Paying Attention

I had a very interesting experience at work last week that showed how paying attention to details can pay off in a big way.

As many of you (but not everyone) may know, last March my group at work left our old company to join a new company because the old company was going under financially. When our group joined the old company, they sold 3 paintings they had commissioned years before to the company as part of the deal. When we made the move, they had to leave these paintings behind because they belonged to the old company instead of the directors. Ever since, they had been trying to buy them back with no success.

One of my coworkers and I were using the freight elevator last week and I noticed the janitor was taking a couple of boxes to be disposed of at the same time. The label on one of boxes was very familiar; I recognized it from the old company. As I found out, the builing had just taken possession of the offices of the old company and was finally cleaning it out so they could re-lease it. I spoke with the building management and after verifying the paintings were the ones my directors were trying to get back, we decided to try again to get them.

We were successful and the paintings are back in my director's possession. All because I was paying attention at just the right moment and put the details together. It's something I've developed as a forensic accountant; you never know what small detail can make all the difference.

On a side note, one of the paintings looked extrememly familiar. I found out why. My mom gave Linds and I a puzzle depicting the Santa Monica pier in a "Where's Waldo?" style. We put together this puzzle one evening, modge-podged it and it's hanging up in our kitchen. The puzzle was taken from an original painting (and is the picture at the top of this post). The original painting is one of the 3 paintings we recovered. Small world!