This is REAL People!

Sharing some of the craziness that is my job……

• My boss has owned this business for 5 years.  During that time, he has paid the WITHHOLDING TAXES from his employees checks about 5 times (all during the time I worked there, which began in January 2009).  The IRS has threatened to seize his assets and have levied the bank accounts numerous times.  Same with EDD.  He hired a tax advocate, who said we had to “no longer pyramid” (aka, pay each payroll cycle the withholding taxes) so that they can negotiate waiving the penalties and interest.  Sigh.  Nope, hasn’t happened.  When I give him a list for THIS YEAR’S amount due (approx. $750,000) and remind him he owes over $1mil for 2007 alone, he tells me the IRS can’t do anything to him.
• The tax advocates recommended that my boss close the corporation that owes the $1+ million and just use the new corporation that he opened this year.  That way, the employer’s portion would go away, which amounts to about $400,000.  They said, to do that, he could NOT merge the companies because the liability would come over.  When I learned of this, I said I needed time to convert the accounting records, the employees, transfer the leases, etc.  I was told I would get that.  Yep, I got 24 hours notice!  And what’s funny…….the two leases that “converted” have been refused by the landlords!  You see, the boss was SURE that they would accept 100% of the same terms and fees for the new company, that there would be no credit check, etc.  That was 7/31 and it’s still not resolved.  Oh, and guess what?  The companies were MERGED…….
• We are being sued by several vendors that want the past due invoices paid.  The boss says they can’t do that because it will mess up our chances of getting the huge loan to consolidate all of the debt that we have not even been making payments on.
• We received a subpoena yesterday, which the boss said we do not have to respond to.
• We have not paid sales tax for four months.  He says that is not really that important.
• Today is payday and we are overdrawn in all bank account by over $10,000
• Even sharing a FEW of the items above, the boss is opening a new location in Las Vegas in about a month.  Not sure where the capital is coming from to do that.  Not sure how the lease he signed is legal since he used a corporation that hasn’t even been formed yet.  Not sure how I will pay the 100+ union employees he will have as I don’t have the info to set up the accounting, bank accounts, order checks, etc.  But I have been told I am “too negative” since I keep asking for these details.  But remember, Gina, the cashflow will be AMAZING and we can pay all of our vendors off!  At that point, I remind the boss that this will be set up under a different corporation and AGAIN, you really can’t pay the bills of one corporation with the money from another……….
• Oh, and don’t forget that I am “the problem” with other employees, especially the one that has been historically written up for anger issues and even was sent to anger management classes.  SHE has the “greatest attitude” of all the employees……..

Yes, this was a vent.   And I am completely hopeless that anything will change.  Because, the biggest lesson I have learned is that the boss doesn’t haven’t to follow IRS/EDD/Labor or any other rules or laws.

A Snapshot of My Day at Work

To share some of the craziness that is my work life, here is a snapshot:

