Friday, December 30, 2016

If you give an accountant a cup of coffee {An NTBI story}

If you give an accountant a cup of coffee...

She'll ask you what account it should be charged to.  Then she'll lean over to the calculator to figure out the sales tax before she can charge it and file the documentation away in a drawer.

When she takes a sip of the coffee, she'll decide that today she doesn't want to drink it black, so she'll run up to her apartment on the third floor to grab some half-and-half.  While she's up there, some student will see her and say...

"Hey, I have a question for you about the guest house."  (Because everyone at NTBI wears more than one hat.)

She'll tell them she doesn't know if there's any vacancies for that date (three months in advance), and explain how they can check availability and even book directly from the guest house's Facebook page!

As she walks back down, she'll see the new sign up in front of the bookstore and decide she needs to pop in there.  She won't be sure if she wants a packet of mocha to add to her coffee, or if she wants to see the succulents for sale, or if she just wants to say hi to Cristi, but she goes in.

While she's in there, Cristi will start showing her a pinterest board full of amazing bookstore ideas.  She'll ooh and aah and admire Cristi's creativity.  Looking at pinterest will remind her of her own board of ideas an idea for the guest house, and how - just the other day - she saw something that would lend a fabulous touch to the rooms.

She'll go back to the office with her half-cold cup of coffee and start hunting around for that idea.  Pinterest will make her hungry, so she'll reach under her desk for the box of cheez-its, only to realize she and Esther finished it off the day before.  (What tragedy.)

She'll venture down the hall in hopes that there might be some snacks on the coffee table.  On the coffee table, she'll see the snack of all snacks: James' pepperoni rolls.  She'll snag one and run back to the office to tell Esther she should get one, too, before they're gone.

She'll settle down with her pepperoni roll and start answering emails.  While she's in the middle of typing, someone will come in and ask to withdraw some cash from their account.  She'll count the money, fill out the form, and they'll go on their merry way.

The cash drawer will be getting low, so she'll look at the calendar on the wall to see if they're due to replenish it soon.  Looking at the calendar on the wall will make her want to pull out her clipboard calendar.  She'll glance over the work goals she made for the month and realize that some of them need to be adjusted.

She'll shuffle through a stack of papers to find a certain project.  The project will trigger a question she needs to ask a coworker.

She'll walk over to the other block of offices to find the coworker.  On her way, she'll pass the break room.  In the break room, she'll see some of Linda's homemade treats.  The treats will make her hungry again, so she'll grab one.  It'll be sweet, and she'll think it would go perfectly with a good cup of coffee.  She'll remember she has one sitting on her desk.

She'll walk back, plop down in her chair, and pick up the cup.  It'll be empty - and she'll realize she must have drunk the coffee without even noticing.

She'll wonder if she has adequate documentation that the cup was ever full.  (What is adequate documentation, anyway?)  She'll start looking for any information she can find on previous cups of coffee.  She'll try using a query that doesn't work, which will make her want to learn how to create queries that do work.  She'll email John to ask.

While she waits, someone will come in with a list of charges from the coffee table.  And if you give an accountant a list of charges to make...chances are, she'll want a cup of coffee to go with it.


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