My coworker in a 2 associate team is on vacation. We recruit a backup for her from the call center.
It was a hectic day today. I had a regularly scheduled person who helps on Mondays when we are Extremely busy. Usually my coworker manages her and I only have her for 3 or 4 hours. But they changed her hours to match mine and damn it’s hard to manage someone inexperienced while trying to do your own job.
But. That’s NOT the reason I want to drink. The replacement co-worker pointed out that my regular coworker has not been marking sales tax on her invoicing for a very large account. Presumably the total amount billed is correct, I have not checked. PLEASE UNIVERSE, LET THE BILLED AMOUNT BE CORRECT. But because she has not been doing this, I have not reported those taxes collected and they have not been paid.
Taxes. NOT paid.
The thing is – she did it correctly for about 7 months and then in March she just did it randomly and in April only 4 items and after that…
I have NO idea what was going on in her mind. But I do know that I report the taxable payable amount to the owners of the company and they faithfully pay that amount to the state.
And it was wrong since March. By a not insignificant amount. This puts them in danger of audit and fines etc.
I love my co-worker. But she works too fast. That’s her key strength but it’s also her weakness. I worry that her desire to get my work started before I arrive is causing her to let important things slide. She likes to be the hero who helps people.
And I worry that telling my bosses that the last 4 months of tax reporting I did for them was wrong. Because they will want to know why. And then I will be throwing my friend under the bus.
She’s on vacation. I talk to her regularly by text but I’m not going to ruin her vacation with this nightmare. Still it’s giving me stomach issues. I can’t tell them without telling her first. But that’s a weeks wait. sigh.
Drinking seems like a decent solution to get through the week. If only it had no next day consequences.
It's a Thought 