• Alarm goes off at 5:30am, snooze until about 6am. Get coffee, pretend I work for a viable firm, and log onto the computer.
• Check FB, email, and pretend I really don’t need to log onto the banks to see that we don’t have enough money.
• Log onto the work bank accounts to move money around to cover payroll and assure there are no bounced checks.
• Notice we have $12k in the general account, but are overdrawn $22k in the payroll account. I also notice my payroll check is one of the checks that is flagged to bounce. I transfer the $12k, knowing we will pay the smallest checks first to avoid nsf fees (which, in itself, is hilarious to me – we pay about $3,000 a month in NSF fees), and think how a bounced payroll check will mess up my budget.
• I log onto the other bank account and see that there is not enough to cover the $10k deficit. I look back at the payroll account and see more checks have been presented. Now reaching a $15k deficit.
• I realize that the owner just paid his buddy for the loan, one that really is “not essential” as he doesn’t report to credit bureaus and, quite frankly, all money needs to really go to payroll or food for business. This payment is for several thousand dollars and hurt us tremendously, but the owner didn’t “want to look bad or admit to his friend that we are having a short financial crunch”. Um, short? Well, I think, he will find out soon enough when his check bounces.
• I write an email to the boss, which I do every morning, listing the expected checks that will bounce as well as the expected COD shipments scheduled for the day. The deficit for the day is around $37k.
• I attached the ongoing list of IRS/EDD/SBOE debt that is past due FOR THIS YEAR ONLY, reminding the owner that any one of these entities can and probably would levy our accounts again (at least) or shut us down (at worst). This amount is over $800k. He says not to worry. I envision IRS officers storming the location where I work and wonder if they will have real bullets in their guns.
• I arrive at the office and already see the war wounds on the AP Bookkeeper, who has to field calls from angry vendors. The latest? One that was promised $17k from the boss and wants to pick up the cashiers check. I take the call, inform the vendor that unfortunately I cannot get the cashier’s check as there are not enough funds in the bank. He asks for a check and I respond, “well, I COULD write you a check, but it will bounce. So I will not be doing that.” “But [the boss] promised!” I hear. I say, “well, I am sorry. The reality of the situation is we cannot act on that promise.”  I think he may have cussed at me at that point…….
• We receive about 20 calls indicating the boss told vendors that he was getting a loan and “would bring their account up-to-date”. Unfortunately, said loan has not appeared, I have no idea if it really will appear, and if it did we would not be able to meet those promises. You see, the loan is for $1mil, of which $100k goes right to the boss. Rumor on the street is that he is also planning to use about $200k to open a new location in Las Vegas. And remember the IRS/EDD/SBOE debt of over $800k? Doesn’t add up.
• On a side note, I remind the boss that he promised me $900k from the loan and I am concerned that several key people have shared about his supposed need for the LV money. He tells me that is not true, he only “needs a little”. I ask for the exact amount I will be getting. He doesn’t answer. I send the IRS/EDD/SBOE list again and tell him what vendors are telling me he is saying and that it will be impossible to pay anything towards their debt and that I am concerned he is setting up expectations with so many and that so many will be very angry when it doesn’t happen. I remind him that we get yelled at all day and that this is like putting gas on a fire. No response.
• I receive a call from our tax advocate, who was hired to negotiate the over million dollar debt we owe IRS/EDD for previous years. (That is for withholding taxes, not income taxes). She reminds me that she can’t negotiate as long as we continue not to pay. I tell her the boss won’t flag it and really, we don’t have the money anyway.
• The boss calls and tells me how sales are up and everything is hunky dory! He has been in the business all his life and we are the best locations in the world. I stare at the ceiling as he continues with his daily pep talk.  The office phone rings and I am being flagged – it’s an angry vendor who wants to talk to me.  I flag them to hold and continue to stare at the ceiling as the boss’s version of things unfolds in my ear.
• I receive another collection letter from an attorney, add it to the stack, and write an email to the boss indicating another lawsuit is in order.
• I print out the new Worker’s Comp policy for the boss to sign, along with the letter declaring we have been in violation of the law since he didn’t think to get coverage for the new locations he opened at the beginning of the year, under his second company name. He said it’s not a big deal.  I write a check for the deposit, knowing it will bounce, and set it aside to mail.
• I go home and the cycle begins the next day.

Sigh. Gina out!

Thursday – What to Say?

I am not sure what to post, and I know it’s been a while.  I have started a few and never posted them…..yeah, the lifestyle of the unmotivated!

We moved successfully, if not with a few bumps, and are now settling in nicely.  Kenny LOVES being so close to the beach!  We rode there one night and it was AWESOME!  The kids love that there is a huge olympic pool right on the beach, too.  So that part is awesome.  This is also a very nice neighborhood – quiet and about 10 neighbors stopped by to welcome us.  Even Gracie is loving it!

I am sad to report that all my complaints about Du-par’s before were NOTHING compared to the crud that is happening now.  Each day I become a bit more weary with the shenanigans that go on and the unrealistic optimism I feel I am supposed to display when being basically yelled at throughout the day from people who want money.  The biggest group of these people, lately, are the check cashing places trying to collect on bounced payroll checks…….sheesh.  But even worse, the “golden child” of the firm, who the President loves, treats us the worse and I am really getting tired of it.  Sigh.

