"bean counter" has taken on a whole new level of meaning

I'm at the end of my week and a half of IO's. I'm so over counting stuff. Here are a few hilights (I really don't mean to be always complaing about my job, because I do like it).

New Year's day I was counting food items at a local restaurant chain. At 6am. I had gone to the YSA New Year's dance, come home and slept from 2-5am, then got up and worked for 5 1/2 hours before taking a nap from noon to 3. Who says public accounting doesn't come with a fabulous work-life balance?

The next day (note, I worked 2 firm-wide holidays in a row), I counted medical supplies in a warehouse in Vancouver. I at least got to push it back a couple hours in the day because there was snow when I woke up, and I'm only willing to get in the one car accident for the firm.

Monday, I got to go in a clean room for the first time and count stuff. After the novelty of the suit wore off, I was just kind of hot and sticky. This IO spilled over into the next day because we missed a section of the inventory the first time. So that makes 3 workdays in a row I got to drive to WA. By now I'm a pro at suiting up for a clean room (the 2nd day I got to go in twice due to the thoroughness of my auditing skills). Sidenote, if I were a practicing Muslim, I'd need to really step up the eye make-up because my current routine doesn't do a lot for my face when only my eyes are showing.

Wednesday, then again Thursday for half the day, and Friday for half an hour, I counted airplane parts in Hillsboro. Last year this IO supposedly took just half a day, but oh my gosh it took me forever. Some of that stuff was seriously hard to count. I was crawling all over boxes and practically laying on the ground to see some of it. Totally covered in dirt by the end of the day. I suspect ghost-ticking or eating hours last year, if you must know.

Then one of my managers got me off the last IO I was assigned to for 2 days so I could finish the airplane parts. It would have involved counting plants and trees at a nursery and lots and lots of mud. Good story I'm sure, but I'm happy to have been spared the experience. Now bring on busy season!