2014.03.19 Wednesday 0815
One hour of overtime like
slogging through mud. Received a query –
forwarded by my boss – “why hasn’t my claim been paid”? No sign of the claim
anywhere – not in action queues, not in approver’s queues, not in archives, not
as paid or as returned, not in draft. I
cannot find it anywhere in my electronic search or in our paper files of
completed claims or stacks of claims waiting to be done.
Next, a claim where the employee used a
non-contracted non-approved car rental company.
Claims he got a discount, but it looks more expensive than our
contracted company. Same person training
either for or from Fish and Wildlife – no authorization or certificate of
completion. Same person - he is charging
Parks for tips he paid on not fully documented but expensive shuttle rides. I
cannot reimburse the shuttle ride without out a receipt – what he gave us was a
schedule. And Parks does not pay tips.
Employees who pay tips can claim it out of their incidentals not charge
it as transportation costs. Three claims
from that one person – none of them actionable at the moment. This person may
not be my pick for employee of the month.
It’s been a long day already and now my
regular workday begins. Let’s hope it
gets better. Bound to, don’t you think?
0937 Not yet. Everything I pick up has some kind of unusual
problem. I try to get as much
information as I can, run into a dead-end, try another angle and hit another
roadblock. Finally consult a co-worker
(Amar, the only one) or Boss to the 2nd Power (all other bosses are
out of office at some training thing –giving training, I think). Amar and Kathryn both stymied. We all retreat in different directions to
look up more information or another person who might know something or finally
set it aside to await some miraculous brainwave. Then I pick up the next item. Another unique problem I cannot readily understand
or resolve. I think I should have
stayed home today. Possibly stayed in
bed. Aaaah! Sounds so good.
1030 But wait! There’s more. It just keeps coming. In January I scheduled
some Travel Reimbursements including one to Larry which, as it turns out, was
mysterious $40 too much. No supporting
documentation for the $40 although I reference a Travel Expense Claim we now
cannot find. (I only hope that it
actually got scheduled correctly in another schedule). Tried to contact Larry to either return the
check when it arrived or to reimburse Parks the $40. I have no direct contact information for him,
so I was contacting his approver. I know
his approver reached out to him, but I have gotten no word back. Then the
Controller’s Office sends me notice that the check they sent out was
undeliverable and what do I want them to do – I can give them a corrected
address or something else or they can return the funds. Aha! Yes! Return the funds and we will
request a check for the correct amount when we get a good address. Easy fix,
right? So my boss and I think. I
contact the approver and use the e-address he used for Larry and ask both of
them for an address update. Nothing yet.
In the meantime, after consulting with my super, I reverse the entries for his
(incorrect) reimbursement. Today I am
on the error file. It took half an hour of research to figure out what the
error was related to and then I learned that I should not have reversed the
entries because that is done by GL (General Ledger) when they get the abatement
from SCO (Controllers) (that makes sense, why didn’t I think of that?). So I had to reverse the reversal to correct
the incorrect correction so GL can correct it later. Got that?
All the way to morning break
without really accomplishing anything except dealing with strange problems most
of which without resolution yet.
