Typical Day
Penny Pinscher wakes up at 7:00AM, takes her dachshund Bean (short for Bean Counter) for a one-and-a-half mile walk around the neighborhood. Bean does his business two times, ten feet apart, and Penny picks up the mess and disposes of it in a doggie waste receptacle four blocks away.
It's a lovely day and Penny enjoys bonding with Bean for twenty-five minutes in the morning before she has to get ready for work.
Penny puts on a sensible, business-like beige outfit, pulls her hair back into a neat ponytail, and climbs into her fully-charged hybrid car, heading to her first client.
It's 9:00AM when Penny enters Bacon, Bacon, Bacon, a store that sells all products involving—you guessed it—bacon. The owner, Pierre Pigs, is very happy to see Penny, who is to sort through the business' books in preparation for tax season.
Pierre plops down four cartons filled with paper receipts for Penny to sift through.
"Whoa, Pierre, it'll take me hours to go through this. What did I tell you about entering your stuff through Quicken? Or at least writing it down in a ledger or something?"
"But Penny, then what would I need you here for?"
Penny tries not to look insulted by what Pierre has said, but she clearly is. "I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that."
"Can I get you something to eat?" offers Pierre gingerly.
Penny chomps down on pigs in a bacon blanket as she works throughout the morning. She creates a Quicken account on her computer for Pierre's company and enters every receipt into the program. When she finishes, she'll have an accurate account of where Pierre has spent his money this year (and a bit of indigestion from all that pork).
At 1:00PM, Penny leaves Bacon, Bacon, Bacon and heads over to Dr. Dottie's Veterinary Clinic. Dr. Dottie has been Bean's vet for years now and Penny is thrilled that she decided to use Penny's bookkeeping services.
Dr. Dottie wants to know if she can afford to add a doggie wash and grooming service to her business. She needs Penny to go through the company's receipts, which are all computerized (thankfully), so she can paint an accurate picture of the business' profits. If it looks financially feasible, she needs help putting together a business plan. Dr. Dottie can then use the information to try to get a small business loan from her bank.
Penny opens her QuickBooks program and inputs the data to create a profit and loss statement, thereby creating a sure-fire plan to get those doggies scrubbed and coiffed. It takes her only a couple of hours to do—not a big job in the grand scheme of things.
At 3:00PM, Penny leaves with a modest check for her work, along with the promise of free vet care on the next visit, plus Bean's first wash gratis once Dottie gets her loan and starts the dog wash.
Penny enters the doors to her last client of the day just after 4:00PM. Just Windows is a store that sells, well, just windows. They're also going through a big audit by the IRS and Penny has been devoting a couple of hours a day toward getting all the receipts ready. It's very stressful and tense, but Penny keeps her cool. At the end of the day she gets a jump start on payroll, which she'll come back and finish tomorrow, so everyone in the company can get their check on time.
By 7:00PM Penny is exhausted, hurrying home as the sun sets to make dinner and take Bean for his walk. She didn't mean to finish so late—whether Bean has had an accident is a toss-up. After running through a quick calculation involving hours elapsed and expected water consumption, Penny is hopeful that she'll be greeted with clean floors and a patient pup instead of sloppy kisses and a puddle of pee.
She arrives home at around 7:30PM and puts the leash on Bean immediately, taking him for his walk. The dog is thrilled. They walk for a half hour and when they make that last leg up the hill toward the house, Penny is so tired she can barely trudge the final steps. She feeds Bean, cooks herself some dinner, and falls asleep by 9:00PM, dreaming of the sweet sound of number-crunching.