What fees? We paid for the software, and then paid for e-filing. Other than that it was optional crap we skipped.
Dave
Staff member
Because of the HSA they wouldn't let me continue without upgrading to DELUXE! I mean, the page was a dead end and my choices were to upgrade or go somewhere else. Or don't use the HSA tax credits.
I was going to post the prices charged but saved it to my home PC not my Dropbox because posting your taxes on Dropbox might not be the smartest thing.
I was going to post the prices charged but saved it to my home PC not my Dropbox because posting your taxes on Dropbox might not be the smartest thing.
That is pretty weird. Could you have accidentally used the Free version of your tax service, instead of the IRS Free File version? Happened to me one year, so I had to re-do the return up to H&R's "this is not a basic form, pay us money" prompt after finding the correct link.
Dave
Staff member
Made too much for the free services.
I got my $5 from the IRS. WV gave my $83 to the DOE.
I got $967 back (federal and state combined).
That's not high.
Got almost $700-ish back from fed (marriage status change, uncertainty about certain exemptions, job changes), but ideally I'd be in GB's $(1)-1 camp. Next year.
I claim zero deductions. I know how Gas feels about that free loan I give the government, but I know that if I took the money every paycheck, my family would find a way to nickel and dime it away. So, I got a sizeable refund. But not nearly as big as the refund I used to get a few years ago. 
A
Anonymous
Anonymous
Ok, I need to bitch a bit. I hate that my old boss totally played favorites and put her buddy in a job he isn’t qualified for. He’s very nice, but is lacking some very key requirements which mean that I have to do those parts for both of us. When I say key requirements, I mean obvious ones like not having the language profile on top of pretty much all the other ones as well. Our team is also set up so I’m doing all the real managing too. It’s maddening.
He emailed me today while I was on the phone with staff asking me to ask them questions about their schedules. Why? Because he can’t communicate effectively with the whole team. I’m not even being snarky here. I’m being literal.
He emailed me today while I was on the phone with staff asking me to ask them questions about their schedules. Why? Because he can’t communicate effectively with the whole team. I’m not even being snarky here. I’m being literal.
Dear second line colleague,
you do not get to make a big hullabaloo about one of the first line colleagues giving out "completely false" information and "asking for a request that didn't need to be made" when you - not your colleague, not your twin, not your evil version, just plain you - literally told me to say that to the customer to buy time so you could look into it. Maybe it was wrong to ask for that, but if so, it's your own mistake, you numbnut.
you do not get to make a big hullabaloo about one of the first line colleagues giving out "completely false" information and "asking for a request that didn't need to be made" when you - not your colleague, not your twin, not your evil version, just plain you - literally told me to say that to the customer to buy time so you could look into it. Maybe it was wrong to ask for that, but if so, it's your own mistake, you numbnut.
I got a decent refund, but we bought a house last year and we pay a shit ton in child care for two dependents, so we got to deduct a bunch for those two alone.
Cajungal
Staff member
I once signed up for a conference section that promised "new, creative, and effective" classroom management strategies. The whole two hours was dedicated to teaching how to begin and implement a token system into your elementary classroom (for those who don't know, basically giving kids tokens and prizes for doing what's expected of them...completely external motivation with no development of an intrinsic desire to do the right things.) On top of that, she didn't know how to set up her powerpoint presentation, and she gave us a paper copy of her powerpoint as she read it out loud to us. I've never seen so many disappointed faces.
It's amazing how much of education psychology basically boils down to "How can we more effectively bribe children to learn in an environment that isn't conductive to actually learning... on about a buck fifty".
Every single year we get a half day for Good Friday. It's on the employee website. Our timesheet system automatically filled out the half-day. So I made plans for this afternoon.
And now I've been told that we have a new accounting system that can't handle half-days, so now our Christmas Eve day off is a "floating holiday" that they do graciously are allowing us to split in half because of the confusion. Working a full day today would've been fine if I knew it was coming, but taking it away with such short notice just fucks me over.
