How internal documents can get you into trouble with external suppliers

My boss and the founder of a very large accounting firm went to school together. My boss often sends files up to this accounting firm when our clients need calculations/advice of an accounting nature. In return, he sends work our way.

My boss also has his personal tax done by this accounting firm, obviously. However, the principal doesn't do it. He has one of his directors do it. We call him Fat Eddie because he is ginormous. He seems to expand more every year. He would seriously need at least 3 seats on an airplane. There is no way in hell he'd ever fit into one, or even two. He is positively massive.

Anyway, Fat Eddie is rather lazy. He seems to think because my boss and his boss are friends, that we are on mates' rates or something, and therefore are not as important as his other clients. Not true. We pay in excess of $10,000 a year for our accounting (it's very complicated for a small business).

When I started here 5 years, my predecessor told me Fat Eddie was lazy, and would never get the documents in on time to the ATO, and we would have to constantly chase him up to even get started on the documents. In my time here, I have also found that to be the case. It is like pulling teeth to get him to do anything on time. We have gotten him into trouble with his boss on numerous occasions, which probably doesn't help us, I suppose.

Anyway, I have now done up a manual for my job which outlines the tax duties and what has to be sent to the accountant, when. In it, I said, "Eddie rarely gets things in on time, so make sure you chase him up."

This is an internal document. There is only one printed copy, and it's beside my desk. I haven't emailed it even to my boss, let alone outside sources. Besides which, it's absolutely huge and would well exceed the limits of most mailbox quotas.

Somehow, Fat Eddie got a copy of one page of the manual. The exact page which says he rarely gets things in on time. He has sent me a rather pointed email asking me to update that section to say if things are sent to him on time, he will have them done on time. And updated the time to send him the information to 5 months before the tax is due!! Well, of course I would expect him to have it in on time if he's giving himself 5 months to do it! But that's not the point.

The point is, how on earth did he get a copy of that page? I really do not understand how it's even possible.

My boss and I are laughing about it, however, because it could have been a lot worse. It could have said something like, "[Boss] calls him Fat Eddie, and notes he continues to expand each year. He is very lazy, and we have never gotten the tax done on time. To make sure he does his job (for which he seems rather incompetent), continue to chase him up after you've sent the file to make sure he actually starts it, so we have a chance of getting it in on time."

So at least there's an upside!

Our damage control was to write back and say, "Thanks Eddie. That extract is a remnant of [previous employee's] notes. We have updated accordingly." And then kept the document exactly the same. Hehehe.

Being productive

After finishing the last two assignments for one of my degrees (ever! yay!), I decided I would use this weekend to do a lot of things around the house that have been neglected the last couple of weeks, before starting to study for exams as of today. So, on Saturday I:

-cleaned the entire house, including the rooms that sometimes just seem to store junk
-washed the cat (he wasn't very happy about it)
-went to the gym
-did 3 weeks worth of washing (lucky I have a lot of clothes!)
-cleaned the fish tank
-went to see Burn After Reading (I didn't think it was as funny as the rest of the cinema did. Perhaps because I really can't stand Francis McDormand)
-went to Wagamama for dinner (mmm, vegetable ramen!)
-went to Freestyle for dessert (no, Miss Giggles, I still don't understand why everyone loves it)

And on Sunday I:

-watched last week's episode of Desperate Housewives (that show is going downhill fast)
-had William whipper snip the grass (we don't have much of it, so a mower would be pointless)
-went to Bunnings to get replacement herbs for some of mine that had died (and stood in line for 30 minutes to pay, and yelled at a guy who tried to cut in front of me)
-pulled up the herbs that were still alive, dug up the garden bed, put in some organic soil and mulch, dug that in, then replanted the herbs, as well as the new seedlings I bought. Then erected a small fence around the garden to stop the bunnies or whatever it is that are eating my plants
-went grocery shopping
-cleaned out the fridge
-made apple crumble, cauliflower soup and colcannon soup to use up some things in the fridge that were close to being thrown out
-cleaned out the pantry
-washed all 5 episodes of Great British Menu from this week
-made William some chicken noodle soup for dinner, because he wasn't feeling too well
-watched the two finale episodes of Project Runway (season 5).

And after all that, I had done so much work that my right hand and arm have swelled to another half their size, because my tenosynovitis has flared up. My hand and arm are aching and I'm finding it very difficult to do anything. Fun fun. But at least I got everything done! Now I can concentrate on studying for my exams. And after that, I will be able to finalise the details of my trip. I am so stressed about it!

Last group assignment ever!

Well, I'm down to my last group assignment, hopefully forever. One of my other degrees only has exams, and the other is external, so no group assignments there.

