BerthaBlog

“Sure, I’ll check my bag for them. How did the day go?”

At least now if it turns out the disks are missing, she’s prepared for the possibility.

Earlier this week Cricket gave me a cardboard folder of Quickbooks install disks. She wanted me to install it on my computer at home, so I could practice using the software in my off hours.

“Don’t lose these,” she cautioned sternly. “I paid $400 for these, I’ll be really mad if you lose them.”

I took them home and installed Quickbooks Enterprise, because the folder said “install this one to learn about Quickbooks.”

The next day I handed the folder back to Cricket. “Which one did you install?” she asked. I told her. “Oh no, that one’s not going to have what you need. Take them back and install the Accountant version.”

She handed the folder back to me. I put the folder on the shelf next to my purse, so I wouldn’t forget it when I went home.

When I got home, I realized I’d forgotten the folder. I went back up to the church to pick it up.

It wasn’t there. It was not on the shelf where I keep my purse. It wasn’t in or on my desk. It wasn’t in the file cabinet, or the safe, or the cupboards. I asked my office manager if she’d seen it, and she helped me look around for a while.

My best guess is that Cricket noticed it over there tucked away and put it on the desk where I wouldn’t forget it, and then gathered it up with her papers by accident when she left. Because nobody else goes in the office, and when I’m not there it’s locked.

So now I’m going to spend the weekend freaking out about losing the disks, after Cricket explicitly cautioned me not to lose the disks, and I was very careful to keep them with my purse at all times (at home and at work) so I’d always know where they were, and now Cricket will be mad at me and I really want Cricket to like me, and maybe at the end of my 90-day probation she’ll tell them not to hire me after all since I went and lost her valuable disks and am therefore probably not trustworthy with the church’s money either, and that would suck because I really like this job.

Oh yeah, the kicker? While I was turning the place upside down looking, I found the church’s copy of Quickbooks in a cupboard, which I could have taken home instead if I’d known about it, and had plenty of time to find it again if it went missing.

Since learning I definitely have a job, I’ve been trying to decide if I should continue working at the homeless shelter two days a week.

The timing would be doable, but pretty tight. I would get off work at 1:00, and my shift at the shelter starts at 2:00. That should just give me time to run home, change clothes, scarf some lunch, and run out to the shelter.

Thing is, rushing like that stresses me out. It’s one reason I don’t often go places with Alpha Geek; he has a tendency to wait until the last possible minute to start getting ready. If anything unexpected comes up, suddenly we’re late and rushing. I hate that.

On the other hand, it would only be two days a week.

I’ve been pondering the decision since Monday. Last night I was thinking aloud while The Director was draped across the couch next to me. It was still the same set of pros and cons; the schedule might be feasible, but it would probably make me stressed.

The Director shrugged. “I dunno, I’ve never really had stress like that,” he admitted.

“No, but you’ve seen me stressed,” I pointed out.

“Oh, right. In that case, you definitely don’t want to do it.”

The boy has a wisdom beyond his years.

So when I go in this afternoon, I’ll let them know next week is my last week. I hate to bail on them like that, but The Director’s right—I don’t want to wind up stressed and snapping at my family all the time.