No, this is not going to be another steampunk based diary like a former Top Commenter wrote a couple of years ago. Rather it will just be me blowing off some steam.
Since we are approaching the end of another tax season, this would normally be a time for me to look forward to a few months of relaxation and travel. Unfortunately this will no longer be the case as my new business is fast approaching its starting date in a month or two. Thus I will need another outlet to relive stress. This will begin a series of rant based diaries that will pop up randomly from me as the need arises. Don’t worry, I will still write plenty of substance based diaries. I am planning another hockey diary at the end of the first round of the playoffs and a couple of diaries related to The Hole in the Wall Gang Camp are in the works. Today, I just want to complain.
Follow me down the Orange Hole of Despair to read my grievances for the first third of the year.
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Please come in. You're invited to make yourself at home! Join us beneath the doodle...
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The year looked like it was going to start off well. I did not have to make the annual NYE trip to Atlantic City instead I stayed home and had a party at the house. Plus I was being called in for jury duty during a time when no one would be able to file tax returns which meant no real work conflicts. The only negative was my beloved New York Islanders who were already essentially eliminated from playoff contention due to a few boneheaded moves from the GM over the summer and early in the season. I could list all the dumb things he did, but I’ll just shorten it: no help on defense or goaltending and re-signing the same idiot coach from the last three years. Oh yeah, here are the current standings. (Fun fact: should the Isles win their last two games, they will finish with exactly 79 points for the fourth time in 6 seasons {not counting the lockout season last year}).
This only started going downhill from there. First, we spent two months fighting with the landlord of our storefront to fix the leaky roof. This doesn’t count the 4 months last year they failed to fix the leaky roof or put up the HVAC units in a timely manner. Construction that was supposed to start in October did not begin in earnest until the last week of February. After some prodding from my mother, we found out the reason they waited so long was they didn’t think we were serious about opening a business. BULLSHIT! We had both an architect and a contractor who had been working with us for over a year getting ready to design and construct in a location which we spent 6 months negotiating over before being shutdown by a trio of moronic brothers who spent the entire negotiations lying to us that they wanted to lease their vacant commercial building. In addition, we had an SBA loan ready to go once a lease was signed. This doesn’t even take into consideration the money we had spent on items that were going to be in the store and a tasting party to try some strange and interesting candies we are thinking of having as inventory. Thankfully the construction process has started to speed up, but we start paying rent next month and had originally planned to be open by Valentine’s Day. So much for the landlord wanting us in there as quickly as possible.
There have been a number of grievances at work. First off, what was once a very reputable tax preparation firm has continued to try and bank despite the claims from up high that they want to sell off the bank. The supposed story was they were mandated to sell the bank due to regulatory issues but were unable to in off-season. Thus the company changed it core mission for us employees to focus on growing side revenues rather than focusing on preparing our existing and new clients return. Tax prep revenue growth was going to take a backseat to up-selling the bank’s products. Prior to becoming a tax preparer, I worked for a local bank. I hated it then, and I hate it now. When I first applied to work at my current employer, I never thought I’d see the day when a 50+ year old company would change its core mission away from when made it a world-wide name.
That wasn’t the only awful thing to happen to me at work this season. We got a new receptionist in our office this year after one of ours moved to North Carolina. (I tried to convince her not to go especially being a minority and a teacher, but she went. She regrets it now.) After a couple of weeks, I realized our new receptionist was a mouth-breathing, Drudge Report reading, right-winger. While most of my co-workers are either Rockefeller Republicans or center-left Democrats, I still try to avoid politics in the office. However, it is a tax office and that subject tends to lead to other politically laden topics. One day, he, the receptionist, and I were in the office together alone and the topic of his tax return came up. If I remember correctly, he was bitching about owing tax this year due to some taxable inheritance. The conversation devolved from there as the topics went from tax rates and upward mobility vis-à-vis Europe and poverty in America. It followed the normal pattern of the mouth-breathers, once I had completely debunked any of the RWNM talking points, he would abruptly shift the focus to something else. I finally had enough when he said a yearly income of $25,000 for a family of four being poverty level was invented by the government and that he doesn’t believe there are poor or hungry people in America because he cannot see any. Somehow he was blind to the fact that at least 20% of the clients that come into our office make less than $30,000. HE also once said how jealous he was that the mayor, who lived down the street, has a bigger boat than he does. It may be wrong, but I secretly was a little happy when he had to stop working after his wife had taken ill.
Apparently I had a lot more to say about these three things than I thought, so we will leave it here for tonight. Doesn't mean there wasn't a bunch more that annoyed me so far this year including a different co-worker who refuses to be a team player. If there's anything pissing you off, talk about down below.
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And now for something completely different:
TOP COMMENTS
April 11, 2014
Thanks to tonight's Top Comments contributors! Let us hear from YOU
when you find that proficient comment.
From Dave in Northridge:
librarisinginsf comes up with a perfect destination for Porno Pete LaBarbera in Steveningen's diary about Porno Pete's expulsion from Canada for hate speech.
From Steven D:
This comment from HoundDog about the NSA's lack of concern for Americans.
From your PO'd diarist:
This comment from commonmass may or may not be snark, but it is hilarious. Posted in Steve Singiser's diary: "Louisiana's 'kissing congressman' exposes rank hypocrisy by the party that protected David Vitter."
Dartagnan tells us why Miami-Dade County is no longer allowing bathroom breaks to people standing in line to vote.
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TOP PHOTOS
April 10, 2014
Enjoy jotter's wonderful PictureQuilt™ below. Just click on the picture and it will magically take you to the comment that features that photo. Have fun, Kossacks!
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