An Embarrassing Experience Working From Home Online

So, I've been making a decent amount of money working from home online ever since I signed up with My Data Team at the end of February.  But I did have a pretty embarrassing experience last week which I thought I'd share.  So far, I've been making the bulk of my money from Traditional Data Entry, which is typing out audio files exactly as you hear them.  You can read more about it here if you're interested.  Anyway, I got hired by this company through My Data Team's web site and when they hired me, I received specific instructions on how to get paid.  Whenever I finish a transcription job, I email the company an invoice which shows the work I've completed; then they mail me a check.  Well, the most recent payment I received came in the form of a money order.  I'm not one to lose money (which was for $215.88)!  Here's what happened.

This is a typical invoice I send to the
company in order to get paid

When the money order arrived in the mail, I called Chase to ask if I could deposit it into my iPhone.  That's what I usually do with checks.  Well, the bank teller told me I could deposit a money order into my phone just like a check.  So, I tried doing that, and up popped an error message telling me I had to take it to a bank to deposit it.  This was the first time Chase gave me incorrect information over the phone btw.  

So, I headed out to Trader Joe's to get some groceries; of course I brought this money order with me because I planned on depositing it on my way back home.  It was after 6pm though and I didn't realize Chase closed so early, so I decided to deposit the money order the next day.  I put the groceries away and went on with the rest of my evening.  

The next day, I went into the kitchen to grab the money order and it was GONE!  I remember bringing it back into my house and setting it on my kitchen table so I wouldn't forget to deposit it the following day.  I searched EVERYWHERE for it!  When I couldn't find it in the kitchen or anywhere else in my house, I started going through my garbage, which is just plain old nasty!  But if you lost $218, you'd search your garbage too.  Well, I found nothing.  I did research online and realized that money orders can't just be replaced or voided out like checks can be.  After going nuts for a full day, I called this transcription company, and I told the lady that I had no idea what happened with the money order.  I swore I had it with me but it apparently just disappeared.  She said she would head to the post office the following morning to take care of it, which I guarantee you is a pain for her to do; she's already incredibly busy as it is, so I felt really bad about this.

So, the following day, she let me know that the post office was doing an investigation and they wouldn't be able to give her any more information for another 4 - 6 weeks.  She also said she would pay the post office fee (which made me feel even worse).  I guess there's a fee for them to investigate a lost money order.  Then I remembered I did take a picture of it in my phone when I still had it and I called Chase to ask if it's possible for them to just use the information from the money order picture to still deposit the money.  I figured a money order is just paper, right?  The information on it is more important than the paper itself.  Anyway, they said there was nothing they could do without the physical money order in hand.  Maybe that was a stupid phone call anyway, but it was worth a shot.  

So, it was at that moment that I gave up on it, and realized my $218.88 is gone.  That evening, I went into my kitchen to make a pizza (from scratch - I love to cook :-)).  As I opened the refrigerator drawer to get cheese out, I saw something shiny at the bottom of it, beneath the food.  Guess what it was?  The money order was at the bottom of the drawer sitting with the shredded cheese!  

I was SO happy to have found it, but now I felt even more like a dumb ass, because I had to email the lady at the transcription company back to let her know I found the money order in my refrigerator.  Who finds lost money in a refrigerator?  I'm sure at that point, she just assumed I was crazy.  In the end, I was able to take it to the bank, and deposit it.  End of story!

So, that's my first crazy experience working from home online through My Data Team.  I'm hoping the lady who hired me forgets this whole situation and realizes I'm a good guy who just happened have some random misfortune.