Hey, if there are any labor lawyers out there – I have a question.  We have an internal policy (aka the President said so….) that we NEVER process a workman’s comp claim because, if we have no claims, then we get a dividend back from our insurance.  One person said they hurt their leg and has been off for about 6 weeks.  The President has paid several bills, including for an MRI, and we have been paying their salary when off, but the employee feels as though more needs to be done and is tired of the President telling him that “he does not have a workman’s comp claim”.  I have raised my concerns, too.  However, the President claims that we have a right under California law that says we can treat “first aid” without filing a claim.  If a person has been off work for 6 weeks, has had about 6 doctors appointments including an MRI, and such…….is that considered first aid?  What are the requirements for filing a workman’s comp claim?  The President says, “well, we could file it, but they would just deny it because this injury would be rejected.”  Said President is NOT a doctor……..so if anyone knows, let ME know!

Okay, I must get ready for work.  I will write again, I am sure!

Gina OUT.

Vote at Dupars.com!

If you’ve been fortunate enough to eat at one of the seven Dupar’s Restaurants, you already know that the food is GOOD!  Fresh, tasty, and in a pretty fun atmosphere.  If you haven’t, you should check it out!  (There’s even one in San Diego Michele!)

If you DO know what it’s all about, please go to dupars.com, select the BEST OVERNIGHT DINER link to the middle right, and vote for De-par’s!  Our Farmer’s Market (Los Angeles) location is running against Bob’s Big Boy through a program sponsored by NBC.  I would appreciate your help!

Click here to vote!

What??? The Server is Down Again??? And Other Nonsense!

….and other rhetorical questions I ask at work lately!

So, a synopsis of how things have occurred at my work in relation to the recent server upgrade:

1.  Prior to the upgrade, 5 things didn’t work

2. The upgrade itself, which was to last “two business days at the most, and will be seamless to accounting”, actually took five business days, two of which accounting was unable to work.

3.  The five things that didn’t work?  Three now do.  Progress, right?  However, about 24 other items have now stopped working.

Presently, my vendor is trying to fix ONE of them so we can process payroll this week.  Sigh.  Can’t do anything for a couple of hours, which I fear will really mean the rest of the day.  But who am I to complain????

And since I’ve let my hair down to complain, I might as well add this article too!  Basically, if red meat (which I love, although have been trying to cut down on….) can kill me not only with cancer or heart disease, but myriad other ways as well!  Thank goodness this news was just published about insurance!

And sorry ladies, another sexy bachelor has tied the knot.  NOT.

And for those who love the bizarre, read this!  I wonder where she is getting the money to pay the nannies she kept?

Okay, you can probably glean from this post that I have nothing to do here.  AND I didn’t bring my laptop to work, so I can’t even work on my paper!  Dun dun dun!

But, alas, it IS a beautiful day!

Dude, I am in BIG TROUBLE!

Well, let me put this in perspective – don’t have much time so sorry about the lack of colorful details!

I have several jobs in my queue as potentials – 2nd interviews, etc. However, yesterday I got an offer from one family-owned firm called Du-par’s Restaurant & Bakery that is very interesting. During the interview, which was over dinner and dessert, the owner of the firm spent more time asking me about my family and details on my kids than anything else! While this position might not be the highest paying, it offers an amazing culture and IMMEDIATE HEALTH BENNIES, which means I save over $700 a month from my COBRA!

Anyway, I accepted the position yesterday as their accountant and actually start today (although I will work normally Mon-Fri). So why am I in trouble????? IT’S A RESTAURANT WITH YUMMY FOOD AND HAND MADE PIES! Dun dun dun……I better watch the food ’cause I can’t weigh 400 pounds!

More later, but seriously, now I can’t take the last minute “what the hell, go for it, Gina” trip to London I was working on! LOL. Life is tough.

