I really hate it when clients or potential clients just give me whatever answer they think will have their issue seen to the fastest instead of listening to me and responding to what I’m asking.

Today, I have three clients come in around the same time: a scheduled client, an expected walk-in, and an unexpected walk-in.

First, I go up front and call for [Scheduled Client]. The unexpected walk-in stands up and walks back with me to my desk. I almost start doing [Scheduled Clients] tax return in front of her before she tells me I’m opening a file with the wrong name, and I figure out she’s not scheduled. I send her back to the front.

I pull back [Scheduled Client] and do her taxes. I go back to the front. I THINK that this unexpected walk-in might be my expected walk-in, so I ask:

Me: “Are you the person I spoke with yesterday about the amendment?”

Walk-In Client: “Yep!”

Me: “You were with [Other Tax Pro] and she misunderstood you. You called me in the [Other Office Location] and I fixed it. I’ve not yet had time to print it up in this location, but I can do it now.”

Walk-In Client: “Yep!”

I have a bad feeling.

Me: “…Can you tell me a little about the situation?”

Walk-In Client: “You’ve just got to print it up for me!”

Me: “And… it’s an amendment?”

Walk-In Client: “Yup!”

Me: “…okay.”

I go back with her and look through [Expected Walk-In]’s stuff. We determine pretty quickly that the names don’t match, but this time I expect it a bit more.

Me: “…Look. How about you tell me what this is about in your own words?”

Walk-In Client: “My M1PR needs to be amended or something.”

The M1PR is a Minnesota state tax form for requesting a property tax refund.

Me: “Did you have an income change?”

Walk-In Client: “No.”

Me: “Did we miss a rent file?”

Walk-In Client: “No, but something went wrong, and it needs to be amended.”

Me: “What went wrong?”

Walk-In Client: “It didn’t get filed.”

Me: “…That doesn’t require an amendment. Can you give me your information, please?”

I check in the system, and for various reasons, her M1PR can’t be e-filed.

I remember her at this point. She was previously upset that her M1PR couldn’t be e-filed, so I offered her half off on her filing and made sure it was all set up for her to paper file.

I explain this to her.

Walk-In Client: “You never told me it had to be paper filed.”

Me: “If I didn’t give you that information, why did you get this manual discount that says in the notes, ‘For having to paper file’?”

Walk-In Client: “Well, you didn’t tell me clearly enough.”

I roll my eyes, print and prep her M1PR for paper filing, and hand it to her.

Walk-In Client: “Now wait a moment.”

Me: “What?”

Walk-In Client: “I want a full refund for the inconvenience, the attitude you’re giving me, and the fact that I had to paper file.”

Me: “No.”

Walk-In Client: “I’ll never come here again!”

I thought, “Please don’t come here again!”

Instead, I directed her to my manager to handle. I didn’t bother to pay attention to the result because [Expected Walk-in] finally arrived and I had my hands full.

Related:
Taxing Taxing, Part 21
Taxing Taxing, Part 20
Taxing Taxing, Part 19
Taxing Taxing, Part 18
Taxing Taxing, Part 17

At work, we have a communal jar of peanut butter, a communal jar of jam, some communal fruit and yogurt, and a communal loaf of bread. We each take turns refilling these things as they run empty; there’s a rotation on the board.

I make myself a peanut butter sandwich with the bread. It tastes off.

Me: “Hey, [Coworker], does this bread seem off to you?”

He smells it.

Coworker: “Yeah. It smells kinda like mouse.”

I picked up the bag of bread to inspect it more closely and discovered a mouse hole chewed in the rear of the bag. I removed a couple of slices of bread and found a mouse and several mouselings nesting in the middle of the loaf of bread.

In a very manly fashion, I screamed and threw the bread. I don’t know what happened to the mouse or her pinkies. Subsequent investigation showed that several of the fruits had been nibbled, and a hole had been chewed into the side of the (plastic) peanut butter jar.

We hired an exterminator, and afterward, management changed the policy: no food in the breakroom pantry overnight.

I work in a tax accountant office. Around 10:00 am on Sunday, I had two clients come in to do their M1PR, a rebate of your rental fees through the state of Minnesota.

They were physically disabled and in power wheelchairs with oxygen apparently built in; they both had cannulas. One of them was legally blind, and the other was hard of hearing. They were a married couple. They were brought to my office in the mall by the paratransit buses. They weren’t very mentally present, but we did our best to accommodate them.

We asked if they had cell phones as part of the tax process, and they said they did not.

I did their M1PRs and sent them on their merry way. Supposedly, their pick-up was at noon. Their pick-up bus did not arrive. They puttered around the mall for a while waiting for pickup until 2:00 pm.

Around that time, we figured something was wrong, and after some discussion, we tried to call the paratransit organization. They were closed for the weekends and not taking any calls.

Next, we called mall security to let them know about the problem. Mall security sent someone to check up on the couple but said they couldn’t do anything except not throw them out when the mall closed at 5:00 pm.

