Death by Cellotape

True confession time: in the last week, I've submitted my expense claims for the last six months. I'd been procrastinating because I'd lost the invoice for my hotel bill last October. Couldn't find it anywhere. Finally, on Tuesday, I swallowed my pride, phoned the hotel and asked for a duplicate. Which they faxed over.

Yes, I know it was an awful lot of money, close to £1,500. And that I was paying credit card interest on two-thirds of it (the rest was mileage). But I couldn't step over the obstacle in my mind that said, "If I don't claim for October before I do any of these others, they won't let me claim for it". Not true, but an obstacle none-the-less. I finally reached the point where the financial pain of not claiming hurt more than the humiliation of admitting I was an organisational idiot (as it was, my authoriser didn't even notice the dates involved. So much for humiliation!).

Six months of hotel bills, meals and mileage claims were submitted that afternoon. Each receipt need to be numbered and taped on all four sides to an A4 sheet of paper. That's an awful lot of cellotape. Remember back to Grade One when you did "craft", when the kids could be divided into those who liked messing around with glue and those who didn't? I was firmly on the "hate" side of the divide. Last Tuesday reminded me why. It was punishment, if not death, by cellotape.

- Pam (feeling virtuous now because I've already done my claim for last week's trip to Site)