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On Thu, 04 Jun 2009 22:05:06 -0400, Lisa Ann <...@stalnakershampine.com
Last week, I received about 1300 invoices from a regular vendor. 797
of them went into "Recycle" (that place in Peoplesoft where fucked up
invoices go) because this vendor has never grasped the concept that a
General Ledger Code is not equal to a Center Number. So when they
create a new item number, they put the center number as the GL Code.
(Considering this company only has two GL codes - 5303 (marketing) or
5524(office supplies), I truly cannot understand their problem.)
So I went through the rigamarole of getting those 797 vouchers
deleted. My mistake was not having all 1300 vouchers deleted.
The rigamarole, by the way, means asking our Peoplesoft guru to take
the criteria I give her (in this case, Vendor=12345689,
invoice_date=20090524, accounting date=20090525, entry_status="R") so
she can flesh out the entire SQL. Then we have to go to my boss's
boss to get permission to do it. I should have told her that the
criteria was Vendor=12345689, invoice_date=20090524,
accounting_date=20090525. Screw the postable ones.)
The vendor re-created the invoices and I received them on 5/29. I
couldn't load them on Friday because we'd closed AP. Cool.
Monday, 6/1, I realized I was receiving more invoices from that same
vendor. "Fine," I thought, "I'll just load everything at once instead
of running two separate jobs."
Now, I made a major programming flaw in that I defined the filenames
as {vendor}-{invoice}.dat. I should have tossed a random number in
that filename..but I didn't. So I'm responsible for the next problem.
The way I load the files into the system, I create a filelist with all
the filenames. I load the filelist into the system, which goes and
looks for the files and loads them.
All of you who are good with math are way ahead of me, aren't you?
Because the vendor sent duplicate files - it was the exact same file
that I'd received on Friday. So when the translator wrote out the
.DAT files, if the invoice number was the same, it appended the 2nd
invoice to the file. But it still wrote the filename out to the
filelist twice. So I didn't just load 797 invoices x 2...I loaded 797
invoices times 4.
Oh, and did I mention that the invoices I'd received the previous week
that also had the GL Code the same as the Center number? Those
actually got loaded because sometimes a center number is also a valid
GL Code. I blew up General Ledger and had to do a 368 line correction
journal entry.
So I got written up on Monday. It was not a good day. Glenn and Mark
are chastizing me for not *expecting* the vendor to do something this
incredibly stupid (GL Code vs Center). They're chastizing me for not
scrutinizing the new file from the vendor to make sure they're not
duplicates. So I better fucking do something about it...and I should
have done it before.
When we started this project, it was in the documentaion that we
expect valid invoices from our vendors...or else we're going to spend
a hell of a lot of time reading stuff to make sure it's legit.
So anyway, I got written up again. My attendance was also mentioned
again.
Last year I was written up because I was never at work "on-time".
"On-time" is 8am. Except no one gets there at 8am. (Prior to this
write-up, I got in at 8:20 or earlier.) And I'm supposed to leave
"on-time", which is 5pm. Except no one leaves at 5pm, they all hang
around. (Apparently they've learned this lesson better than I have.)
And even though I'm salaried, I'm supposed to make up time if I need
to leave for a doctor's appointment or something.
So my paranoia is increasing by leaps and bounds. My start time, in
my opinion (remember, I'm salaried so I don't punch a clock) is 7:45.
I still leave at 5pm, but I stopped taking lunch.
And that bit me in the ass too. Not this write up - they acknowledged
that I'm putting in 40 hours a week as documented by my co-workers.
(Who don't fucking see me come in at 7:45.)
The last write up on attendence, Mark had on there: "She got in at
8:10." "She called and said she'd be late, and got in at 8:05" "She
called and said that with the snow, she'd be late. She got in at
8:30." "She had a dentist appointment at noon, and didn't get back
until 12:45." She had a doctor's appointment at 1:00 and didn't get
back until 1:45." And during all these times, I didn't fucking take a
lunch. Technically we have 1 hour for lunch. If you eat lunch at
your desk, it's considered that you've made up 30 minutes.
