AR colleague annoyed that I am no longer doing the “hard” part of her job
I am a Finance Manager in a small‑medium company and have just passed my first year here. My colleague, the one handling AR, has been with the company for 4 years (our appraisal was in August) and has been doing the usual sales posting, recording payments, sending SOAs.
However, around the time of appraisal, I found out that she has NOT been chasing for payment that has been unpaid from 6 months to more than a year, some even up to 2 years overdue!! When I first caught wind of it, she initially said that she HAS been chasing them and taken action, but could not answer when I asked her, “why haven’t they been changed from term customers to COD then?”
I’m just wondering, isn’t it basic SOP that customers who keep piling debt should NOT be allowed to continue to have term payments with us? But no, she didn’t do so as “so and so will get mad at me” (she’s referring to her sales’ buddies who always pay for her lunch 2‑3 times a week, that’s another story).
I told her firmly that she had to take action and gave her examples on what to do. She managed to follow my steps for the debts that were within a year, like: ask the salesman to chase for the unpaid invoices, block the shipping function (prevent stock from going out) until the customer makes payment, send final payment reminder that we will change their 30‑days term to COD until payment has been received fully.
As for those that had been outstanding for more than a year, I asked her what we should do. She didn’t know and she argued that, “Our boss never asked me to chase to that extent so I just left it…”. I could feel my blood starting to boil.
Then she further added that for some, she didn’t know how to write beyond the final payment reminder as her English was not strong (English isn’t her first language). So, I told her to include me into the final payment emails and I’ll handle it from there. Thereafter she can manage those in the future once I came up with templates and steps. She agreed.
3 months passed with me doing non‑finance stuff by having to apply legal recourse online, going to state courts, OT‑ing just to read up on how to write affidavits, letter of authorisation for myself to represent the company, applying for a to‑z of legal forms before I can actually go to court and from those list of debtors that had unpaid invoices, I managed to collect the 70% value as of today. I was overjoyed and relieved and I updated my boss today on the progress and he was happy as well. He asked me questions on how I did it and I just simplified the process and told him what I did. Never once did I bring up that “my colleague didn’t do XYZ, so I had to take it on.” It was just a conversation of pure relief and joy that I had done something new & relatively foreign and had an unexpected positive outcome from it.
However, I caught her scowling at me as I sat back down at my desk after chatting with the boss about the successful debt collections, but I acted like I didn’t see it.
After being sat at my desk for about 10 minutes to control my happiness, I calmly told her that she could now take over the task as I would send her an SOP and the template emails as well as supporting documents for other debt collection customers – the balance 30 %… to which she replied, “Why can’t you just do it?? Why should I do this when I’ve never chased payment to this extent before?” I’ve never seen her lose her cool before because she’s really one of those pretty even‑tempered people in the office. I assured her she can still CC me when she sends these emails over just in case the customer becomes nasty.
I’m confused… if you were my colleague, would it feel like I was gloating or rubbing the successful debt collection in your face? Is there anything I can do to / should do / say to my colleague?
The Comment Buffet
Comment 1
As a former AR Rep, currently AP, I am embarrassed for this girl and the company.
Comment 2
Document her reluctance with an email. Later, she will ask why she didn't get the same raise as you, and your boss can send her a copy of the email where she says she doesn't want to do X because she's no good at it.
Comment 3
Your coworker just didn't want more work. The icing on the cake is they feel intimidated by the task. Now they feel embarrassed you could do it.
Comment 4
Every sentence of yours makes sense!! It’s so weird how when other people ask for advice, I can totally give it but I’m so blur and still kept awake by this sitch at work :/ it’s 3am nowwwww
Comment 5
She’s trying to pawn her work off on you and seems to have gotten annoyed that you did it successfully because she’s been telling her manager for years that it can’t be done.
TL;DR
Finance Manager accidentally turns into a debt‑collecting superhero, collects 70% of overdue invoices, and then tries to pass the cape to a colleague who thinks “hard work” is a mythical creature. The comments range from “I’m sorry you’re the one who paid the bills” to “Is this a prank?” and a 3‑am rant about blurred vision and late‑night work. Bottom line: The AR girl might need a new job title—“Chief Overdue Collector.”
Disclaimer: This article is purely for laughs. No real people were harmed in the making of this post.