The Gauntlet

Just a quick update about work.  The crap is pretty thick there and it has gotten very ugly.  There is no “team” where I work and it is now evident that Lien is not leaving and her unreasonable and incorrect management of the Accounting will continue despite the fact that I am “officially in charge”.  She is out right rude and she is even taking steps to harrass me.

Sounds dramatic – sorry – but it seems lately that my life is a freaking soap opera!

But here is the deal – Gina said enough is enough.  I gave both owners details and an ultimatum; figure out in black and white what I have been hired for.  That I need to have authority if all the responsibility is mine.  That I am tired of being treated like crap by the owner’s wife.  That he wants a team and his own wife and HER FAMILY that work there do not even TALK to me.

The managing owner said he would have my answers for me today, so either I am out of a job, or things will be getting better.  Part of me really hopes for the former.

Although I LOVE my new job, why I want to sometimes scream!

Background: Received a statement from a vendor that had a zero current bill and a past due amount. As I had been instructed, I gave the bill to the person training me. She gave it back with a note saying: “call them we don’t get invoice” (copied word for word)

I went to the vendor’s site to get online statements and realized this issue had been going on for two months. As the original bill was for a lease, I sent an email to the person training me just to keep her informed and to get her feedback. I don’t know, thought maybe she had disputed it or something……here is how it went down:

Hey XXXX,

The past due amount for this vendor actually goes back two months. We were billed $xx.xx in September for Meter Rental to cover 9/16-12/15, plus tax. The balance carried over in October and included late fees. Now it’s back in November plus late fees. I have the print outs for you to review and I confirmed nothing has been entered or paid in Solomon.

Her reply:

Meter Rental is bill  by QTL.  We don’t get last invoice for this bill, we call vendor waste for late fees charge.

What is your question and need to review for?

My reply:

I was letting you know what I found and usually you ask to see so I was just trying to accommodate what I expected you’d ask for.  Plus, this happened before I started here so thought you might have something to input.  However, I will be more than happy to handle this.

(Note to readers – at this point she and I had a face-to-face about the whole situation and I thought we were clear about the apparent miscommunication going on.  I thought everything was cool and went on with my work all happy and stuff.  You should also know that any email to ME is blind copied automatically to the owners of the company)

Her reply:

Bring up example for “this happened before you started here”.  You turn to me the invoice with note late charge?  I return with call vendor we don’t get the last invoice and try to get credit for late charge.  What is wrong???? Gina.

My reply (as I stared at her back as she sits 5 feet from me):

I apologize that we seem to be miscommunication, or at least I was not communicating effectively to you.  I thought we just cleared this up in our discussion and not sure we needed this email, but I do appreciate that you sent it anyway so that I don’t go on with my day thinking this interaction was resolved when it really wasn’t.

I was basically trying to honor you, give you an opportunity to give me your feedback because, in other cases where I have not consulted you, I seem to have offended you.  I absolutely do NOT want to offend you, and since I didn’t have the benefit of any special handling you may have done with the lease 9/3 (original bill date), I was trying to explain in my last email that I was giving you the opportunity to give me feedback on it.  That is what I meant about “this happened before I started here”.  However, in your first email you made it clear that it was not the case.  Further, you asked why I asked you so I was just trying to explain to you why I did what I did.

I am afraid that, had I NOT asked for your feedback, I would have offended you as I have seemed to do in the past as you have so much information that I lack.  I hope I have not instead offended you by asking and also answering your question.  However, I will absolutely handle this, I know now based on the conversation you and I just had that we never received the bill, and I will be more than happy to call and request the late fees be waived.

If there is anything I have misspoken or misunderstand, please let me know.

So maybe I shouldn’t have sent the email, because this was her reply today:

Hope we are here to work and save time to work to keep up the Company good and doing well.  My style is like to work and showing to work more than spend time to back and forth e-mail every little thing or something – bottom line is no point, wastes time.

I’m a part in this company, long or short it is.  I want to training you go to right way, no mistake, save…as far as I know.

