Day in the Life of a Support Rep – Part 2

Two weeks ago we shared a journal of the morning activity of Myra in our customer support department.  She took ten support calls before lunch with Payroll being the hot topic for the day.  Here is how the rest of her day went.
It was time for lunch.  I was lucky today.  I did not have to wait on the microwave.  I love to go outside and eat.  Today I was thankful not only for the tables outside but also for the umbrella that blocked the sun.  I said a prayer for Jamie and his family as I blessed my food. (Note: Jamie Grimsley did pass away and the company held a memorial service on the front lawn). I read my sales papers and made a list.  I ran into Tonya and Mark.  I have such a fond memory of them.  I was sitting outside eating the first time he took her to lunch.  He was acting like a young school boy on his first date.  I asked Tonya about them later and she said, oh, we’re just friends.  I thought to myself.  We will see.  (Note: Tonya and Mark met at ACS and are now married). I left and went to the mall for a couple of laps.  By now it was too hot to walk in the parking lot.  I ran into Marcus.  He was shopping for a battery.   I arrived back in plenty of time to refill my water and catch my breath before my first afternoon call.  I had taken the stairs again.  I took Michelle the sale papers.  She is a single Mom always searching for a deal.
My first afternoon call was an e-mail that came in at 1:33 pm from Mimi at South Salem Presbyterian Church.  Another user was trying to post beginning balances and was getting a message about an invalid fund principal account.  Felt I should talk to her, so I gave her a call.  They were starting ACS as of January, 2009.  The user was trying to post her beginning balance entry that was dated Dec. 2008 and had a post month of Dec. 2008. The current posting period was January, 2009.  Told her that all looked fine but it was looking for a fund principal account because she was posting to a prior period.  Went to GL setup and the fund principal field was blank. She went ahead and added it.  Told her the user will be able to post the transaction now.
My thirteenth call came at 2:16 pm from Tamra at Bear Creek Community Church.  She wanted to reset the first check number on the pay invoices screen and I helped her do that in GLDefine ListBank Accounts.
My next call came from Mary at First Baptist Church.  She said she received an error message and only a portion of her Accounts Payable checks posted.  I desktopped to take a look.  Had her clear the checks.  I verified that the ones which posted were correct in GL and AP.  Went back to pay invoices and looked at the first invoice left to pay, which is usually the problem child.  There was a problem with it and we corrected it.  She was then able to process and post her checks.
My next call came at 3:00 pm from Sandy at Central Baptist Church.  She said she was trying to post payroll and it was telling her the check date and post month did not match but they do.  Told her that is an issue some client’s are experiencing and we are aware of it.  Explained it will be corrected on the next release.  Told her if she is certain the two match to disregard the message and post.  Apologized for the inconvenience.
My sixteenth call came at 3:28 pm from Sharon at Covenant United Methodist Church.  She said her checks were dated July 1 and cleared on the bank statement on June 30.  Told her to extend her reconciliation date to July 1 and pick up at July 2 next time.
My next call was an e-mail that came in at 3:38 pm from Brenda at Richland Hills Baptist Church.  This was an interesting request.  Client said she received a notice today from her insurance company effective December 31, 2010, employers will be required to calculate and report the aggregate cost of applicable employer-sponsored health insurance coverage on employees’ From W-2s.  She went on to say that her Pastor’s insurance is paid out of Accounts Payable.  She wanted to know how we will address this requirement by the Federal government.   Told her she was the first person to bring this to my attention.  Told her our software will let you edit W2’s and add figures in selected boxes.  Explained that the IRS would be the one to say which block it should appear.  Told her I would forward this to my Supervisor, who will in turn communicate with the programmers get more information on this.  Told her if there are any requirements on our part, we will have them in place before the deadline and clients will be notified.   Forwarded an e-mail to Pam and Anthony about this.
It is time to take my second break.  I fixed my neighbor Jessica and myself some watermelon.  I usually share with her.  We both love it.  It did not taste right so I threw it away.  I ate cookies instead.  I tried to be healthy. She doesn’t even know I had it today.  She has been at ACS about a year and is doing a great job.  She is really good with the clients.  She and I have become friends.  I am thankful for the many friends I have here.
I’m moving along towards the end of the day when another e-mail comes in at 4:30 pm from Bill at El Montecito Presbyterian Church.  Now, where is that?  It was Santa Barbara, CA.  He wanted to know if he archived a data set, could they then delete it from the login procedure without doing harm.  Told him he could not delete it, but it would not show unless he chooses “Include Archived Datasets.
As I was working on this, there was some shuffling around.  Membership Plus employees are moving over to our area of support which means some of our reps will also be moving.  They are picking out where they want to sit.  I have made a request to move, so hopefully, I will get the spot I have asked for.  Found out later the Supervisors did honor my request.  I am happy about that my 19^th call came in at 4:57 from Tierra at the Las Vegas Junior Academy.  I talk to her frequently.  She was closing her fiscal year and said she had backed up financials.  She wanted to know if that was all she needed to back up and told her that was correct.  She wanted to know what date to use and I told her the last day of her fiscal year.
My 20th call was an e-mail at 5:00 pm. From Ruth at Heritage United Methodist Church.   It stated that they have the MICR Image (USB) scanner and it will no longer read the checks from AR.  It does read them from Contributions. Mr. Mike is not here, and I asked Tommy to give her a call.  He said he would call her.  I e-mailed her and told her to expect a call from him.
Well we have been busy but I am caught up with this documentation.  I need to leave here on time today because I am the volunteer treasurer for my Church and we have a business meeting tonight.  Did I mention that I use the Membership Plus product.  I am a Beta client.
My 21^st and last call came in at 5:29 pm from James at Emmanuel Baptist church.  It was an easy call.  That was good because I was getting tired.  Client said he had a check written in May and voided to June.  Told him to put it back into June and void it to May to wash both of them out.
Well, nothing funny has happened today.  I have been busy.  Guess I haven’t had time to cross paths with Scott.  He is the rep who switches name tags on cubicles and hangs your pictures upside down when you are on vacation.  Did I mention that we all love him?
I don’t know why I was chosen for this project.  I do think this represents a typical day.
I get to leave on time today.  I have to be In Pamplico by 7pm.  Yeah!
Many Thanks to Myra for sharing her journal and for taking good care of our clients.