"Be Quicker Of Mind Than Of Tongue"

That was my fortune cookie saying today at Panda Express. I needed that.

SO MUCH has happened and there are not enough hours in the day to write in a journal or blog about the things that happen to me, it's quite sad.

Work is great! Love my job, as usual, but I do have to say one week from today is April 15th and I CANNOT WAIT! Clients are getting pushier and more demanding. It amazes me to this day that people think by being rude, you will be helped faster. Think again. Our restroom is "Out of Order" and a client asked to use it and Cassie explained it wasn't working and she said loudly, "WELL, I'm going to be here for an HOUR and I have TO GO, so where do you expect me to do that?" And Cassie said, "There's a Fry's grocery store down the road." I laughed in my office by my lonesome self and it was HI-LARIOUS! But seriously, if you knew you had an appointment and just left the house for it and KNEW you were going to be there for quite some time, wouldn't you use your bathroom at home before leaving?! COMMON SENSE PEOPLE! I guess some people prefer public restrooms more than their own. Not me.

Cassie and I have seen it all...from Mom's changing a toddler's diaper on our office chairs, to an old man's fly wide open, to an older man going # 2 at the office and stinking the entire office to where I could smell it from MY OFFICE ROOM, to client's calling and asking if they can only pay our office $40 to prepare their return (HA HA HA HA!!!), to clients showing up WITHOUT an appointment and demanding to be seen, to clients calling and asking the receptionists to speak to their tax preparer to make an appointment!

BOY, I'LL TELL YA!!! WE'VE HAD SOME MAJOR LAUGHS THIS TAX SEASON!!

I often call my Mom and tell her about my day and the funny things that happen to me. Most the time I can tell she's really not listening, but this one story cracked her up real good, so I'll share...


My boss prepared a return for a client and they owed about 11K to the IRS. This was the first time the client had ever been to our office, so we thought it would be a courteous thing to do to call them up and explain their situation before they came to pick up their return.

My boss, of course, asked me to call the client. So I did. I explained to this client that in 2007 they had 12K of contributions and for 2008 they only reported $1,550, so it made a huge impact on their taxable income as their itemized deductions were extremely lower than last year. Our conversation went like this:

Client: "TWELVE THOUSAND DOLLARS?! DID YOU SAY $12,000??"

Lins: "Yes, sir."

Client: "My wife and I NEVER donate that much money. It's normally never above the $2,000 range!"

Lins: "I'm not sure who prepared your 2007 return, but it's very well possible that they added an extra zero and meant to type $1,200, not $12,000."

Client: "I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS!" (Keep in mind, he's not mad at me, he's just in shock)

Lins: "The other thing Roy wanted me to go over with you is that your Federal withholdings for 2007 were about 15K and for 2008 they were only 6K. It looks like maybe you or your spouse went exempt on your W-2, which causes the 11K balance due this year."

Client: "Yeah, I knew that was going to happen. I went exempt on my wages to pay some bills, so I knew we would owe quite a bit."

Lins: "OK, well I'm glad you understand. You might want to call the previous tax office and let them know about the error in reporting 12K worth of contributions on your 2007 tax return. The IRS may or may not catch it, but you may want to amend it."

Client: "OH YOU BETTER BELIEVE I'M GOING TO BE CALLING THEM! THEY ARE GOING TO FIX THIS! HOW CAN THEY PUT $12,000??? I'M GOING TO CALL THEM RIGHT AWAY!"

I look at page 2 of Form 1040 while he's telling me this and the words "SELF-PREPARED" are typed on the signature line!!! I WAS DYING!!!! I think he knew he prepared it and was trying to fool me by making it sound like it was another firm's fault!

OH TOO FUNNY!!!!

Back to work...