Suddenly, I’m popular again!

 

Who knew?

As the annual AICPA ENGAGE conference in Las Vegas inched closer to reality, suddenly I was in great demand. The confab, which was held virtually last year in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, will once again play host to a live audience in lieu of session presentations and roundtable discussions on laptops.

And that meant the exhibitors had scoured the attendee list in hopes of luring potential sales prospects to their respective booths. And that includes yours truly.

Over the past two weeks, I have been invited to no less than three “preconference kick-off cocktail parties, four chances to win either an iPad or a set of Titleist golf clubs, countless bags of free “swag” and last, but not least, $100 off my registration fee.

And in full disclosure, it was a welcome, albeit slow return to normalcy. Getting an email barrage from conference vendors was routine pre-COVID, but over the last 18 months it was a more a relic of the past in dire need of burnishing.

Don’t Be Useful, Be Necessary!

 

During my publishing days, company management once announced that it was reshuffling the editorial hierarchy and adding an editorial director who would oversee all the print and online accounting-centric products. To my delight, the CEO tapped yours truly to fill the newly created post and subsequently asked me if I would like to relinquish my editor-in-chief responsibilities at the flagship magazine and concentrate on the larger picture.

I thought about his offer for less than 10 seconds and responded with a resounding “No!” When I was asked why by my colleagues why I wanted to assume dual responsibility for both the answer was simple. Mid-management posts such as the newly minted edit director were not tied to one specific property and as experience taught me, those were always the first to be jettisoned in the case of layoffs. By additionally keeping my EIC post, I was directly responsible for the main publication and therefore, necessary.

Less than a year later, my fears of a permanent furlough were realized as there was once again a reorganization, and the edit director post was eliminated in favor of some byzantine C-suite lineup which resulted in the loss of five jobs. Had I not opted to fill both positions, I too would have found myself filing for unemployment insurance.

Restaurant S.O.S.

 

At Chez Carlino, Saturday is errand day. And this past Saturday was no different. From 10 am until 1 o’clock in the afternoon, I visited no less than five stores as well as my go-to car wash. Of course, true to form, it poured just hours later but my historically bad luck with weather and a fresh simonize is fodder for a future column.

To reward completion of my honey-do agenda I stopped at Burger King and ordered their newest signature item – the Impossible Whopper. And truth be told, for a plant-based item, it’s actually pretty good. But what caught my eye were the count-em’ three signs advertising for help. At $15 an hour and partial medical benefits, I thought it would be easy to entice high school students to don an apron and paper hat. By contrast, my first restaurant job paid $2.05 an hour with no benefits except a free meal.

The BK manager on duty bemoaned to me that he often must work the grill because he can’t hire enough people and put in overtime (unpaid) to complete his required daily paperwork. The truth is that COVID-19 has affected labor in a variety of sectors, but perhaps not one was hit harder than the restaurant industry.

A number of CPA firms who have a sizeable roster of clients in restaurants have revealed that many have not recovered from the pandemic. And when many have reopened, they cannot fill the required “pars” for employee headcounts. As a result, many firms lost thousands in annual billings.