Self Improvement

For the past two days I have been transferring old bookkeeping & payroll files from dusty, falling apart boxes to a file cabinet that I was finally able to secure after two years of asking. The county (state?) requires us to save the files for five full years. I don't have a problem with that. I do have a problem with my pack-rat boss insisting we keep them beyond that time. Quite simply, we do not have the space.


Because I am, in her opinion, performing in a less than stellar manner in the areas of accepting supervision, following rules & procedures, and am in need of self improvement, (every time I hear, say, or read that I think of Herbie the elf from Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer who needed "elf improvement") I sought the counsel (supervision?) of my boss. I informed her I was aware of the 5-year rule and asked about the procedure for discarding the records older than that.

Guess what?! She didn't know! To my way of thinking, I would need to shred anything with a social security or account number on it. The rest can be discarded in a dumpster. At least, that is what makes sense to me. The first thing she wanted to do was call our payroll clerk & ask him. Everso gently, I suggested the assistant head of finance. She called and got voice mail. Then the boss said she has a finance notebook that she could reference and probably find the answer. When I stepped out of her office for just a minute she was reaching for it. When I stepped back in, she had already allowed herself to be distracted by something else and I was invisible.

I must remain patient. Because of my continuing self-improvement efforts I will seek her counsel one more time before forging ahead on my own. Whether that means calling the asst. head of finance myself or going ahead with my plan has not yet been determined. No wonder I stay frustrated. Her changing and/or not knowing the 'rules and procedures.' keeps me running behind schedule. There are times when I really am smart enough to supervise myself. Ya know?