Husband dear has finally returned to work, after being out for 5 weeks. This is definitely a good thing, since his "disability" payments are less than 30% of what he actually takes home. They tax disability at 25%, plus he works construction which means overtime (he always works at least 48 hours a week) and per diem -neither of which are reflected in the disability payments. Still, something's better than nothing - and it is great that the first time my husband has a major medical problem requiring an extended stay out of work, it is also the first time we have any kind of insurance to lighten the financial load.

I finally got around to reconciling the bank statement, which I think is fun especially because Quicken will make pie charts for me showing husband dear exactly how much his Coke habit is costing us. I discovered that his company has paid him for the last two weeks.

He did not work for the last two weeks, but, when he got back to the job site, got a couple of paystubs. They are for 40 hours with no per diem - not a typical paycheck for him at all. He got a paycheck three weeks ago, but that was to fix a mistake from the first week of March, where they shorted him a day's pay and 3 day's per diem.

Apparently, the South Carolina school system is worse than I thought, since the payroll clerks can't even add and the supers can't even take attendance! To tell the truth, I'm not quite sure how it happened at all, since hours are tracked by a badge that is swiped in and out everyday. These hours were entered in on a handwritten timecard and entered manually.

So, because husband dear is honest and has a wife who nags encourages him in his integrity, he tells his supervisor, who tells him not to tell anybody. So he tells the job superintendent, who tells him not to tell anybody, but eventually agrees to go into the office, where the human resource lady tells him - you guessed it - not to tell anybody. As a former office manager who oversaw payroll, I totally get the HR's response. It would probably cost more money to straighten out the problema and take the errant pay back, especially once insurance premiums, 401(k) contributions and matches, and employer taxes are taken into account. It's a paperwork nightmare.

And so, we are the beneficiaries of money that is not stolen, but doesn't quite belong to us either. Should I spend it? Save it? Donate it? Accept it without further question? Is this God's providence, taking care of us when husband was unable to work? Or a test of our faithfulness - and honesty?

Maybe I'll take the money and realize my lifelong dream - high stakes poker.

Or maybe I'll just buy groceries.

Labels: Family Life