We are a week out from one of the first main deadlines for the bulk of the accounting field. Nevermind that I've already passed 2 huge ones. Bookkeeper deadlines aren't deemed important enough to recognize. Well, until a client calls up wondering where their W2s are at! At that point we are only important enough to grouch at. Either way, the first main deadline is fast approaching. March 15th is when most of the business returns are due. Clients like to call, forgetting that we have other clients, and wonder what we've been doing with their information for the last 2 weeks. "Shouldn't my return be done? I want to file my personal return and get that refund!" I am forever amused at the idea that our clients must surely believe that we wiggle our noses and VIOLA their tax return is finished. They make this assumption about any product we create for them. I used to be annoyed, now I'm amused. I am your own personal Samantha from Bewitched!
So, I am only one person and as such, I can truly only do one thing at a time if it's going to require full attention to detail. Sorry folks, that's just how we were created. Unfortunately, the phone calls and emails don't come in the order I was planning on doing things. The partners don't come into our offices in that order, either. What does annoy me is when one partner comes in to bark about something missing and the client is calling him and wants thier return yesterday blah blah blah. Ok, do you want me to stop what I am doing and now focus on that? When what you are working on is for a different partner, the first partner is very quick to say, "yes, stop doing that and focus on me". What happens when the client they are attempting to interrupt is another one of their clients?
I have told this one partner, repeatedly, for the last 2 weeks that I can't get anything finished due to all the interruptions. I understand that he is the face and therefore gets a lot of the grief from the clients. However, I can't finish projects for him and get him information if I can't keep one single thought in my head for more than 5 min! To prove my point, he interrupted me one night and I had to trash 20 min of work for another partner. I thought, "oh, I will tell him what a waste of time this is and he'll get it" How nieve of me! How silly of me! He asked what client he had interrupted, it wasn't one of his and he blew me off! I was bent out of shape! I'm being polite. I truly was pissed! That's not just another partner's client, it's my time you are wasting, too!
Today, that same partner came in to interrupt what I was already working on to tell me that I had failed to do something or other that I had no clue was my job to do. This is literally the first time I'm hearing about it. So, I looked him straight in the eye and said, "First, when was I supposed to know to do this? No one told me about anything beyond their W2s and city returns. Second, I'm working on this other client of yours right now, what takes priority?" There, right there! In his eyes. He didn't know what to do. His face froze for a moment, his eyes stopped and just stared. Not at me, I'm not sure what but he was looking beyond me. This blur of activity who was so quick to bark at me now had a quandry. What takes priority? He didn't answer me. Instead he went back to barking. So, I got animated with my question. "What do you want me to do right now?" In my head I was thinking, "keep it up tough guy and I will grab my purse and jacket and walk right out of here I'm so sick of all of this!" But you can't say that. The hell you pay tomorrow isn't worth the satisfaction you get today. In the moment, tho, in the smallest of moments when impulse almost out runs common sense, it would totally be worth it!
So, I went back to what I was doing first because he finally said that he wanted to take a look at the books before I started on his project. I've been interrupted twice again. Once I start something I know that about 10 min into that work someone will come to me with some kind of "accounting emergency". By the way, there are no such things as accounting emergencies. Either you get an extention or you pay a penalty for the late filing. Unless you are a tax evader, no one is going to jail. So, what can I committ the next 2hrs of my day to? Better yet, partner in charge? Why don't you make up YOUR mind on where you want me to committ the next 2hrs of my time? How about you stop getting upset that I can't do 15 things at once and get me a priority list so that I know what you need 5 mins ago vs tomorrow!
Which leads to the ultimate question: Just how committed am I to continue working around these egos dressed up in casual work clothes and business suits? I love my accounting work and dealing with numbers but I'm just not as ego-centered as most of these people are. It gets tiring to go against your grain. Just where is my heart committed? Where are my dreams? I once thought I had wasted my time getting a degree but now I wonder if I was just too narrow in my thinking about opportunities.
In the mean time, my committments are here, in front of me. I love my clients and for all this gruffness of late, I do enjoy working with this recently annoying partner.
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