I'm Outta Here....Oh, wait...not till December 29, 2011

For over 31 years I have sat behind this desk.

Yesterday morning, I walked into Bob's office with a question for him.  He answered my question and looked up and me and I said, "Bob I just want you to know that I have decided to retire as of the last of this year."

He knew it was coming just didn't know how soon.

We spoke briefly about my training Julie so that she would know the little things in the portion of the job that I do for the company.  Currently Julie is in charge of the service end of the business. We both know it will be hard for Julie to turn the service portion of the business over to someone else.  (But, that is something she will have to work out for herself.)

So in the very near future, she will train Jo to take over the service portion. To do so and for the convenience of training Jo will move to Julie's desk and Julie to my current corner, and I will take the center desk amidst the training.  I know how to do all the jobs except registering the equipment.  They started doing that portion of the job recently and it was part of Jo's job.  They can train a new person how to do it after I am gone.

SO, THIS CORNER HAS BEEN MY HOME AWAY FROM HOME SINCE March 1993 when we moved into this building. Previously  we had been on Railroad Ave.  I will probably box up my things, or at least most of them and take then home. I'm sure Julie will change a few things after I am gone, but until I am gone hope she will leave things where they are so that I have a easier time showing her where I kept things and why.

She knows how to post invoices and pay as she has had to do that and payroll in the past while I was on vacation. So it is the things like 

1.) Company insurance.

2.) Health Insurance

3.) Work Comp claims

4.) 401 Year end --5500 filing.

5.) Payroll year end. And all the forms and reports.

6) When things need to be paid to keep from getting fines.

ETC.....

Last year when I did the year end stuff I tried to log everything and show in detail what I was doing and why. Stressing to her the importance of making sure things balance on a weekly/monthly basis because it makes year end easier to do.

She told me yesterday that she is scared to death.  There are so many things that I do that I cannot really sit down and make a list of things for her that I do.  After all I have learned the things I do across the past 31 years.  Had someone told me 31 years ago that I would know so much about a business and do this much for them I would probably have told them that they are nuts.  My little mind would not be able to contain all that info and do all that.

For 7 years I did it all ---everything was done by hand.  Then we finally got computers.  When it was more then I wanted to handle by myself I was given the option of what portion of my work I wanted to do.

I chose Payroll and Payables ---and that included all the checkbook, and details....And we hired someone to do the Receivables/Service portion.  I know how to do that portion, but certainly will not miss helping answer the phones and taking those 100+ service calls on the first hot day of the year.

In the past year I have noticed that the general public's attitudes is really bugging me. The older I get I simply do not want to deal with those nasty people on the phones...on the brave nasty ones who come into the office in person and start screaming at you.  (We had one man scream at a fellow worker and made her cry and she quit soon thereafter). I'm afraid if I had not been out to lunch that day when it happened I would not have been able to keep my big mouth shut, I would have told him off.

With knowing that every year it gets worse and worse, and that I am not getting any younger. Plus by the end of this year I will have grand baby number two to enjoy too.  And that Bud's health  is not the best, weighing all the factors.....It was as tho God was telling me "Verna It is time to get out of the bookkeeping portion of your life and simply retire."

I have been doing bookkeeping for someone for the past 41+ years and before I make a error that cannot be reversed I will continue my life in the next phase of life.... Hopefully more simple, not as many needs so, not as much money is needed to live on. When we sold things and gave away and threw away last year and moved into our 39 ft travel trailer, I proved that we don't have to have nearly the amount of earthly things we thought we had to have to be happy.

So, I am trusting God with my future and looking forward to not having a alarm wake me up at 5- 6 every morning and having to be at the office for work at a certain time.  Not having to pay bills and listen to customers complain.

A friend of mine told me yesterday if I miss the complaining all I would need do is call her, she could fill me in complaining about things so I would feel at home....Thanks Judi.

So December 29th, 2011 Should be my last day here at this business. I will do all I can to help get her started on the year end stuff. But, when I walk out of here that day, I hope I do not have the stress in my life that I had from working here.

Someone ask why I wasn't working the 30th....that is the start of a new payroll that is actually payroll for 2012. So I will make the Thursday my last day here.