Best (Worst?) Business Practices

Recently I contacted my McHenry County Board representative to ask why the County issues checks with first and last names reversed. I earn a small stipend from an agency associated with the Mental Health Board, and I had noticed that my checks were made out to Philpott Gus.

My initial belief was that either there was a programming error in the County's computer checkwriting department or there was a data entry problem at the agency level.

When I asked at the agency level, I got no response. I don't particularly care for being shunned at any level, so I asked my County Board member to look into it. She did and promptly got back to me and told me the problem was corrected. And, sure enough, I started receiving checks payable to Gus Philpott.

Man, I'm powerful; right? Just point out a problem, ask for help, and the problem gets fixed. Right? Wrong!

Others who receive the same stipend still receive checks payable to, for example, Doe John. At least, as of yesterday, 2-3 months after "my" error was fixed.

What happened was the system or data entry problem was not fixed; only an adjustment was made to my check.

Surely, someone - somewhere - in County government is responsible for seeing that things are done right, especially when problems are identified. And for seeing things that are wrong and fixing them, without a resident's input. I am frequently reminded of the saying, "If you don't have time to do it right the first time, you certainly don't have time to do it over."

In McHenry County, that saying should probably be amended to "... to do it over and over and over."