And I wouldn't mind the 8:05, 8:10 times being held against
me...except the entire corporation has a 30 minute grace period. If
you're there by 8:30, you're on time.
Except me.
It's never noticed that I come in early, because neither Mark nor
Glenn are there to see me come in early. I've been eating at my desk
for so long that apparently it's not considered "making up time". I
don't seem to get credit or acknowledgement for when I stay late
(okay, maybe only 10-15 minutes...unless we're closing, then I can be
there as late as 7:30pm.) And I brought that up in the attendance
write up meeting. "You don't see what time I come in. You're
ignoring the fact that I don't go out to lunch, I eat at my desk. And
you're still pissed that I leave at 5pm when it's possible?" They
semi-acknowledged that they didn't know when I came in, and that they
weren't paying attention to what I was doing at lunch. But I was
still an attendance problem.
So this write up...first of all, I'm incredibly angry with myself
because I got emotional. I didn't cry (I don't cry in public), but I
did get choked up and misty-eyed. I had to say, "Excuse me a moment",
stare off into space and get myself under control. I hate it when I
do that.
This write up started out with how I'm "not on my game". Otherwise,
apparently, I would have noticed before the invoices were processed
that they were wrong. And I would have noticed when they sent me
duplicate invoices. And I would have noticed that there were 368
other lines that had been mis-attributed.
EXCEPT THAT IS THE POINT OF EDI!
Nobody looks at this shit unless there's a problem. You tell the
vendor, "I need this, this, that, the other thing" You expect them to
comply with the requirements. Nobody looks at this stuff if they
don't have to.
So, seriously, was I supposed to be prepared for receiving over 1000
invoices (whatever 797 plus 368 is) where they sent the wrong GL Code?
Was I also supposed to be prepared for them to send duplicates?
Yes. Yes, I was. Because I have the technological expertise to deal
with it. And I know I do, because I put some processes in place over
the past few days to prevent this from ever happening again.
"Why didn't you do that before?" Glenn asked me on Monday.
"Because I didn't know they could be this incredibly stupid. I
thought I'd taken care of the incredibly stupid stuff, but I missed
these two things. Oh, and because I didn't have access to Peoplesoft
prior to this to make it not happen."
"Well, you should have fixed this before it ever happened."
Right.
Glenn went on to ask me why I haven't been myself lately.
"uhm...gee...well, there's my paranoia about my attendance."
'Why are you paranoid?"
"Well, let's see...there's the last write up where we determined that
you think I'm working less than 40 hours a week...and when I pointed
out that I made that time up by coming in early, you dismissed it
because you come in 8:30 and Mark comes in between 8:10 and 8:20...so
you have no idea when I'm coming in."
"But you weren't making up your time!"
"Because you didn't know when I got here, you didn't notice that I
don't eat lunch outside anymore (I used to go to lunch every day with
Glenn and Barrett), all you see is that I leave at 5! I'm still being
punished! The shit is still going on!"
"Well," (this is Glenn), "I'm sure there's nothing I said that cause
that. It must have been Mark." (Did I mention that Mark was in the
room?)
"Lisa, it just looked like you're not making your time up."
"WHY? Because I come in early? Because I don't take a lunch?"
"Because you leave at 5 on the nose."
I take my 1-hour lunch every Tuesday and every other Friday. If
that's not making up my time (even for imaginary infractions - like
Mark gets in at 8:20, sees me at my desk, and assumes I got in at
8:10), I don't know what else to do.
Yes, the logical, practical thing would be to work until after Glenn
left (5pm on the nose, but he never comes down by my cube to see that
I'm still there) or until Mark leaves at 5:10, 5:20, 5:30....whatever
time he leaves. But I just don't see how that's fair.
According to my records, I work 42 hours a week.
It's been a really, really bad week. And there are no other EDI jobs
right now in the Upstate.
On the bright side, my husband loves me, I'm babysitting Mom's cat,
and tomorrow is Sushi Friday with my friend Carla.
Lisa Ann
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