Doohickey

Description on the bottle:  What exactly is a doohickey?  It's sort of like a Thing-a-mabob or a Whosey-whats-it.  But better.  And it's a perfect word to describe this California red, a proprietary blend that will keep you guessing about what grapes are inside.  Look for flavors and aromas of black currant, blackberry and vanilla, with some soft spicy and floral notes and smooth, silky tannins on the palate.  Can you guess what grapes are in the bottle of Doohickey?  The only way to find out is to try it for yourself!

Sarah says:  First of all, let me just say that I love the description, that's the kind of fun stuff I like to see on my bottles of wine.  It's so fun and intriguing that I just can't help but want to try the wine!  The wine is pretty good, definitely smooth, easy to drink.  I love the blackberry feel to it.  And, as it turns out, it's a great bottle to have on hand if you happen to have a last minute wine & Phase 10 party!  I think everyone that tried it, liked it!

Overall rating: Thumbs up!

Sarah says:  While I'm loving the Doohickey, the font on the bottle is a little funny, and when I first picked it up, I said out loud "Doochery?"  And it stuck.  Now, I realize that Doochery isn't a word, and if it was, it wouldn't be spelled like that.  But none the less, Doochery is what came out of my mouth, and Doochery is what I continued to call it the rest of the night.  Perfect timing, because I had the most Doochery experience today.  It got me fuming and I just can't seem to stop thinking about it.  I even took the kids to Baskin Robbins (It's scoop fest night, I can't resist an ice cream sale!) and enjoyed a double scoop (Pistachio Almond and Jamoca Almond Fudge, don't knock it until you've tried it).  But, even emotional eating didn't calm me down, I'm still stewing about this.  So I turned to the next best thing... Wine and vent about it in a blog!

I'm going to attempt to express to vent my frustration without giving out too many details or boring you with my accounting stuff, but it's totally something that happened at work.  LLLOOOONNNGGGG story short... I've been trying to reconcile something (or fix a likely error) for a few days, except I only have half the information, so I'm basing my reconciliations on assumptions and good educated guesses.  The person who has been hired to maintain and record all of the transactions (lets call him guy) told me some info that I wasn't 100% sure was correct, so questioned it a bit, and tried figuring it out on my own.  I emailed guy during the day and said that I wasn't comfortable with his conclusion on how the error needed to be corrected.  I proceeded to email guy several other times throughout the day with other thoughts and suggestions as I continued to think about the issue and look at it, but since I was basing these thoughts and suggestions on my half bits of info, I was looking for guy's agreement or further thoughts on the error.  At the very end of the day, I received a ONE LINE email from guy, saying that he was going to record it the way he originally told me he was going to record it.  Um.... excuse me?!  Guy just entered the Doochery zone.

1)  What happened to proper email etiquette?  Call me old fashioned, but what happened to the greeting, the signature, and the pleasant "If you would like to discuss further please feel free to contact me"

2)  I am your client.  You are hired and paid by me (ok, not me me, but my Township, close enough).  We pay you to be thorough, detailed, smart, accurate, kind, well thought out, and to follow accounting rules.  You are not getting paid to do things wrong, and completely dismiss my concerns about this item being recorded improperly.

3) And even if you still think the way you are recording it is correct, you need to tell me why!  Convince me that my thoughts aren't taking into account the complete picture, but your's are.  I've said over and over to him, that I know he has the details, so it's possible that I'm missing something, acknowledge that.  Clearly, I've spent a lot of hours looking into this issue, and you spent... what? 20 seconds?  That's just disrespectful.

4)  At the end of the day, the financial statements are mine.  I literally consider the CAFR my 3rd child (actually this is my 4th kid... Detroit's was my 3rd, but since I put Detroit up for adoption, I'm back to 3).  I need to be comfortable with these numbers, I'm the one that is held accountable for them.  I tell you how to record it, guy.  Do not get confused into thinking that you are telling me what to do here.  If I think the numbers are wrong, we will continue to look at it until I feel otherwise.  You cannot push me off with a one line email that tries to tell me how it's going to be.

Oh guy, I almost feel bad for you... because now that I've laid out my frustration in this blog, I pretty much have a script to read for when I call you tomorrow, to tell you that you will continue to look into this with me until I'm satisfied.  And because you've now left a bad taste in my mouth, you're probably going to have to work a little harder to earn that satisfaction.

On a good note - this wine has left a great taste in my mouth, and I'm going to go enjoy some more and ready myself for tomorrow!