The nightmare of a missing decimal point that cost me 6 hours last Friday

I was reconciling a client's accounts in QuickBooks and their total was off by $1,200. I literally checked every single transaction for 4 hours straight before my coworker glanced over and pointed out I had typed 450.00 instead of 45.00 on an invoice. It was such a stupid little error and I wanted to scream. Has anyone else had a tiny typo or misclick eat up an entire afternoon like that?

3 comments

3 Comments

danielr997d ago

I mean, been there, done that, bought the "I Survived an Invoice Error" t-shirt that nobody sells. I once put 1000 instead of 10.00 on a quote and had to explain to my boss why I was suddenly offering discounts that big. It's honestly a miracle any of us get paid at all with how many zeroes we type incorrectly.

nancy_wood7d ago

Started triple-checking every number before hitting send, saved my rear more times than I care to admit. The extra 30 seconds is worth not having THAT conversation with your boss again.

ericcraig7d ago

You know, I actually disagree a little bit. I think if you're triple-checking every single number, you're probably spending more time than you need to. I've found that double-checking the ones that are easy to mess up, like decimal points or quantities over 100, is enough. The rest of the time, your brain is just going through the motions and you're not really catching anything new. For me, that extra 30 seconds adds up over a whole day and I'd rather use it on something that actually needs my attention.