Madness In My Method

We were in an all-day audit meeting with our external auditors, in a conference room, with our laptops, going over items on a list that they need since we finally got the FY22 trail balance to them just last week. This would have been a normal thing for some other company whose fiscal calendar year matches a regular Gregorian calendar year that closed Dec 31st. But we are on a state government fiscal calendar year, which closed Aug 31st, which means we are ONLY 6 months late (4.5 months if you consider a normal year-end close might take 1.5 months). Our new CFO is just absolutely amazed into fits of giggles at times, just as each of us were when coming on board within the past 2 years. We've been doing out best, but good grief it's like we've only just hit the first base camp after coming out of the sewers on our trek to the top of Mount Fuji.

All Day

One Conference Room

They at least brought in Panera Bread for us so that we didn't have to leave and could continue working through lunch and still have leftovers for dinner before we finally packed it in to go home yesterday evening.

We are having to say goodbye. Her family will be taking our girl Elise off life support tomorrow.

Such a wonderful, brave woman who I have known since she was a young girl. We were told 30 years ago that she might not make it multiple times, and she proved them all wrong every time. She has lived through Type 1 Diabetes and multiple transplants and hospital stays, but she always kept going. She got into fitness competitions and was keeping herself strong and positive, no matter how often life dealt her a bad hand.

She has been greatly loved, and she will be greatly missed.

spiffikins brought up credit card surcharges, and I wanted to address it publicly, rather than in just a comment.

I once read that the merchant agreement signed with the credit card company prevents the business from passing on the fees/surcharges and also prevents the business from setting minimums for a credit card purchase. Then again, that was probably 10+ years ago when I read that. The idea is/was that the holder of the credit card should reap the rewards and have an excuse to continue to use the card rather than be deterred by the business offering the credit card option. Ultimately, the credit card company wants you to continue using your card and hopefully not pay off your bill each month so they can earn their pound of flesh from the interest they charge you, since the merchant fees just cover the cost of processing and/or equipment rental. If I have a 1% cash back card, but the business charges 1.5%-4% in fees, it will deter me, the credit card holder, from using it as I have not gained any benefit from that usage and would be better off paying in cash.

Nowadays, it depends on the state law rather than the merchant agreement. In Texas, where I'm at, it's illegal (except for municipal transactions and, also quite notably, private schools, which just reminds me that I live in the Texas-sized Belt Buckle of the Bible Belt), but that doesn't stop businesses from trying or from labeling it something else to get away with it ("convenience fees" are still allowable so long as there's a non-convenience-fee payment option, such as cash). Also, if you dig into the code that makes it illegal in Texas [Tex. Finance Code Ann. §339.001.(e) (1999)], there is no written penalty, and the only recourse a credit card user has according to Section (c) is to file a complaint with the Texas consumer credit commissioner. Since Texas is very pro-business, it's probably a moot point trying to fight it, but I wish you luck if you do.

I am not against abiding by a small business stating a minimum limit for credit card purchases (especially Mom & Pop donut shops!), but I find it ridiculously tacky for any business to add any sort of "credit card surcharge" onto the bill. However, I also know that if the company offsets those overhead fees by instead increasing their prices overall, those who pay by cash are the ones that are getting shafted, as they are now also paying a portion of that surcharge that they were not responsible for creating. Credit cards benefit those that have them and punish those that don't unless the business charges the credit card customers, and ONLY the credit card customers, those surcharge fees.

I also researched when Six Flags decided to go cashless during the pandemic (thereby causing me to lose my second job that I actually really loved), as I wanted to know the laws and pros and cons for going cashless. So, while I know going cashless hurts those that can't afford to have credit cards, I still really want to be a credit card person getting my 1% back and cringe every time I see a tacked on fee.

Unfortunately, what I am starting to see are surcharges on the purchase ticket, the thing that gets printed out and handed to you BEFORE you actually hand over your form of payment, like at a restaurant. If you see that and wish to pay by cash, confirm that the fee will be removed when handing over your payment, and verify it afterwards on your final receipt. I worry that businesses that pre-print the surcharge are not removing it if someone pays by cash unless someone calls them out on it, thereby still passing on unwarranted charges to cash-paying customers.

The roommate started running a fever Friday night, but woke up thinking he dreamed it. Saturday plans for both of us were cancelled as a precaution, which proved to be a good decision.

I've discovered that my touchless thermometer is a piece of worthless crap, but the digital under-tongue one I've had for 20+ years is still reliable. He went from low grade in the morning to 102 Saturday night despite meds.

I'll be checking in on him this morning, and we'll see if I'm driving him to the care clinic. We have no idea where it came from, as so far no one we've been in contact with has been ill.

It's possible I'm a carrier from my interactions with co-workers, since I got vaccinations just a few weeks ago ahead of the holidays, and at least one co-worker I've been training has had a couple flu-sick kids she's had to stay home with recently.

The previous update was all about the house stuff, so here's another update.

( All About Me )

Or not...

Pool repairs were delayed, although the guys did appear again this morning to start on laying the new tiles. I informed the pool company owner that my insurance is requiring pictures of an operable pool by Sept 5th. He assures me they should be done by then.

And now there's a 15ft tunnel under my house for a sewer line repair. The images below are of the cast iron pipe that was removed between my laundry & kitchen and the gigantic GASH running through it that used to be the bottom of the pipe. The other picture is the mound of dirt in my garage that it took to get that much pipe pulled out and replaced.

I'm giving them the go-ahead to replace all of it. That's about 15ft of digging pictured. They have to do about 75ft total for the full replacement. It's a VERY good thing I know plumbers and diggers that feel sorry for me having to replace my sewer before I've made my first mortgage payment.

Needless to say, the housewarming will be delayed.

So, I'm buying a house, and it's my birthday!

