I was pulling up to the big box home improvement store with work shoes, a note to myself, and gloves in hand.
And when I reached the check-out counter, the associate asked, “Can I help you?”
It was not obvious what I was there for without a shopping cart.
And with a smile, I said, “I would like forty bags of two cubic red mulch”.
Within a minute, I had my receipt and headed to the parking lot, where they had lots of pallets of mulch just waiting for a new home.
I pulled my car around to the loading line, and in five minutes, I handed my receipt to the associate.
He looked at me, then my SUV, and smiled.
I jumped out of the car, and we loaded the mulch.
And as we load and keep track of how many bags are in the car, under my breath, I say, “Oh sh*t“.
Well, I didn’t mean for the associate to hear me. But, he laughingly asked, “What’s wrong?“
I look at the SUV, and twenty bags are in there, but there’s zero chance that another twenty bags are going in.
So we put another ten bags in and wrote on the ticket that I was owed ten more bags.
That was not the plan. When I left home, I knew I needed forty bags, but only thirty would fit.
Instead of reading the note to myself, I left it to my gut to execute.
It was not a major disaster. However, I committed myself to a second trip. After unloading and installing the mulch, I may not have wanted to take my dirty, sweaty self back in the SUV and do it again.
And Wednesday at 10:00 am, time for my weekly meeting with Charlotte.
She said that she thinks she has a problem with her accountant. The balance in her checking account compared to her financial statement is off by $3,330.33. And she told me she had left a strong voice message with her accountant a few minutes before our meeting. She was one hundred percent ready to fire the accountant.
Charlotte asked, “What should I do?”
I asked her to screen share her agreement. Immediately I saw that the accountant would accrue the annual fee on a monthly basis. The cash in her bank account may have been correct. Still, the financial statement should have been $8,000 divided by twelve times five months or $3333.33 less than her bank account.
I could see the relief on Charlotte’s face as her finances were in order.
Like my visit to the big box retailer, Charlotte was a little embarrassed.
As the carpenters say, measure twice and cut once. And for us non-carpenters, read, then react, not the other way around.
Thanks for reading and enjoy the holiday weekend.
Until next week,
Mark
