My Sick Mind

I'm not sure what has happened to customer service. I think it's floating out there in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Two recent incidences make me think that the old ways of doing things are fast falling by the wayside. I'm also not sure what has happened to telephones. It seems as though the "phone" function is an afterthought, and that they are for web browsing, text messaging and running applications. Using it to actually speak to someone is a nice ancillary benefit. I filed my Federal income taxes last night. They make it sound like the e-filing process is the easy way to do it. It is, to a point. To the point that you need to finish it, that is. Just before I hit the "click here to send" button, I was told that I needed a PIN to file the forms with the IRS. They don't tell me what the PIN means or what its significance is, just that I need it. When the IRS tells you that you need something, you tend to believe them because the...

Or rather, I've got ... um ... I have mail. This e-mail missive came allegedly from our Internal Revenue Service today: Dear Taxpayer, After the last annual calculations of your fiscal activity we have determined that you are eligible to receive a tax refund of $493.50. Please submit the tax refund request and allow us 6-9 days in order to process it. A refund can be delayed for a variety of reasons. For example submitting invalid records or applying after the deadline. To access your tax refund, use the form attached to this email. Regards, Internal Revenue Service Dear Taxpayer? What's my name? There was a "form" attached that I was supposed to access. I was supposed to download something, to which my response is: Download this . I knew it was phony for a number of reasons, not the least of which was the "regards" at the end and the bad punctuation. The IRS isn't concerned with my regard and they have no interest in regarding me as anything other ...

OK, so the pressure is off. I've filed my income taxes. I guess I'm supposed to be relieved, but I find myself feeling like I've been put through undue stress. Mostly because I feel like the federal income tax system is a burden on people - regular people, not people - and needs to be abolished . Why is it that the most feared day on the calendar is April 15? It's feared because we are told that if we don't have our taxes filed by then, our lives are in danger and the giant Internal Revenue Service will come crashing down on our lives like that big Monty Python foot. Get your taxes done. It's such a big deal that the local news stations will have people lurking at the big post offices on Tuesday night letting us in on the big rush to the mail box so that we get our returns in before the federal government fines us for being late. It's a billion-dollar a year business. I use Turbo Tax, but many people use the strip-mall tax preparers and pay for the insta...