He's crazy? Or is he right?

amother

Fri, Feb 09 2024, 11:37 am

I started a job toward the end of last year working as a bookkeeper for a CPA. When I took the job I made it clear that I don't have enough experience and he was fine with it, said he'll help me out with any questions I had.
Lemeiseh, he didn't. He expects me to do work on my own and then chews my head off over any mistakes. He's terrible at communicating, nothing is ever his fault or the customers fault. it's always me who's wrong in any scenario. He reprimands in horrible ways, in the presence of all my coworkers and he makes me feel like 2 cents.
Some days are better then others and at this point I leant to ask for help from others so I'm more or less OK now. He's still crazy but I try to have the least possible to do with him.

Today he really went over the top. Apparently w-2 forms have become available now from the company we use to pay a specific client's employees. This client never told me that he wants me to send him his employees w-2 forms so I didn't. I come into work this morning to get a yelling from my boss about how Mr. X told him he didn't get a single w-2 form yet from me and hat was I thinking? Am I dense enough not to send it.... yada yada yada......
anytime I tried to tell him how no one asked for it he said I should have known to send it myself. I told him I got no notification from the payroll company that the W-2 forms were ready, he said I should have known to check.
Was I supposed to know? Am I the crazy one here? Is he the crazy one here? I don't know anymore.

amother

Fri, Feb 09 2024, 11:46 am

I do need to find another job, yes. But now I'm just so shaken up over what happened.
I'm asking any other bookkeepers, do you send any forms without being asked for it? are you supposed to know things on your own, especially when there was absolut zero communication from any end about this, not the client, not my boss and not the payroll company.

Also my complaint is on the client too. I talk to him daily and he could have told me this myself. Why did he have to take such a small complaint about me to my boss?

amother

Orange

Fri, Feb 09 2024, 12:00 pm

He sounds abusive, and I don’t say that lightly . I had a few jobs where I worked for abusive bosses until I had the courage to leave.
I would recommend looking for another job. The details of the situation don’t really matter so much whether you were supposed to know or not. He should not be treating you that way. He should be a kind person who explains what he wants from you.

singleagain

Fri, Feb 09 2024, 12:08 pm

amother OP wrote:

As a bookkeeper, I usually try to ask the client for let's say monthly statements and occasionally if they don't do it automatically. I do have a small list of clients that I will reach out and ask for a statement because I haven't gotten one in a while.

However, this is something that you learn over time. If you've never dealt with w-2s before, the boss can't expect you to know that

The first few months I was there I had nothing to do with statements. I didn't know it was something I should be asking

Since you specifically told your boss that you did not have experience and he said that's okay. I'll teach you and then he's not teaching you. That is a problem

Again, only because you are inexperienced in this area. You couldn't have known that it was something to go look for, especially if there were no notifications or anything like that.

amother

Honey

Fri, Feb 09 2024, 12:11 pm

I’m an accountant. There’s no such thing as “should’ve known” in the business. Maybe technically if you had the experience, you would’ve asked about it but that’s not the point. A boss should NEVER yell at an employee.

If he’s paying you better than average, it’s because he can’t keep staff so he pays extra to make up for it but from experience, I promise it’s not worth it. I once worked for a guy like that and was scared to leave because I needed the money, but then he fired me anyway. I ended up with a much better job after.

amother

Fri, Feb 09 2024, 12:14 pm

singleagain wrote:

So when you need something from the client you know to ask, you don't expect them to send it on their own.
This is when a client requests something from me. Why shouldn't I expect the same treatments? Am I supposed to preempt all their requests with zero communication? It's not like I don't want to give him what he needs, he just needs to ask for it.
I really don't think I should have been expected to know to send it without him asking, especially that I had zero notification that it was ready

amother

Fri, Feb 09 2024, 12:32 pm

Similar situation.
Client asked me last week to add an employee to payroll. I sent him a WhatsApp this week asking him to confirm if we're adding anyone to practice and he replied no.
Today he told my boss that this employee wasn't added, my boss asked me about it and I showed him, showed him mind you, where the client said no adding anyone.
So my boss claims it's my fault. If I would have asked the client to confirm that we're adding Juan to payroll maybe he would have said yes. But because I asked him if we're adding anyone to payroll it's too general so this whole mix-up is my fault.

amother

Honey

Fri, Feb 09 2024, 12:35 pm

amother OP wrote:

So I’m answering this in a general way, not specific to your case. Yes as an accountant, certain things are done monthly/quarterly/annually. I’m not 100% clear on what it was that you’re being asked to send here, but I’ll often reach out to the client or send things to them before they reach out to me.

