So I've now completed my third week with the new job. Got my first paycheck, which, I am delighted to say, did not reflect any sort of oddities given the fact that we were bought and sold a week ago.
I was going to write a list entitled "There's something about Sherri" all about the woman I work with, but today something struck me that was far more funny...I am clearly NOT putting my best, most usable skills on my resume. Who knew? So, the next time I send out my resume, you can bet it's going to include the following vital, if somewhat specialized skills.
5 Skills I bring to any business.
5) I can read and translate a paycheck. (I can also open one without shredding it.)
Those of you who follow me on Facebook (and if you're not, why aren't you? I AM HILARIOUS!) have been hearing about the woman who sits next to me...I call her LCW (Lady CoWorker). This poor woman, while being very sweet, is also easily befuddled and therefore unintentionally hilarious. Yesterday, I got my very first paycheck. (Also, my very last since the business that hired me was sold and bought and therefore I now work for yet another new company.) I was pretty jazzed as I read through hourly pay, overtime pay, deductions, totals, all that good stuff.
Meanwhile...at the desk next to mine:
"WHAT? This isn't right! This. Is. Not. RIGHT!"
"What's not right?" (Why do I get involved.)
"My deductions. Who can live on this if this is how much they're deducting?" (Truly a question we all ask.)
I didn't get very involved past that for about five minutes. Then LCW stopped NBM (this only causes more hilarity. Read on...)
LCW: I need to talk to you about my paycheck. (She waves the tatters of the check, which is one of those that's held together by perforations and you're supposed to fold along the lines and THEN tear the ends off. She sort of forgot to fold on the lines.)
NBM: What did you do to your paycheck?
LCW: Nothing. I mean, I couldn't open it, so I just tore at it.
NBM: I hope you haven't voided it by tearing it almost in half.
LCW: WHAT??????? You can do that????????????
(I should interject here that NBM, I believe, LOVES to needle LCW. LOVES it. Sort of like a 9 year old boy poking at a dead animal. For him, it's fun, it's easy, and it provides amusement in an otherwise blechy day. I'm just guessing, given how often he does it.)
"NBM: Yep, you can. So what's wrong with your paycheck, other than the fact that it's torn?
LCW: It's not right.
The phone rings, and NBM is out of the conversation. I don't like watching the wounded, so I roll my chair over to her desk.
"What is the problem?"
LCW: It's not right. They took $1200 in taxes out of my check.
(Let me just say, if they took $1200 out of one paycheck, I'm thinking I'm being WAY underpaid!)
"Let me just look at it." I look at it and realize instantly what the issue is. "The $1200 is your gross pay to date. The amount of taxes taken out is right here." I point to the column.
LCW: It's too much taken out. How am I supposed to live on this if they're going to take that much out in taxes?
"I ask myself that all the time. But see, these are the hours you worked. This is your hourly wage. You multiply this by this and you get this number here."
LCW: I don't know. I don't think you're right.
(I guess I should have known I was in trouble. She asked me the other day to figure out, with the calculator on my desk, what 20% of 1000 was. Hers kept tellling her 200, but she just knew that wasn't right.)
"It's right. The total on your check is the total after they take out taxes. That's the amount of money you have."
She was quiet then...but that didn't end the issue. later in the day she called the home office....in Montreal...and got very upset when they were closed.
4) I can type without the rubber fingers for protection.
In the move, many of the office supplies got jumbled. LCW was sorting through a box of things yesterday and handed me one of those rubber fingers covers, the type you use to avoid paper cuts when you have to thumb through a lot of paper. I asked her what it was for...she said, "You'll need that since you do so much typing."
3) I am able to hold a conversation with someone and put stamps on outgoing mail at the same time.
NBM does not think so...as evidenced by his shout from his office today that all the sales guys "GET AWAY FROM SARAH'S DESK." I asked if we should just erect barbed wire around my area, since this wasn't the first time he's thwarted my attempts to get to know my co workers. He said it might be a good idea...except he wasn't sure of something, which brings me to #2.
2) I know what the word THWARTED means.
Say it with me, my friends, "How do these people not fall down more?" We are #1 in the company, led by man who does not know what the word "thwarted" means when used in a sentence.
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| Once again, Sarah's work environment has thwarted her desire to stay employed. |
1) I know how to change a roll of toilet paper.
I thought this was something only my children refused to learn...but now I realize that it is a necessary skill in the workplace because CLEARLY no one else who uses the ladies' room...(and yes, many of the guys use the ladies' room...unless LCW has decided to leave the seat up.) is able to do it.
So there it is my friends...the top five things I'm going to put on my resume based on the skill set I have that's so clearly lacking at my current workplace.
And we are number one in the company.
God help us all.
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