Tax Season '13, So far so good

Almost there, almost there... I can almost add another notch to my info desk tax season veterancy status.  When I was working circ, I could always point disgruntled tax-paying patrons to the info desk, not anymore.  Thankfully, I don't have to listen to/get bitched at about "Why aren't the tax forms here yet!?!?" (Thanks Obama! I kid, I kid).

I would consider this the halfway point through the tax season.  There's always a steady stream of slackers who come in past the filing date looking for forms, heaven forbid we should ever run out of 1040's by May 1st.

Tax Season @ The Library = HELL

Tax season is the worst, I consider it right up there with election season.  But I know who at the library does love it, library management.  They are not the ones on the front lines fielding nonstop questions, which some can be considered to be borderline aggressive interrogations: "Do you have any tax forms?" "Why don't you have any?" "What's taking so long?" "Well, do you know when they're coming in?" "Why not??"

Management gets to avoid all the annoying once a year patrons while watching their PRECIOUS door count statistics go up.  I'm okay with dealing with these patrons, most of the time.  It's the self-righteous ones who pull the, "I'm a tax-paying citizen" card and get all up-in-arms when they don't get what they want.  The minute I see them turn, I do an internal eye-roll and tell myself, "here we go again."

I can manage to deflect their misguided anger by either agreeing with them: "Yeah, tell me about it, it's ridiculous!"  Or I give them the option to actually bitch to/at the right person: "Would you like me to find you the contact information for the IRS?"  And that shuts down their attack because they never call my bluff to actually take the time to contact the right department.  It is just too easy for them to take it out on the lowly library worker who tells them there aren't any forms and quite honestly, they don't pay me enough for that.

The Oblivious Patron says Library Fines Should be Tax Deductible...

A few years ago, while working the circ desk around this season, a patron came in to pay their late fees.  It was in the double digits but nothing too serious.  After she huffed, puffed, and paid, she rhetorically told me and my friend, who was working the desk with me, "Why aren't library fines tax deductible?  They should be." 

Even though it was a slow night, I really fought hard to not feed the troll, and just told her, "That's the way it is."  Apparently, this left her unsatisfied so she turned to my coworker/friend and asked again, "Why not?"  My friend, who had taken some MLIS courses at this time, gave her the textbook response of, "Well, we are not tax experts so we cannot answer that question."  The patron replied, "Well, I am a tax expert and I think they should be."

Well, la-dee-da Miss Fancy Pants CPA over here.  Not sure where she got her credentials from, but I'm pretty sure anyone who has gone through any sort of training or received any level of education would grasp the basic fundamentals of penalties/fees/fines and why they are in place.

I would not be surprised if this patron has asked this same sort of question to the police officer who ticketed her for speeding in a school zone.

You want your tax forms, here's your stinkin' tax forms!

Right when I make my last post about the day being uneventful I answer the delivery door to this.
Looks like someone went order-happy when it came to tax forms this year.  What a waste of paper...