At this point, it was about 4:00 pm, an hour before the mall closed. The two customer’s wheelchairs were making distressing “low battery” beeping noises. We called 911 on their behalf. The police didn’t show up until 5:00. The police officer was very upset about the inability to get in touch with the paratransit people and said she was going to send someone over to the paratransit headquarters to physically speak with dispatch.

The medical personnel came next but said that they were not permitted to transport the clients in the ambulance unless they were taking the clients to a medical facility, so the only thing they could do was remain on site and make sure that the clients didn’t choke to death by checking on the oxygen tanks. 

They said they could take the clients to the hospital if something went wrong with the oxygen tanks, of course.

At 6:00 pm, the wheelchairs fully ran out of power. Some investigation revealed that they needed proprietary charging devices which were back at the clients’ house. The clients no longer had any mobility at all. I stayed late with the police officer, the mall security officer, and the medical personnel to keep an eye on the situation. At this point, the clients were waiting in our office instead of in the mall proper.

At 7:00 pm, the police officer told us that a paratransit vehicle was on the way and that the company would be fined for forgetting about the client.

At 8:00 pm, the paratransit vehicle arrived, but the driver of the vehicle didn’t bring the equipment to load unpowered wheelchairs and refused to load the wheelchairs without power. The police officer really laid into the driver, and she and the security guy offered to help carry the wheelchairs into the vehicle, but the paratransit guy refused to touch the wheelchairs until they were charged. 

The police officer made a run to the client’s apartment to bring back the charger andd told the paratransit driver not to go anywhere.

At 8:15 pm, five minutes after the police officer left, the paratransit driver went somewhere.

At 9:00 pm, the police officer returned with the chargers, and we started charging the client’s wheelchairs. The police officer radioed headquarters and told dispatch to send another officer to the paratransit headquarters.

At 11:00 pm, the paratransit driver arrived on site again and got into a shouting match with the police officer.

At 11:30 pm, the clients were loaded onto the vehicle to go home.

At 12:00 am, midnight, I finished the closing procedure, clocked out, and went home.

Minnesota is offering a special payment based on your 2021 taxes of $260 per person. For some reason, the checks are being processed by a company in Montana and are being mailed out from Montana. It’s all over the news.

A client comes in with a check for $260 from Montana.

Client: “Why is Montana sending me a check and claiming it’s from Minnesota?”

I explain it to her.

Client: “I don’t believe you. This is some sort of scam, isn’t it?”

Me: “Well, I don’t see how.”

Client: “As soon as I cash the check, they’re going to empty my bank account, aren’t they?”

Me: “I’m not sure how that’s possible.”

Client: “There’s no way my check from that a**hole [Governor Of Minnesota] could come from Montana. This isn’t my [Governor] check.”

Me: “That is your [Governor] check. It looks just like all the other ones I’ve seen.”

Client: “You’re in on the scam. How much are they paying you?”

Me: “The only people paying me are [Tax Company], I promise.”

Client: “How much are they paying [Tax Company], then?”

Me: “Look… How about you take the check to your banker, and let them explain it to you, and if you still feel uncomfortable about it, you can just shred your check?”

Client: “But will I get my [Governor] check for $260?”

Me: “Not if you shred it.”

Client: “But I want my $260.”

Me: “So cash the check.”

Client: “But it’s a fraudulent check.”

Me: *Pauses* “I think I just heard my next appointment come in. I’m afraid we’re out of time for today. Have a nice day.”

My next appointment had not come in, but I was done dealing with this person. She left, promising to talk to her banker.

I work for a customer assistance call center. Customers call in with questions, and we call back with answers.

I had one client who, somehow, kept getting put on my schedule to call back, and her question had nothing to do with our company. I told her three times that we only help with matters related to our products. Finally, I asked her to stop calling and wasting our time.

She showed up on my schedule again, and I simply skipped her and called the next. This happened a few times. I did eventually learn why she gravitated to me: a few coworkers of mine had conspired to get her switched to my schedule as a “prank”.

A manager came to me with concerns and said that I should be calling the client back to answer, even though it was a waste of time. So, I called the number listed… and a fax machine screamed very loudly into my ear at the other end. It hurt.

I grabbed the manager and demonstrated that the client’s listed number was now linked to a fax machine. I also requested a medical day off due to ear pain from this event.

The manager was quite upset to learn about this prank. When I got back to the office, he told me that he had tracked down the client’s original number and called her up to let her know, in no uncertain terms, that if she ever played a fax machine prank like that, he would press charges.

(He had the police swing around to her house to talk to her, as well, but the police said a single time wasn’t enough to prove intent to harm.)

He also instructed the office to simply cancel any call-back appointments in the client’s name if she called in again.

She’s the first — and so far only — person that we’ve banned from service.

My coworkers who were attempting to prank me by repeatedly putting her into my queue were written up by Human Resources. I was also interviewed by HR as they were worried that the workplace was toxic for me due to this “prank”.