Just had a client who apparently did not think that the Canada Revenue Agency tax forms were kosher enough. These are forms created by the government for a government procedure. If anyone knows the ins and outs of this shit, it is the government. It is their system. I think they know the legal mumbo-jumbo for it. Unless you do your own taxes, you will sign these forms anywhere that you go. That is just how it is. But she fancied herself some sort of special legal jockey, and did not like the terms, etc, etc.

Frustrating ignorant people.

And that is not even as bad as the client I had last week. The man got his taxes done with his wife, and when he was done, he informed me of how displeased he was. Now keep in mind, this tax preperation office is located in a Wal-Mart, at the back of the store. We are stashed in a corner, really. And he was disappointed that we did not have our own office, and that we weren’t detached from the hustle and bustle of the store. He thought it was very unprofessional, and saw fit to get angry at me because of it.

Well, excuse me. But you cannot go to a fast food place and complain that they do not serve steak. Similarly, you cannot come to a business like this and expect me to walk over to the fireplace and pull one of my leather-bound accounting books from the shelf to reference, while we all bask in the smell of potpouri and tobacco smoke. Perhaps he was enraged that I did not offer him a glass of brandy.

What was most humorous is that this man works for Maplesoft. If you do not know what they do, I’ll tell you. They create Maple - a mathematical program capable of doing everything you would ever want in math. So, somehow, this guy has a well-paid job at a company that designs an intensive mathematics program, but he cannot do his own taxes. And the irony is, the guy who did do his taxes (me) is a university student who uses the Maple program in his studies (and uses it poorly).

Talk about the blind leading the blind.