Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Auditor On Duty

There are just some people you should just make sure to stay on their good side. Like bartenders, the people that cook your food, housekeeping at the hotel, the policeman that pulls you over. . . you know, the people that have the power to really f* with you.

Today I made an egregious error in messing with the cafeteria lady.

They have a decent cafeteria here on site. There are a few vending machines plus a staff that serves a hot breakfast or bagels and then sandwiches or a hot lunch for reasonable prices. It’s not the Ritz, but it will do in a pinch. This morning, all I needed was a soda. There are soda machines in the cafeteria, but all I had was a $20 and the machines only takes singles. So I went to the cooler to grab a bottle and had to pay for it at the cash register.

There is a gentleman in front of me with a plate full of breakfast. His bill came to $2.20 and he handed Cafeteria Lady $20.25. For those of you trying to do the math in your head, he should have gotten back $18.05 in change. However, I watched her count out $17.05 and hand it to him and he was happy as a lark putting his bills back in his wallet.

Um, I really have a few problems here. Number one, I am nosey. Number two, I am anal retentive. And, number three, I have a bad habit of talking to strangers. So, I actually said out loud, “that should be eighteen”. He kind of looked at me funny and said, “yes, eighteen, nineteen, twenty”. I hope this shirt and tie guy wasn’t from the finance department.

I said, “yes, but you also gave her a quarter, so your change should have been $18.05 and not $17.05”. He pulled his change back out of his wallet and sure enough there was only $17 in there and not $18. Shirt and Tie Guy and Cafeteria Lady looked at each other for a minute and then the light dawned on them. They both realized I was right (geez, I do love when that happens!) and she opened the register to give him another dollar.

Well, he was stupefied that I figured out this error. Then I held up my badge which clearly states, “Visitor – Internal Audit”. I said it’s a good thing I’m an auditor. I’m just doing my job!

Ok, he got the joke and laughed and made a little to-do about welcome to the company and all that. We had our little chuckle and then it was my turn to hand over a $20 for a $1 bottle of Diet Pepsi. Cafeteria Lady told me I should go away because I’m costing her money! Duh! She was a little reluctant about giving me my change and then complained about the fact that too many people are paying with $20s and she should start refusing them. She really was not happy with me once Shirt and Tie Guy left.

Ok, I got it. Yes, ma’am. I understand. I pissed you off; you have every right to take it out on me. Now may I please have my soda?

Yeah, I think it will be awhile before I eat in the cafeteria again. Perhaps going out to lunch every day isn’t such a bad idea.

1 comment:

Ron said...

Umm, you weren't costing her any money unless she pockets all the money she short-changes people!