I made it through 3/17 corporate deadlines and 4/15 individual deadlines and even the craziness of extensions so I thought getting through the final corporate, estate and partnership deadline would be a breeze. On Monday I definitely was not as overwhelmed as I thought I would be, I came into the office ready to handle everyone that would be coming in. I met with clients and delivered their returns, got all their signatures, stamped their envelopes and sent them off to the mailbox. All of our clients were great about coming in and we only had one left at the end of the afternoon. Late afternoon I was stamping some of the last enveloped when they didn't seem to be weighing right...we use a metered stamp and so I asked my bosses wife, Tonia to take a look at it when she tells me that I had it on the wrong weight. I had been using a letter weight and not a flat rate.....all day long. That meant that every single envelope I had put postage on wasn't the correct amount so all those returns due by 9/15 would most likely be sent back to the client and now be late...which causes penalties. I lost it...I started crying and Tonia called Todd who was pretty mad. I felt absolutely horrible...and yes it was an honest mistake but one that so easily could have not happened. I could not stop crying and Tonia was trying her best to help me understand that we would work it all out. Everything she said didn't affect me, I could not shake how bad I felt about it. Todd later called Tonia and said he had cooled down and that the same situation happened last year to a few returns and they were never sent back due to lack of postage and that even if they did we still had proof of mailing and could most likely avoid any penalties. I tried to shake it off but literally spent all night stressed about it and was still stressed when I came in the office yesterday morning. Todd has learned my personality really well since I've been here and he knew I was still worried about it so he came and talked to me and said everyone makes mistakes...some big and some small but worrying only makes me feel ten times worse. There wasn't anything I could do at this point and he said that we would work through it whatever happened but that dwelling on it all day would affect my work and clients so I took what he said and moved on from it.
I still hate that I made the mistake because it so easily could have been avoided but I know it's a mistake that I will never make again as long as I'm working here. My boss was right, worrying never makes it easier or makes it go away you just have to accept what it was and know you did your best and know not to do it again.