But very important- I only know it from all my years of working, I’d never expect it of first year staff.

singleagain

Fri, Feb 09 2024, 12:39 pm

amother OP wrote:

Unless I immediately have some sort of mix-up. For instance, if I was looking at my invoices and realized oh my gosh I paid invoice A to vendor B. Then I immediately will contact both vendors and say I made a mix up in. Here's how I'm fixing it.

Otherwise I wait for them to come to me and honestly I expect them to come to me and say hey you skip this or hey what happened here.

And yes, there are certain things that happen monthly and with certain vendors that are known to be troublesome. Sometimes I will preempt them but usually I ask them to set it up so it comes automatically

If there is anything you can set up to do be done automatically ie reminders, statements, those kind of things I would definitely suggest doing it.

But again yeah I agree with the poster. Who said that someone who's still within the first year of doing it? I would not expect them to know not by magic.

amother

Orange

Fri, Feb 09 2024, 12:39 pm

amother OP wrote:

So here it sounds like a communication problem. If a client asked you to add the employee what was the question on your part? Perhaps you could’ve responded right away to confirm although I don’t understand why you would need confirmation?
Again, none of this justifies being mistreated by your boss.
Another thing I have found, though is bosses generally don’t like to have to give too many instructions and answer too many questions.
I have found as an employee that it annoys my employer when I’m asking too many questions. Meaning, I try to be more proactive and figure things out of my own.
Of course if I genuinely don’t know, I ask. But I try to be a bit more assertive And learn things myself.
Again, none of this justifies him being abusive to you.

amother

Honey

Fri, Feb 09 2024, 12:39 pm

amother OP wrote:

You’re getting into very detailed examples… maybe you’re at fault here, but it’s a toxic atmosphere and these situations will keep coming up.

amother

Fri, Feb 09 2024, 12:44 pm

amother Honey wrote:

You’re getting into very detailed examples… maybe you’re at fault here, but it’s a toxic atmosphere and these situations will keep coming up.

I don't care anymore. The only 2 people outed here can be me or my boss anyway.
I'd just like to find out if he's right when he tells me I'm not a good employee or if it's a communication issue that I can maybe speak to the client about and ask him to stop involving the big boss in every issue that comes up.

amother

Blonde

Fri, Feb 09 2024, 12:46 pm

amother OP wrote:

This sounds like a communication error on your part, I agree with your boss.

amother

Babypink

Fri, Feb 09 2024, 1:09 pm

If you want to know facts - yes every company sends out W2s without requests.
Also not sure why you texted asking no employees to be added if you were asked to add Juan. If you wanted to confirm if Juan needs to be added, you would ask, confirming that Juan needs to be added? Anyone else?
But having answered your questions, it gives zero zero right to your boss to speak like that.

amother

Honey

Fri, Feb 09 2024, 1:19 pm

amother Babypink wrote:

Actually it’s the payroll company that sends the w-2’s, not the accountants. So without knowing more about their setup, I wouldn’t assume it to be her job.

I agree with the 2nd point.

amother

Babypink

Fri, Feb 09 2024, 1:27 pm

amother Honey wrote:

Actually it’s the payroll company that sends the w-2’s, not the accountants. So without knowing more about their setup, I wouldn’t assume it to be her job.

I agree with the 2nd point.

From her first message I understood she does payroll
"from the company we use to pay a specific client's employees."

Wondering how he treats your coworkers?

amother

Honey

Fri, Feb 09 2024, 1:32 pm

amother OP wrote:

Neither.

To your second example, yes I’d say technically you were in the wrong. The client clearly asked you to add the employee. I’m not sure why you felt a need to follow up, that confused the situation.

BUT… did you ever add an employee before or was this your first time? Is it a typical request? Do you have a usual process? You can’t be a bad employee if no one ever showed you how to do it right.

At the same time, the client has a relationship with the boss. Until he forms a relationship with you, you can expect communication to continue that way.

But normal bosses don’t yell or make you feel stupid! That’s what I meant when I said your examples are getting detailed. Because the details of the situation don’t matter as much… the main issue is him, the lack of training and the way he’s treating you!