:dancing pickle:

[detlef]

OK, had I written this a few hours earlier, I would have certainly not been in as good a mood and the absurd nature of this whole ordeal would not be nearly as humorous.

 

This morning I had a labor audit that I'd been avoiding forever. The whole thing started because my reported labor numbers for 2006 were allegedly $20 off. Instead of $291,353, it supposedly should have been $291,373. I was astounded that this raised a red flag. The thing is, it was the first full year I was in business and my first payroll company was a freaking train wreck. For instance, I changed banks at one point, filled out the paperwork and all but they forgot and debited an entire payroll against my newly non-existent account obviously bouncing an entire payroll. They "were really sorry" and were kind enough to waive the cost of doing that payroll . Needless to say, that was the last payroll they did for me. Since this was just one of their massive screw-ups coupled with the fact that I had two different companies handle my payroll in one year, I was actually amazed that the numbers were only $20 off.

 

So, fast forward to this morning. Chick finally gets me to come down to the labor board and go through it. I had to gather a mountain of papers together and head down. A bunch of my employees got 2 W-2s from that year because of this and there was a bunch of other things that needed to be straightened out. For those who got two W-2s we simply had to add them up to reconcile what the state had them earning. She and I were sitting side by side doing this and I asked if she had a calculator. She was doing it on scratch paper. "Oh, don't worry, I'll just use Excel"

 

"Really, if you have a calculator we just just knock this out."

 

"No, it's easier this way"

 

So she continually proceeds to enter the numbers into cells of a spreadsheet and hit the sum button. It's taking forever.

 

"Are you sure you don't have a calculator?"

 

She finds a calculator and hands it to me. Thing is, she continues to check my math against her damned Excel. It was amazing. A few hours later, we get through it and all that is left to do is for her to update my account on the state website. Thankfully she lets me go.

 

The whole time I'm wondering if they'd just let me pay them the freaking $20 and be done with it.

 

Long story short, I just got the call. Everything is cool and apparently the state actually owes me $200. Honestly, I'm just happy the damned thing is over.

[rocknrobn26]

Anytime you don't have to deal w/ the gubment is a heart attack avoided!