's 100-210 dollars a week! And working minimum wage jobs, this is especially painful.
So for the sake of your bank account's health, let's stop smoking, mmmkay?
____________
Story #3
Ok, so there's no real financial advice in this one. It was just funny.
I was walking through the office hallway, dropping off folders of accounts the real accountants were going to work on that morning/day/afternoon. When I make it to the last door, I walk in [the door was open], drop off the folder in the basket and see the accountant that belongs to that room in a fetal position under his desk.
I ask what's wrong, thinking maybe something had happened!
"The jub-jubs are out to get me.... Please make them go away...." he says.
I just sort of stare at him, go grab the nearest person I can, and try to see what the heck is up.
Apparently when I returned, he was then chewing on his desk, and the person I'd gone to get looked just as confused as I was.
But then we looked around the door and saw the waste basket was full of about several cans of beer.
We both shipped him home with a different intern that knew where he lived, and went about our day as if nothing had happened.
I work with some real characters. LOL. -
W is for Windows 7
2009-11-04 11:20:55
I've never had any trouble with it on the beta...
But when I installed the damn thing for real, it's royally fucked me over.
1) Wireless Internal Card not Working [Says not compatible, even thought it was in beta]
2) Adobe Premier Fuckery [Have had to install it twice in the last two days...]
3) VLC Fuckery [Has very shitty playback quality]
I dunno. I may actually switch back to Vista if it keeps it up. This is seriously keeping me from editing, because I can't keep PRemier functional. =( -
J is for Job
2009-11-03 16:14:59
Ahhh.. As I sit here in COMS 1003, having already finished my Database assignment nearly 10 minutes into the class, I realize I probably have never told ya'll exactly what I do at EITHER of my jobs.
Well, I do believe it's time I fix that!
_______________________
Job #1: The Atkins Chronicle
TAC is a business run by two ex-professors at the college I attend. I was originally hired as a webmaster in 2006, because a website presentation I gave to the city council impressed them, and they wanted me to design them a new website and maintain it with weekly updates. So I did.
After a year of working with them, they finally gave me something a little more "important" than the website. I was given a column of all things. I was only 17, so I was a little shocked. The column was simple. Compile findings of news stories from 35-100 years ago in the past in our archived books. I have roughly 5 days for each week's edition to get it done. I finish it in roughly 2 hours every week.
The column was a big hit with the old folks in town [there's a lot of them], and I eventually got an entire 1/2 page of page 3 dedicated to it after only a month or so. The sad thing is that because the stories were written by various people in the past, I'm not "allowed" to have my name attached to the column. So nobody knows I really do that job.
Anyway, when I started college in 08 [18 years old], they gave me a little more duties around the office to help pay for various costs of my education. The rinky-dinky stuff that we hire interns to do. Database updating with new subscribers, calling advertising departments at various businesses in town, calculating payroll on excel, ect. ect.
It was nice, but this past fall, our newest employee Sarah was slated to take over for our retired employee Greg and do sports storites. Well, Sarah can't write sports stories [even though she said during the interview she could], because she doesn't know anythign about sports! I was proofing her story, took it to my boss and explained the various errors [I love sports...]. So, Sarah got kicked to a different department, and I got the job writing sports. I get an actual salary pay for that [$100 a week, granted I publish 2 stories], added to the wages I get for my other work!
I work in the office 5 days a week [Monday-Friday], but can work at home on Tuesdays to do the website. I get paid 9.50 an hour, plus the salary. It was 10.00-11.00 at one point, but when the economy shat all over itself, it had to go down a bit.
__________
Job #2 : Accounting Intern
Mmmkay. This job's a lot more "difficult" than TAC, but not by much.
Pretty much I walk into the office every day, check in with the big honcho, and get my assignment for the day. This usually varies [done something different every day I've been in there since I started working a few weeks ago].
Somedays I work with Microsoft Acess/Excel, and sort through pages of report sheets the real accountants do math with, and make sure all the numbers add up in the computer. Then I print out the fixed reports [usually there is actually a few errors] and take them to the various departments they belong to.