Woot!

Monday I stopped by my supervisor's office to ask her if we were going to do anything for Jr's last day when she happened to be with Jr filling out his official termination paperwork. The CFO walked in, saw us, briefly said his goodbye to Jr, and said he'd come back later. As an aside, I've been sitting with Jr and want to strangle him for his lack of caring about the tasks he was given for the past few months. Because of his apathy, we're yet again sorting through a mess that was left in someone's wake. I was perfectly glad he decided to take PTO for his last 2 days instead of sitting around in the office being a short-timer-syndrome sad sack. He left almost immediately after he met with supervisor, which was around lunch time. BYE.

Eventually the CFO went back into her office, although I didn't see it since my office is in the complete opposite corner of our floor and down a hall, so I can't really see anything.

She forgot to tell me that day, but was able to tell me last night: Apparently the CFO had just finished "talking the Accounting Systems Manager off a ledge."

During an earlier discussion, Bosslady, ASM, and I were talking about the A/P, Purchasing, and her Bank Recon messes that need massive cleanup, and ASM seemed more like she was opening up to accepting me and the knowledge I bring to the company. Bosslady took advantage of the good will and said quite intentionally in front of her and me (so I kind of saw this coming), "This is why we need to hire you! [to ASM] Can't you picture it? She could be our boss! Do you know what her degree is in?" I played it off, seeing as how I haven't received an official job offer, so truthfully I can do that. Bosslady is NOT shy, and has been quite vocal about getting me hired on as the Big Boss of the department, but hadn't breached the topic yet to ASM due to her standoff nature against my general existence within the company.

Keep in mind, ASM is the one that was already griping about me coming into HER area as some smarmy, know-it-all, young person (I swear, everyone there thinks I'm 25). That is a perfect description of our young 26-yo internal auditor who quickly latched on to me as her BFF and calls on me often in meetings to help back her position. Most times, in such cases, I do not want to be called on because I'm trying to listen to others' input which she keeps interrupting and talking over, and I don't always still agree with her, because unlike her Youngness, I can actually change my opinion and stance given new information, whereas she doesn't listen and remains bullheaded in her convictions and is specifically calling on me to back her up after interrupting someone so that she (and by proxy I) can "control" the meeting/conversation/etc. Because of this, I've been having to work more one-on-one with folks after meetings to get them past the perception that I'm "just like her," with ASM being the biggest believer in that myth.

So, the end result is that Bosslady has given the CFO a heart attack, and ASM is being nice to my face but is secretly fuming on the inside. I can't stop her fuming, and I'm not the decision maker in deciding who might get that position. If she thinks she should be Sr Director over the other departments, then she needs to step up and talk to the CFO about it, and understand that whinging about someone else being qualified to take that role just hurts her case.

Either way, the entire politics of it has me in giggling fits.

1) Moon Moon is gone! And we already have a new hire to replace him! And this poor guy will be watched like a hawk, because I'll be damned if we're going to have another Moon Moon (although I'm not there to help with his training this week). Supervisor Friend wanted to write down what she said to MM during the exit meeting so she wouldn't forget, and I'm eagerly awaiting the goods.

2) Supervisor Friend was not in a good mental space yesterday to go to dinner and tell me all about it, plus we had a large storm cell blow through just as it was time for everyone to be heading out to dinner, so instead we all headed home to hunker down to avoid potential tornadoes and hail. Maybe today? We'll see.

3) Monday I got my teeth cleaned and briefly saw the podiatrist who has requested a blood test before she can prescribe meds for my toes. They look absolutely dreadful. This paragraph is also hilarious, because there used to be a "Teeth and Feet" place up the road from us, but no, I had two separate appointments with the dentist and the podiatrist in two separate locations, lol.

4) Yesterday's adventure turned out 50/50. The purple took like a charm, but the pink didn't properly take, so it's this weird light pink mixed with buttery blonde, and not in a pretty strawberry blonde kind of way. Yellow and pink really don't mix well and keeps looking quite orange to me in under the bathroom light. We think it's because the roots had to be bleached and toned, and so the hair cuticle was just DONE after that and needed more time to settle down before accepting a new color. So, I will be going back Thurs to have the pink redone.

I showed the picture of what I wanted, which was a cotton candy purple and pink, with the pink on top and the purple on bottom. We went with the light pink, but also went with the wild orchid purple, which turned out much darker than expected, although I'm not really complaining. Considering how dark the purple turned out, for the redo of the pink we'll be going with the fuchsia (seen in both of the color images above) instead, and in theory my hair should turn out more like this.

5) Today is a first-time visit to an orthodontist to see if we can sort my bottom teeth. One of my bottom teeth has pushed back and has been causing uncontrollable tongue movements, sucking on the offending tooth, and chewing on the lip in that spot, and all of these uncontrollable movements are killing my tongue, the tongue and neck muscles, and the lip around that area. It's been driving me bonkers since around last Oct or Nov. After that, I have to go do the blood test for the podiatrist. Then I come home and start working on the stack of receipts I need to get sorted and begin finding all the paperwork I need to do my taxes.

6) Tomorrow will be a first-time appointment with a new PCP, since mine retired. I hope I like him. If not, my mom has scheduled with the #2 person on my list of potentials for next week, and I'll find out what she thinks about him.

My dad's elder brother passed away on March 14th. I only just found out today, as my dad and his elder brother were not very close. My other uncle, dad's younger brother, informed my dad the Friday before that he wasn't doing so great, and that dad should give him a call.

I feel sad for my cousins losing their father. I'm a bit annoyed my dad didn't at least give him a call that weekend. I'm strangely not that sad, but I wasn't very close to him. I'm sure it'll hit me like a ton of bricks soon enough.

William Michael "Mike" Griffis