Making Tax Taxing

(As a theme park we often hire teenagers during the summer. For many of them this is their first job. This can make some of the paperwork challenging, particularly tax forms. Many times this conversation has taken place, with few variations.)

Me: “Okay, this is the tax form. You need to fill out the number of allowances you want to claim here.”

Employee: “I don’t know. I’ve never done this before. What should I put?”

Me: “Well, I can’t really tell you what to write, since I’m not a tax consultant. But you can follow the instructions on the worksheet here, or if you like, you can take it home and ask your parents what they think you should do.”

Employee: “Okay. I guess I’ll ask them, then.”

Me: “Okay. Just make sure to get an answer from them, because we can’t tell you how to fill it in here.”

(When they return:)

Me: “I see you still didn’t finish filling in your tax form. Did you ask your parents what you should do?”

Employee: “Yeah. They told me to just ask you what to put.”

Me: “…”