This one has probably been the best in my 8 years of uni, but still not perfect. One of the group members left the subject halfway through the semester, then another one moved to New Zealand. We had 12 weeks to work on the assignment, but I was the only one who'd done any work until week 8, when I sent a rather strongly worded email to everyone to get off their arses and do some work. Particularly as my part relied upon someone else's part, and then the third member's relied on mine. And I am the editor of the whole thing, so I need time at the end to put everything together and make sure it all works, and the spelling and grammar is correct.

It's due this Friday night, but until the most recent Friday night, I still didn't have all the details of what I was supposed to be writing about. Thankfully, the lecture ended early and I was able to speak to the other group member about it. So I began writing some of it on Saturday, but William and I had gold class tickets for Body of Lies (pretty good), and then Miss Giggles' birthday party to attend. I am now thankful I don't go out more - clubs are so loud! I felt really old, not being able to handle the volume!. I wanted to stay longer for her, but the noise was too much for me, and I had to finish two assignments the next day (the group one and another essay). Also, I had made a gigantic arse of myself earlier in the evening, and I suspect she was somewhat disappointed in her gift (although I had spoken to another friend of hers about it before I got it, and she had said it was a great idea, so I don't know). Anyway. I left at 10.30.

Apparently there was some big car race on yesterday, so William went to his parents' place to watch it with his dad. Which worked out great for me. I read through 20+ journal articles and wrote over 5500 words for the group assignment, before realising my two parts were only supposed to be 800. How many tables do you think is excessive in an assignment? I managed to cram most of my information across 12 tables, which left 800 words to link them together. Hehehe.

The most annoying thing, though, was that even though the other group members had not told me what I was supposed to be writing about until Friday night at 8pm, I was still expected to have my bit completed by Sunday night, so the other group member could do her bit (and have an entire week, mind you). I was on the group discussion board the whole day, posting bits of my assignment, asking questions, making comments on things, expecting the other group members to come on and contribute. I figured since at least one of my group members wanted my information for her part, she would at least be monitoring the site to see when I posted it.

Apparently not. I just think that's rude. They tell me I have to get everything done by Sunday, and then they don't even come on to the discussion board to contribute while I'm busting my arse, writing a very detailed and indepth report. Grr.

Anyway, at least most of my bit is out of the way. I just have to justify a few more bits of my reasoning, and I'm done. Except for the editing. I just hope they don't screw up my document too much. I've seen the way they format things, and I am afraid!

UPDATE: Ok, so apparently I was supposed to detail how I made an arse of myself. First off, I will preface this with the statement that only I probably thought I was a gigantic arse, and the other people involved have probably forgotten about it already.

So. If you read Miss Giggles' blog, you will know she gives everyone nicknames (as most of us do). When we speak in real life, she will often still call people by these nicknames, because otherwise I have no idea who she's talking about. Also, I am crap with names and faces, largely because I never actually look at anyone. People introduce me to other people, I say hello, etc, and then I promptly forget about them, as I naturally assume I will never have anything to do with them again, and thus they are not worth my brain space. So when I do end up meeting these people again at other functions, I have no recollection of them, and Miss Giggles will have to say something like, "this is suchandsuch, the one with the dog at my party last year" and I will say, "Ohhhh!" because now I know vaguely who they are, but still wouldn't have picked them out of a lineup if my life depended on it.

Anyway, there is one particular guy she has been sort of seeing. Go and read the blog post titled Epic Fail. It is ridiculous. I thought I'd had some bad dates, but that is just the worst ever! I'm fairly sure Miss Giggles has told me EF's real name before, but as I am want to do, I have never remembered it. To me, he will always be Epic Fail of the Worst Date Ever (tm). So, we're at the club. Some dude sits down next to Miss Giggles. I assume it is a friend of hers. She says, "Ange, meet Suchandsuch. Suchandsuch, this is Ange." He acts like he knows who I am, and maybe he does. Perhaps Miss Giggles has told him about me. But I naturally assume that he is one of her friends that I have met before and just paid no attention to. So I say, "Which one is Suchandsuch?" and wait for her to say, "Oh, he was the one who took home all your sausages last year" or something. But no. She immediately gives me this look like I have just said the stupidest thing on earth. And then he gives me this look as if I should know who he is, and then gives Miss Giggles a look as if she should have told me about him. And then I realise I have completely embarrassed her. So I decide to make it worse by saying, "But you have nicknames for everyone!" And as soon as I say that, I realise how stupid I am, and it dawns on me he might be Epic Fail. As if she's going to be able to say that out loud in front of him! And as if he's not going to quiz her later on what his nickname is! Idiot. I could not believe how stupid I was.

So yes, that is how I made a gigantic arse of myself, by completely embarrassing her in front of her "male acquaintance" whose name I should have known. Sorry Miss Giggles!

Happy Birthday to Miss Giggles!!!