Dumpster Diving

Look Fred! Over there in that Dumpster! Someone threw away a perfectly good blonde girl! A not so typical day at the office of: Jim's Bar and Taxes "You Drink While We Think" We have gobs and gobs of paper here. Files all over the place. Many tax returns in various stages of being processed and prepared. Post it and phone message notes galore. Multi-tasking abounds. We have to be very organized. We cannot "lose" things. That doesn't mean we don't occasionally "misplace" things. With all the paper flying,....... Well you know. There's that sensation. You had something in your hands a couple of hours ago, maybe yesterday, but now when you really need it, you can't seem to find it. Usually it turns up. It's only a couple of sheets of paper. We know what it looks like and what information should be there. We could call the client and get them to bring in another copy, but that's embarrassing. Makes us look bad. So you think back to what you were doing when you last saw that piece of paper. Maybe it accidentally got put in the wrong file. A mass search of those files (and others nearby) by all personnel ensues. Nothing found. Maybe it got thrown away. Surely not. Anything with personal data, especially with social security numbers on it, gets shredded. If it was shredded then we are SOL and we will have to call the client. Damn. But nobody can remember recently doing any shredding. So, it's not in another file, not shredded, maybe in the trash? The Dumpster! Volunteers? Two people respond, services well beyond the call of duty. Really dedicated employees! Long story short, We Found It! In the dumpster. No need to call the client. YIPPEE!!!!! It was a little dirty. A little wet, but all there and intact. At the time we were very worried and very concerned. Stress level was very high. Maybe in a day or two we will be able to chuckle about it. Hell, a year from now, we'll be laughing our asses off.