Other days, I work reception desks when the secretaries aren't in. I like this job a lot better, even though I have to deal with some very rude people at times [we don't have the best accountants in the world....] on the phone and in person. Reason why I like it better? Obviously because I get a friggin awesome computer to work with, and can get online whenever I want. i was actually told at orientation that facebook was fine to get on, as long as there wasn't a customer waiting to be waited on. Kudos to the boss. :up:
And then... Ugh... I have the archive days.... /leh gasps You see, the company only went digital about 2 years ago, so many of the tax and accounting information are stored in huge cabinets littered around the entire office. It's like playing Hide and go seek, because they aren't organized and aren't alphabetized and are in entirely different rooms. I spend entire work days just searching for 6-8 different accounts we hold! I'm on a committee working overtime to digitalize our paper data and go green, but there's just so much shit that it's hard to wade through it all.
Anyway, I really like the job. It's more challenging, but I feel more accomplished doing this than I do doing my job at TAC, because our firm isn't one of those "ZOMG. GIVEZ ME UR MONIEZ" ones, and we don't work for the government. We work to save people money and get their lives back on track in finances.
In fact, we do a lot of free accounting in exchange for other services. We recently had a plumber come in and tell us flat out he didn't have the money for our services. So we made a deal. Free plumbing for free accounting! We also do this with a lot of single-parent families and new businesses that have just opened up.
Also, to any business owners reading this? When you buy something for the company, keep the fucking receipt/invoice in a separate folder. 9 times out of 10, this can be a tax write off, and I can't tell you how many people come in and don't realize this, and I have to truck through months of bank documents looking for the transaction in question. In tiny font. And not sorted by any logical means =/
______________
Well, that's just another glimpse into my little world. Scary isn't it? LOL.
/Code -
C is for College
2009-11-03 12:57:45
Ahh... My last full month of classes. Dec 4 is my last day for classes [we start ridiculously early here in Arkansas], and boy am I ready for it to be over with!
I was so stupid taking Business Calculus when it's a senior level class, and I'm only a Sophomore. I've got an A, so it's all Kudos, but because I spend so much time worrying about it, I've neglected other classes. I have a B in biology that could easily be an A if I really applied myself, but I could seriously care less about science, and I'd rather spend time in a class that matters.
Next semester is going to be so easy.... =) Well... Easier because no senior classes and no EVIL DR.KEISLER OF DEWM. =) -
S is for Smiles and Tears ; A is for Apology
2009-11-02 00:07:02
While I'm working on Project Editor [AFTER I FINISH THE COMPILATION!], I have a small personal project I'm going to be working on.
Any of you remember the ending music to the game Earthbound? "Smiles and Tears?"
After some deep personal searching, I've found I want to recapture the feelings I had about the game in my youth in AMV form.
________________
I'd also like to apologize for my rude journal entry this morning. The language was uncalled for, but it reflected my feelings at the time rather nicely.
Please realize... I have a very stressful life. Not as stressful as some, but it's still stressful to me, and I handle what I can. I'm not complaining [ I love my jobs andI love school ], but both my work and school take a lot of time out of my schedule, and are more important to me than editing. 8 AM - 8 PM nearly every day is spent between the two, and I attempt to edit between 10 PM and 12 AM, but many times I just can't and fall asleep way before then.
Editing is one of the few luxuries I'm alloted myself. And to be honest, the constant hounding of demand for a product and the constant degrading nature of the comments is making me lose my desire for the hobby. That was honestly one of the 3 primary reasons I left the site last year. [The other two being stress and some pretty bad situations with my family].
I have no intentions of leaving the site again, and I especially don't intend to just leave it all on hunter again as I rudely did last year.
Just please realize that it will be done when it's done. I try to keep you all constantly updated with how it's going.
The fact of the matter as to WHY it's taking so long is this:
1) I'm busy [obvious]
2) The original beta version of the compilation was very buggy and needed a lot of fixing, and total re-editing of the commentary part.
3) I'm taking my time to get the lip sync right and done properly.
4) I edit on a laptop. This means that editing is frustrating and I cannot see how a segment of editing looks until I actually Render the section I'm working on in Premier. This takes time in terms of render, and even more time fixing the segment to look JUST right.
So please understand my situation, and I hope to get compilations out in a fashionable amount of time each round, but sometimes this simply can't happen.
JOURNAL: CodeZTM (Zackary )
Current server time: Nov 21, 2025 07:23:26