Just so you know, she’s sitting 5 feet from me right now and – true to every other day – won’t really talk to me or train me until about 5:17 tonight.  Sigh.

I am SO HAPPY!!!!

Okay, I didn’t want to mention anything sooner, but you HAVE heard that I don’t really like the job that I received at Gretchen Fox.  The drive alone is enough to turn me into Queen Cranky!  But there are real issues with the way they do business – like they want to dock salary peeps if they leave early or lied to me as they don’t offer benefits.

ANYWAY, going back during the summer, I had contacted a company I had worked for 10 years ago.  At the time they no longer needed to fill the Accounting/Office Manager position so I said thanks and let me know.

Well, last Friday, after ending another HORRIBLE week at work, but reminding myself that I am very fortunate to even have a job with this economy, I checked my email.  Bam, there was an email from Corey, a partner from the firm.  He was seeing if I was still interested because things had changed.  It was late, but I replied to his email stating I was still in the market!  Well, he and I met yesterday (Tuesday) and we got each other up to speed on the last 10 years – both professionally and personally.  He was excited to bring me back, but wanted to make sure his partner, Son, was cool as well.  He promised to call me today.

Today was LONG as I waited for his call.  After 4pm I thought maybe he had lost my number and called, but he was unavailable.  He finally called me at about 5:20 and asked, “Why were you calling again?”  I called him a butthead, but to the point I start Monday!  I am SO excited and here is why:

• This job is in Tustin – aka CLOSE TO HOME.  No more 70 mile one way commute!
• This job pays WAY better
• Many of the procedures that were in place when I was the Accounting Supervisor are still in place
• This is a fair company that follows the rules and is fair in compensation and really offers bennies!

There are more things, but that is the gist of it.  Kenny is SOOOOO excited ’cause he was tired of me getting home at 7:30 or later.  And he misses me in the morning, too.  He just plain misses me.  Kirstie is thrilled too because it’s been almost impossible to see each other!

So WOOHOO!  Special thanks to Kenny and Teddi who did extra prayer duty for me!

To check out where I will be working, click here.

Tuesday

Aunt Kay – hope this font is better for you!  Let me know!

Many of you – especially the ones who WORK with me – know that I don’t really like Mondays. I am a little cranky on Mondays. I whine a lot and grumble. But, today is TUESDAY!

So what does that mean? Today I go to work and we present loans to our committee. Could be good, could be bad. I used to have Taco Tuesday lunches, but that has changed I am sure, as many things are different now. I will probably have worship practice after work and will look forward to playing the drums, but not be too excited about getting to work at 7:30 the following morning to play for staff meeting. I think I watch American Idol on Tuesdays.

So, hence, this blog shows you how very BORING my Tuesdays are! Maybe I should place them in the same place as Mondays?

Last night was awesome, for a Monday! My friend and her boyfriend made a SUPERB dinner for me and invited my kids! So I had a few friends and my kids and nothing could make me more happy! We played Guitar Hero – where Kirstie has mad skills! She taught us a few things. Us old folks tried to play expert a few times and survived, but not very well. And the boys did very well, too! Josh actually beat some of us!!!! Kenny is cool too – he is more low key as he’s almost 13 and has to be cool, but he rocked, too. Josh also taught us how to do that Soldier Boy dance and we looked VERY hip, I am sure. Except we couldn’t really pull off the gangster faces. LOL

The night, even for a Monday, was WONDERFUL! I have to focus on the parts that bless me and ignore the day they fall on I guess!

Kenny was doodling last night and when I walked up he hid the paper he had. I asked what it was and this is what he had written (although he said it was for him and not for me to see….):

“Mom & Dad are the greatest parents I could ever have. I would die if they were not my parents. They are truly the greatest parents in the WORLD.”

I know it was self serving to post that note here, but some of you know where Kenny is coming from and how much that note blessed me – not only for the words, but for what they represent!

So that, my friends, is what I have to focus on TODAY! TUESDAY!