Cool. I'ma email her back and tell her I'm happy to talk directly to someone in Payroll/Accounting instead of making her the go-between (I mean, I feel like she SHOULD know about this, since she manages a staff of freelancers, but whatev).

Yeah, you should get some kind of form. I assume the AMA is not paying you under the table.

My apartment is adorable! A little studio furnished entirely be Ikea. I wish I had a plug converter, because I would just stay here all night. But then my phone would die, so I'd better go out at some point.

I assume the AMA is not paying you under the table.

I figure they're a little too big to get away with that. And I checked with a couple of other freelancers, and they received 1099s. So now I'm feeling like I'm invisible. I started pretty late in the year, so maybe I just slipped through the cracks. Odd.

I feel like a pain in the ass asking about it, though. I know that's ridiculous, that I need to follow up on these things and I'm not deliberately trying to cause more work for my boss, but I still feel like a pain.

I still feel like a pain.

Please don't. It's their responsibility to deal with you honestly (and legally), and if you imply it's just an oversight, I'm sure nobody's going to be bothered. If they are bothered, that's on them, not you.

Yeah, I'd definitely just get the boss to transfer you to payroll or whoever--they should know how to handle it, and then it'll be off boss' plate.

I still feel like a pain.

Please don't. It's their responsibility to deal with you honestly (and legally)

Oh, no, I get it. *I'm* not the one creating a problem; it's the Payroll department (or whoever) who created the problem. But since I'm the one calling it to their attention, I feel like I'm the one making waves. It's just a don't-rock-the-boat thing. But I'm following up on it.

Also, I'm not sure when you started working but if you didn't actually receive a check in 2013, then you won't get a 1099; I recently learned that, depending on the accounting system used, the obligation can be based on when you get paid, not when you did the work.

I recently learned that, depending on the accounting system used, the obligation can be based on when you get paid, not when you did the work.

I was just about to post that! I heard back from a Finance guy at the AMA a little bit ago. I started work halfway through November and was paid for November in December; that check was less than $600. My December invoice was paid in 2014, and their 1099s are for money paid within a calendar year, not money earned. So December is always on the following year's 1099. Since my total 2013 earnings were less than $600, they aren't required to issue a 1099, so that's why I didn't get one.

Other clients have always given me a 1099, even for amounts less than $600, but I guess if the AMA doesn't legally have do, then they don't.

Problem solved.

Am I the only person annoyed by the Thanks, Mom commercials on the Olympics? Didn't Dad do anything? There's another ad where you only see Dad supporting his daughter the figure skater. He's even the only one in the pictures. There have to be ads out there where both (heck, all) parents are supporting the kid. Or even an ad where the parents are doing something nice for the sibling who's a little resentful of all the work and attention the Olympic hopeful is getting.

I should have gone into advertising.

It's not about painting an accurate picture, Connie. It's about who buys the Procter & Gamble products for the household, which is still mostly women. They're appealing very directly to the women who will spend money on their laundry detergent and soap and whatever.

It doesn't make it less offensive, but I think most advertisements are slanted with money in mind and not much else.