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Saddle up, Cowboy!
Oct. 5th, 2009 02:43 pmMy lack of empathy, sympathy and ability to make small talk is somewhat balanced by my pragmatism and ability to deal with whatever’s thrown at me. Which I have in excess. I still remain proud of a compliment paid to me by a visual merchandiser who worked at Cookware Store, traveling around the region, setting up seasonal displays. She said, after a pretty profound series of disasters – slicing my knuckle cap off while unloading an entire truck because my warehouse guy called in sick, dealing with phone issues, the wood floor in the store bubbling up like giant pop-ups, and the lovely self-important, neurotic and narcissistic customers that an overpriced cookware store will attract, “Wow, all of the other managers in the region are totally stressed out, dealing with the holiday season, freaking out, running around…and you’re just so calm and mellow.” To which I replied “Believe me, if I thought that screaming and running around pulling out my hair would fix anything, I’d be hoarse, bald and there would be divots in the wall from me throwing myself against it. But it doesn’t, so I might as well roll my eyes and just press on.” My motto, a bon mot from Winston Churchll: If you’re going through Hell…just keep going.
Which has always served me well, as a philosophy. But lately, whew. Been dealing for months with the IRS, who cannot be convinced that my ex-husband and I filed joint returns several years ago, when we were still married. Wait, no they CAN be convinced...and then four months later, for some reason, despite copies of the joint returns, where his name and SS clearly appear, despite assuring me that “oh, okay, we’ll take care of that”…somehow they then become unconvinced and send him one of those “We’re going to eat your children, your job, your sanity if you don’t pay us the gigathousands you owe us” letters. But of course, since they don’t believe that he’s on the return that I filed for us, they won’t open up my file for him, so he has to turn to me for help, so I have to call and say “Okay, look on the far lefthand side of the return, four lines down...do you see the name of the person you are now harassing? Oh, yes, you do. Cut it out.” And they say oh, RIGHT...which seems to hold them a few months until something happens and we go through it all. Again.
( The following whine is NOT a plea for sympathy. Really. Again, I share the stupid, so you feel better about YOUR life. And because it all seems slightly LESS pointless if at least someone got a laugh out of it. )
Which has always served me well, as a philosophy. But lately, whew. Been dealing for months with the IRS, who cannot be convinced that my ex-husband and I filed joint returns several years ago, when we were still married. Wait, no they CAN be convinced...and then four months later, for some reason, despite copies of the joint returns, where his name and SS clearly appear, despite assuring me that “oh, okay, we’ll take care of that”…somehow they then become unconvinced and send him one of those “We’re going to eat your children, your job, your sanity if you don’t pay us the gigathousands you owe us” letters. But of course, since they don’t believe that he’s on the return that I filed for us, they won’t open up my file for him, so he has to turn to me for help, so I have to call and say “Okay, look on the far lefthand side of the return, four lines down...do you see the name of the person you are now harassing? Oh, yes, you do. Cut it out.” And they say oh, RIGHT...which seems to hold them a few months until something happens and we go through it all. Again.
( The following whine is NOT a plea for sympathy. Really. Again, I share the stupid, so you feel better about YOUR life. And because it all seems slightly LESS pointless if at least someone got a laugh out of it. )
