Accounting ... It's Simple

 Oh yeah ... another overcast chilly day in not so sunny California.  The sun actually came out for an hour, teasing us into thinking it was going to be a good day, just before the clouds turned black.  It was a sign of things to come.   It just may happen this morning however, because the wind is blowing like crazy and it's a warm 54 degrees.  Sadly, that still doesn't make for coffee on the patio.

And coffee I desperately need after last nights screaming and yelling.  At 1:00 am I heard voices.  LOUD voices.  I got up just in time to hear some guy next door going berserk (probably smoked too much crack).  I've said it before, but this is an upscale high value neighborhood to have those kind of people hanging out in the garage next door.

He was cussing up a storm as he beat up the side of someone's truck.  Yeah I don't think the owner is going to be very happy about that and I think that is the Mom.  I could hear three other guys trying to stop him.  There's someone who will go far in life, yes?

That made my nightmares look like this!  

It was a long day, as accounting problems always take forever to fix.  Or NOT fix, as the case may be.  I arrived at the Lodge at 9:30 to find the crew cooking a big Christmas lunch for 200 challenged children and adults.  You definitely need patience here.  Some come running up and give you big hugs while others throw tantrums.  Big ups to the caretakers and teachers in our County.  It's a job I could not do.

I stumbled up the stairs to be greeted by the big smiles of our bookkeeper as my brain shifted into high gear.  She couldn't get the credit card system to balance with the bank deposits.  It's very difficult when you are looking at the whole picture, so I told her we would look at one single transaction.

After 30 minutes, we could not find a breakdown for $1330.  Ok, let's call them.  The guy on the phone found the numbers, so I asked him to repeat every one as I wrote them down.  NOW .... please tell me where "I" can find that information in your program.  

You're not going to believe this ... he took us to a report that had over 100 entries and told us to pick and choose until we got an amount equal to $1330.  Ummm why can't we just see the page YOU got these numbers from?  He hung up on us.

I smiled .... he doesn't know the tenacity and downright stubbornness he's dealing with.  We called back and talked to another guy.  THIS time I very nicely explained the problem and asked for a supervisor.  After being put on hold, they hung up on us with a loud click. 

Call them again I said ... by now everyone in the room was leaving like rats on a sinking ship.  They didn't want to see the explosion that was coming!  No worries ... I can be sweet as pie ... sometimes!!

This time I explained to the newest gal that if this continued, we would find another company for our business.  At long last after a 12 minute wait, we had a supervisor on the phone.  I explained the problem, whereupon she went looking for the report we needed.  Suddenly she was as frustrated as we were.  No such report exists anymore.  THAT is the problem!

She said it wasn't the first problem since changing their programming, but it's a big one.  We HAVE to see the breakdown of deposits they make.  It's the only way we can balance.  I got a promise of a callback by Monday at the latest.  We shall see if that materializes.  In the meantime, we still do NOT balance.

There is one other solution which I asked to be put into effect immediately, but that won't help us with this right now.  It took 2-1/2 hours to get that far.  We'll get it ... the bookkeeper is happy to know she's not crazy and I have no doubt her numbers are correct. 

On the way out the door, I spotted plates and plates of apple pie from Costco.  Apparently that's not the favorite of the masses.  As you know, Nancy does not EVER turn down dessert when offered.  While in the kitchen, they piled on some of that yummy turkey.  I probably have food for three days now ... or two if I share with Cooper!!

Here's my cheap dinner trick of the day.  A box of Rice-a-roni cooked up in the skillet, adding in cut up turkey at the end.  YUM YUM!!  I think this entire pan cost $.79 because the box was on sale.  Talk about cheap eats!!

And dessert ... food for my tired brain ... smushed up apple pie because the box fell on the floor of my truck, along with a nice scoop of ice cream.

Time to do a few brain games ... I have to keep that thing in motion, at least until we get our problem solved.

And the rain is falling .........