Someone Got My Gizmo Wet

Remember that movie Gremlins? It started with a cute furry little creature called Gizmo, and then turned into horrifying scaly slimy vile creatures. Earlier this week I felt like the guy who owned Gizmo in that movie.

My new job is going well. I am still figuring out the little quirks and things that go with the job, but overall it is working out as I had hoped. There are however a few things that are being changed, as the person who was doing this job before had made her own rules. I am now falling into the trenches and having to dig my way out.

See, I am doing accounts payable, and as many of you know, every bill has a different due date. Just like your car payment and your electric bill are not due on the same day, the payments to all of our vendors are not due on the same day. Here is the kicker- they have all been paid on the same day for the past 5 years. This means that many people may have an invoice that is 2 months old (due to our system for having backup) going out with some that are just a week old. So I am dealing with angry vendors who want to be paid, missing paperwork, and the frustration of being new and people assuming I don’t know what I am doing. Not only do I know what I am doing, but I do not need anyone coming along behind me making sure I did my job, and then telling me how and when I should do certain things. There is of course one person here who is not my actual boss, but feels the need to continuously tell me how she would do this if it was her. I do appreciate some tips, but I also am very independent and need to do things on my own. My actual boss has already handed over several problem accounts to me in order to let me fix them. My theory is that she would not be doing this if she did not think I was capable.

So I have vendors calling me about invoices that were due 3 months ago (as in before I got here), and Ms. Helpful telling me what I need to do, and then the actual stuff I know I am supposed to be taking care of. I had some big stacks of crazy stuff on my desk the other morning when I came in. I know that they were not there the day before because my desk is cleaned every afternoon before I go home. It was quite overwhelming to see all of these things thrown my way at once and know that it was all someone else’s slacking that created it. I also saw some things that Ms. Helpful had said she was going to take care of. They are now over a month old. It seems she could be trying to sabotage me. I am not sure, we will see.

Just had to vent a little, maybe I can tell you about the cute kids and their Halloween plans next.