Numbers - I Hate Them (A Lot)

    The form says "actual" or "estimate."  I always pick "estimate."  Actually, it should say "rough estimate."  That would relieve a lot of tension.
     The instructions state "must file by April 1."  I pressed the submit button reluctantly on March 22, earlier than usual, held my breath and hoped for the best. My hope is that the state of Minnesota thinks the numbers on this report I have to do for my library job are OK.  You see, numberphobes are never quite sure.  If the numbers look too nice and tidy, the person who reads the report might think you cheated or lied or made them all up.  And, ironically enough, we phobes also worry that if the numbers are too quirky, they will think the same thing.
     It's a nightmare.  All those numbers. Those damn numbers! They all have to make sense!  If the computer thinks they don't make sense,  little red flags come up all over the place.
     The little red flags fly in your face when the computer thinks the number is too big or, for heavens sake, too small.  Can you believe this?  Then, adding insult to injury, little green boxes come out of the blue and you have to explain WHY the number was too big or too small. ( This is compared to last year's number, of course.)  The computer just wants to see some words of explanation in the little green box.  Any gibberish would satisfy it, but since I have been called on the phone about this report by an actual human being several times in the past, I suspect a real person actually looks at it.  So, you have to compose a real explanation like " more books were checked out last year than the year before because more people checked out books last year" and that's that.
     In college I avoided anything to do with economics or accounting but years later I took a college accounting course.  I completed part 1 attending the classes at the university.  And I did OK. Then I attempted part 2 on my own.  I had seven, yes seven, years to complete the course but I did not.  I paid tuition year after frustrating year and the "incomplete" cost me a fortune.  Accounting seemed all  backwards to me anyway and I would never attempt it again.
     My number-filled  numbing annual report is now in cyberspace and I haven't heard any complaints about it, yet.  I am happy for the time being..  Now I have to get busy before the IRS deadline is here. And I pray that those numbers make sense and flags don't fly in my face and, and - oh the anxiety!