Happy 2012

Happy 2012. I'm hoping to start blogging again - it's a great place to get out my frustrations and it's a safer place to vent. The year hasn't been the greatest - football team lost, having to work while I'm supposed to be on vacation, dealing with payroll stuff, health issues for friends. There have been some good things - got to see some old friends and catch up. And I spent a weekend scrapbooking. But things with work - they're not grat. Yesterday was kind of a crappy day. We had a post-integration meeting, and we were supposed to send our questions in ahead of time to the SLA partner. Fine, I did that. I had several issues with the integration, and what wasn't happening afterwards. Other people had questions about procedures and where to find things. So the managing shareholder (GTM) started going over the questions. The meeting was scheduled for 2 hours - we were in there for almost 3 hours, and I only needed to be there for about 5 minutes. What a waste. I know that I'm not an accountant, and my role in the organization is a very small part function. And it hasn't really bothered me too much before. Even at SLA, because I felt I could add some value. But today I really felt so disconnected from everything. One discussion was about the electronic filing system that is in place. We had a training on it last month, but I was in a department meeting and missed it. So I asked if we would be having another training. The office manager said that they would be doing it at the tax kickoff next Saturday. I said that I wouldn't be there (and got the look of death) because I wasn't involved in tax season. Honestly, there is no reason why I need to be there. I would be sitting there twiddling my thumbs for 8 hours. Then she said that I didn't need the program. Um, yes I do since we have a ton of SLA files to put in there. I've been playing around with it on my own. And really, we should be putting our HR stuff in there as well. Then I asked about clarification on the travel policy. and got no answer because it was specific to me. Yes, I asked the question because I had an issue with it, but it does apply to everyone who has to go to clients. When GTM finally got to my questions, she answered them, but not in the way the question was worded. One thing I asked was that how do we know when things we submit to HR are actually processed. The reason for that - 1) when I enrolled in the 401(k) plan, I allocated my investments into several accounts. I am one who happens to check my account periodically, and I'm glad I did since my investments went into 1 account. So I had to manually go in and fix that. And I had to contact HR to get the website to get into the plan, since the one on our Intranet is wrong. 2) Our payroll issues with the last payroll of the year. 3) I had submitted a change request back on 12/6 to up my contribution in my 401(k) from $16,500 to $17,000 so I could max out the plan. It didn't get processed with the 1/13 payroll. When I asked about it, I was told it got accidently filed in a wrong folder. If I had not checked my paystub, I wouldn't know that. And unfortunately, most of the SLA people don't check their paystubs. 4) My controller was in the SLA 401(k) plan. She didn't sign up for the DHG 401(k) plan because she forgot. However, they were still taking the deductions for it and they opened an account for her. I don't think we're under an opt-out option - I think we have to actually sign up if we want to participate. So they should never have opened an account for her without her paperwork. What if she didn't want to start the plan until this year? So yes, I don't have a lot of confidence in payroll right now. The answer to the question - have patience with them because they had to process a lot of changes with this payroll. Okay - I can understand that, but 3 of my 4 points above have nothing to do with the first payroll of the year. Another issue I had was that the admin group was never really talked about in terms of what our roles would be. We were an after-thought. That wasn't brought up. I even mentioned that I'm not sure who I'm supposed to be reporting to. I think it's the regional managing partner (Brian), but I'm not sure. When I've asked before, no one seemed to know. So I didn't get answers for my concerns. I could try to get them, but it's just not worth it right now. The bonus plan that we have - I won't qualify for it. We need 1,500 billable hours per year. I might get 500 if I'm lucky. Which I would be fine with if I knew that going forward. Those at SLA who aren't in the bonus pool got that amount added to their pay, so they got a nice increase. I didn't get that either. So I got screwed. Then, I had to call the partner down in Newport News. And basically he told me that I don't present myself professionally. My clothing isn't right and my hair isn't right. I need to be wearing suits. And I looked tired when I was at the meeting on Monday. No shit - I was tired. I had just gotten back home on Sunday after being gone for 10 days and had to drive there for this meeting. Of course I'm going to be tired. I was home for 13 hours in a week's time. Now, I didn't wear a suit for the meeting. I had on black pinstripe pants, black boots and a black sweater. I should have worn a blazer or a suit (which I don't own). I told the partner that I haven't owned a suit in probably close to 15 years. He kept talking about skirts. He's the type that thinks women should be wearing nylons, heels, suits, etc. Very old fashioned. I told him I don't wear skirts because of the heels. I can only wear shoes that have a thicker heel because I'm wobbly on my feet, due to chemo. My balance still isn't back to normal. I let him know that I had to undergo 14 months of chemo. And I even said that I had a bi-lateral mastectomy and some clothing didn't fit right on me. But the kicker was the hair. What's wrong with my hair? I wear it long, sometimes it has a curl, sometimes it's more straight. It depends on how it dries. I wash it every day and try to keep it neat. Sometimes it goes flat because there is no body to it. I can't really do much about that. That pissed me off the most. You never tell a cancer survivor that you have an issue with their hair! And he told both G and B about this before talking to me. One of them was supposed to say something, but no one has said anything. He said that I should look at a few of the women and emulate they way they are dressed. Now today, I was dressed better than G was. I had on a red sweater, dark blue jeans (jeans Friday) and black boots. But apparently that's not good enough to wear. I've only been told once that my clothing wasn't professional enough. And that one time was my first job out of college. My boss had an issue with me and complained to the Controller about my clothes. My clothes were perfectly fine, and very stylish. The Controller told my boss that I had the best wardrobe of everyone in our group. I don't think I dress unprofessionally. I always try to make sure that my clothes look well together. I don't wear clothes that are too tight or too revealing. I try to make sure that my jewelry matches my clothes, and that my make up matches and isn't too much. But apparently it's not enough. So that was my fun day. Right now I want to just quit, but I can't afford to do that. I have no desire to do anything extra for the company because there is nothing in it for me. But I don't think I'll be in this position for a long time. I'm hoping to make it a year, but I don't even know if that will be possible. I need to get my resume updated. It's updated through SLA, but now I have to put DHG on there. And then get it back out there. I hate to leave, but I don't know how much more of this I can take.