John Grisham Taught Me Everything I Know - About Accounting

Back in the mid-1970s, I attended Mississippi State University where I excelled at all things social life and drank a lot of beer. During that somewhat blurry period of my youth, I was required to take an entry-level Accounting class, one that happened to be taught by a guy by the name of John Grisham. Now everyone's familiar with the fact John eventually graduated with a Law degree from the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss) in Oxford. However, prior to that, he attended MSU where I assume he majored in Accounting since he was teaching a class there. I'm not 100% clear as to whether he was an undergrad or graduate student at the time, only that he taught my class.

Back then (maybe still) in order to buy beer, residents of Starkville (where MSU is located) were required to drive ten miles to the county line (maybe one of the worst ideas ever) where a couple of very basic joints were set up to cater to the needs of thirsty students. I would see John there occasionally and remember that he was a member of one of the fraternities (Sigma Chi as I recall). I was a Kappa Sig. We knew each other primarily through the class and I remember him as being a very nice guy.

On my final exam for his class, I decided to use an early version of a recently introduced device known as a calculator. Back then these new contraptions were very basic and mine was probably one of the simplest available to the general public as my school-teacher mother had won it as a prize by clipping the coupons from all her students' Weekly Readers and mailing them in. I remember the buttons for the various numbers and functions had a tendency to stick and the red display would sometimes begin to blink like lights on a pinball machine. I had never used it prior to the test.

Armed with some of the most advanced technology on the planet at the time, I was feeling pretty confident about the final exam; so confident that after finishing I opted to wait around while John checked the twenty-five or so problems I'd submitted. I took a seat back at my desk while others around me continued the test, watching closely as he zeroed in on my paper. I knew all I had to do was set the problems up correctly and that the magic calculator would handle the rest. But to my horror, I could see John's hand moving way too much, his pen forming what appeared to be multiple circles.

As it turned out, my Weekly Reader calculator with the sticky buttons had a reliability issue. This may have been my first experience with the limitations of new technology. Nearly all the problems had the wrong answers. However, John being the logical and good-hearted guy he was (and probably still is) gave me a perfect score, based on the fact I'd set up the problems correctly which was the main purpose of the course anyway. At the bottom, he wrote, "You add funny!" I'll never forget that and sure wish I'd kept that paper.

Of course, John eventually found something a bit more lucrative than teaching Freshman Accounting or practicing Law. And over the years as I've thought back on that event, I remind myself how all that success John Grisham would experience in the decades to come couldn't have happened to a nicer guy.....