The Adventures Of Debit & Credit - Chapter - 2 - Meeting Income and Expense

 In case you haven't read Chapter - 1 - Let us go to Finance! yet, click here to read it first!

Chapter - 2 - Meeting Income and Expense

Debit and Credit listened to it all, with wide-starry eyes, this was mind-blowing stuff. Like legit, amazing! The stock market was an amazing concept. A billion-dollar company with an amazing foundation.

The first half of the induction flew by in a jiffy. It was fun and interesting and soon it was time for lunch and the meet and greet, where you would be meeting your coworkers. 

Lunch was great (That is pretty much the highlight of office life) and then it was time for the meet and greet. Now, meet and greet is a big deal. Even if your work sucks, but if the people around you are great, you will still get by. So it mattered a lot and they did want to get along well with their colleagues. So, very obediently, Debit and Credit, sat in the waiting area, waiting for their colleagues to show up. It seemed that pretty much everyone had found their buddies and they were the only ones waiting. Well, punctuality is a scam. As they idled away on their phones, two guys, one all bright and flashy and another all sober and quiet approached them. 

“Umm, hey, so Debit and Credit huh, guess what! You are going to be working with us now!” the bright guy exclaimed with a bright smile. 

“I am Income, and this boring guy here, this is Expense.”

“I am not boring,” said the boring guy with a bored expression, “Life is just full of expenditures, you can’t blame me for that. Anyways let’s show you both around.”

“So,” Debit started, “How is it working here?”

“Fun!” Income exclaimed.

“Not so fun.” Expense deadpanned. 

Credit could hear Debit internally groaning, it was going to be tough to get along.  Because Income seemed like a fun guy, like that one friend who always brought good times with him. That one friend who was always positive. Income was like that guy. Where there was Income, there was life. On the other hand, Expense was a broad and hulking guy compared to the energetic and agile income. Expense was like that one friend who was all quiet and somber and had a sense of melancholy within him. But he was always there, it was just difficult to miss him as he always made his presence known with his stature. It was like, even though you might not have the company of Income in life, but you will always have the company of Expense. 

“Oh, come on, now, tell us about yourselves, I mean I heard you guys are from the planet of Accounting! How is it there? Not to stereotype, but I have heard people there are a bunch of perfectionists and bores.” Income enquired.

“People from Accounting aren’t boring…” Debit started, taking it upon himself to defend his pride. 

“Actually, Accountants are really preferred by women. They are even called relationship material.” Expense informed, stating facts as usual.

“What?” Debit and Credit exclaimed, with a shocked expression on their faces. Now that was news!

“No way…” Income muttered. 

“Hear me out, I read it in an online survey. Women love the guys from Accounting considering you guys have an eye for detail. Women love that! You know the kind, Oh, honey! You noticed that I changed my earrings, that is so sweet of you!”

“Seriously?!” Income groaned.

“How come we are still single then?” Credit asked, rolling his eyes. 

“I am so going to tell everyone that I am from the planet of Accounting now,” Debit smirked, “But, okay setting that aside, accountants are fun people, we are the happy-go-lucky kind, we take life, one entry at a time!”

“That was not funny at all, though now you will have to take one valuation at a time, considering you work in the valuations department!”

And that is how the entire afternoon went, Income went on and on, Expense gave his invaluable inputs at appropriate times. Both Income and Expense had assured Debit and Credit to not stress much. The workload would be manageable (Yeah, that was a joke), their boss Mr. Mask, was also great, and it would all be fine and dandy. 

The day went by and then they bid their goodbye and headed to complete their HR procedures. By the time the day ended, Debit and Credit were exhausted but excited for the next day.

Work was interesting. The next day, they were pouring over annual statements prepared by the companies which were listed on The Stock Market & Co. These companies had to send in their statements, how much they earnt, and how much they spent and what was the net money earned. How many things they owned and what was owed to them and what they owed to others.  The reason for going over them is that the prices of items listed on the market were dependent on these statements and companies really tried hard to rig them. Presenting a rosy picture when there wasn’t any. It was called window-dressing. 

The work was good, life was good. However, just like when you go on a vacation to a place, you only see the good, but it is when you start living there, you start to see the bad parts of it. The first 3 months were great for Debit and Credit, it was after that the things became more noticeable, the faults and the hidden cracks.  

The thing about Finance was that it was a free society, however, it was deeply rooted in capitalism which had its pros and cons. It was heaven for some, but it was also hell for many. The earning divide was huge. The poor worked and worked, the rich earnt and earnt. It was called polarization.  Debit and Credit had only been to the nicer parts and worked with nicer people, enjoyed the freedom of Finance to do whatever they wanted, and in that, they had turned a blind eye to everything else. No system was perfect, but the glitter of the glamour was blinding. However, they were soon going to be forced to open their eyes to it and Debit and Credit were going to discover things that they weren’t going to like that much. And it happened in the most spectacular fashion when the biggest data leak of the century broke out exposing the ugliest side of things. 

--

Sooo…. What happens now? Well, this story is going to get a bit darker. And Debit and Credit are going to not like their Finance World that much. 

Well, I hope you enjoyed Chapter-2 of the Adventures of Debit and Credit! 

Thank you guys for your great response to Chapter-1! 

Please share this story with your friends and peers, the people you know who are doing finance or accounting! 

Please subscribe to my blog to get updated when I post Chapter-3 of this story. In case you aren’t getting the emails, please let me know! Also, after subscription, you have will get an activation link on your email, you need to confirm there.  

Also come say hi to me on Twitter! I love to talk to people! And I will regularly post updates there, so do follow me!

This is going to be story series! Please let me know your thoughts in the comments below! All reviews, both positive and negative are welcome as it helps me improve and also motivates me to write! 

Take care, stay safe and stay tuned for the next chapter!'

Edit - Link for Chapter -3 - The Leak