Can I have my change, please?

I don't like to owe people money. Which is why I rarely borrow money. But what happens when friends pay for each other, when they dine out, or 'grab me a soda', or one girl covers the cost and the rest pay her back? Is everything accounted for?

Let's try a riddle:

Three guests check into a hotel room. The clerk says the bill is $30, so each guest pays $10. Later the clerk realizes the bill should only be $25. To rectify this, he gives the bellhop $5 to return to the guests. On the way to the room, the bellhop realizes that he cannot divide the money equally. As the guests didn't know the total of the revised bill, the bellhop decides to just give each guest $1 and keep $2 for himself.

Now that each of the guests has been given $1 back, each has paid $9, bringing the total paid to $27. The bellhop has $2. If the guests originally handed over $30, what happened to the remaining $1?

(Read the in-depth solution here)

I am pretty good with numbers. People have suggested that I become an accountant. But I equate accounting with 'boooooring'. I was always good at math. I can add numbers in my head pretty quickly.

During one of my summer jobs, one of my responsibilities included keeping track of all the money coming in. I kept an excel table, and put all the numbers in carefully, and calculated it. It didn't add up. I kept trying, and the numbers just weren't adding up. There was an error somewhere, and it was killing me. My employer told me, let is go, it's not a big deal if it is a little off. But I couldn't let it go. So I kept at it until I finally figured out the miscalculation and corrected it.

Should one wait until they are being audited by the IRS to get all their taxes in order? That would be completely foolish. Which is why we must always be careful with money, know what we have, what we are bringing in, what we are spending it on. Sometimes I think it would be worth it to have a personal accountant, to take the headache off of me.

Spending money on other people is not a big deal if they are a close friend. So I buy a drink for myself and grab one for my friend too. There is no need for her to pay me back, the money disappears into a void and never gets accounted for. Or if we are going somewhere together and one girl covers the subway fare. It is petty cash, it goes no where. Only big denominations are noticed, such as if you take a trip together and one girl puts the expense on her credit card and the others pay her back.

In life, spiritually, G-d accounts for everything. He is not your close friend. He is not the IRS. He is the creator of the world, and there is no 'petty cash' to Him. He knows every little thing that goes on. Comes Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, and it is time for the accounting. And you do not have an accountant. Or a lawyer. It is just you and Him.

What will you say? Will you be ready to stand and face Hashem and explain to him every little thing that you did, where you erred, where you neglected, where you brush aside and said 'no big deal'?

We have to be prepared in all of our accounts. We have to own up to everything and be honest. No secrets. No hiding.

Hashem may not be out friend, but He is our father, and He loves us. Will He understand the 'petty cash'? The little things that you overlook because they are such small indiscretions?

We hope that He will erase our account, and that we can start off next year with a clean slate.

It's that time of year again. Rosh Hashana is fast approaching. It is time to prepare and make sure that you did all you can so that when you stand before Hashem, you know what to say.

(To my friends, this is not a request for you to pay me back, don't worry.)