When I get home from my trip I'm gonna polish up my resumè.
And now I've been told that we have a new accounting system that can't handle half-days, so now our Christmas Eve day off is a "floating holiday" that they do graciously are allowing us to split in half because of the confusion. Working a full day today would've been fine if I knew it was coming, but taking it away with such short notice just fucks me over.
When I get home from my trip I'm gonna polish up my resumè.
Oh my freaking god, Reddit! I get it! Today is "smoke dope day". I think the realization slowly crept in by the time I saw the thousandth "4/20" meme today, by 9am.
I swear, I'm gonna close down the internet until tomorrow.
I swear, I'm gonna close down the internet until tomorrow.
GasBandit
Staff member
For a more worthwhile rant:
I was gonna go to Scottsdale this week.
On Saturday night, I got an alert that my flight was canceled due to weather. Then several hours later, I got an alert that they had rescheduled me for a Monday flight. The problem: I was flying out of one airport and returning to another.
Well, that obviously won't work, since my car will be at whatever airport I fly out of. So I called to try to get a flight that both flew out of and returned to the same airport. They found me one, but it was even later. That totally screwed up my plans, so I just decided to cancel the whole trip and have a stay-cation at home. A little finagling got me refunds of all moneys and deposits I'd placed in preparation of the trip.
That was enough of a bummer. Except on Tuesday, I came down with the flu. And I'm just now getting over it. So, I suppose it's good that I canceled everything anyway. But I've been holed up at home, mostly in bed, during my vacation. What a freaking waste.
I was gonna go to Scottsdale this week.
On Saturday night, I got an alert that my flight was canceled due to weather. Then several hours later, I got an alert that they had rescheduled me for a Monday flight. The problem: I was flying out of one airport and returning to another.
Well, that obviously won't work, since my car will be at whatever airport I fly out of. So I called to try to get a flight that both flew out of and returned to the same airport. They found me one, but it was even later. That totally screwed up my plans, so I just decided to cancel the whole trip and have a stay-cation at home. A little finagling got me refunds of all moneys and deposits I'd placed in preparation of the trip.
That was enough of a bummer. Except on Tuesday, I came down with the flu. And I'm just now getting over it. So, I suppose it's good that I canceled everything anyway. But I've been holed up at home, mostly in bed, during my vacation. What a freaking waste.
I was wondering why I hadn't gotten any word from you.
If it makes you feel any better, there's been a wave of the flu going through here as people have been flying here to warm up from various still-colder climes.
My rant: cable TV is getting to be more of a hassle than it's worth. DVR and second box from Cox/Contour has apparently decided to stop working, but only in the afternoon for some reason. Guess who's got a cable tech appointment scheduled for tomorrow afternoon.
If it makes you feel any better, there's been a wave of the flu going through here as people have been flying here to warm up from various still-colder climes.
My rant: cable TV is getting to be more of a hassle than it's worth. DVR and second box from Cox/Contour has apparently decided to stop working, but only in the afternoon for some reason. Guess who's got a cable tech appointment scheduled for tomorrow afternoon.
They're always trying to get me to sign up for phone/TV/etc. I only want one thing from them, Internet, and if they're not calling me to tell me about how prices are going down or speeds are going up, then they're wasting their time.
My rant: I was out of work at 6:30 tonight, so of course that means I left at 8:30 and got home by 10:15.
--Patrick
Dangit, I received an absolutely terror-mongering email enumerating all the ways the USA was heading towards nationalized Socialism, and how specific politicians (Bernie Sanders, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Kamala Harris are named specifically) are going to DESTROY THE COUNTRY with their crazy ideas and how in times like these, people turn to the comfort of physical GOLD and SILVER for financial security, but I let it languish in my spam folder for too long, and it got flushed.
Anyway, if you get an email from "John Hɑrris" at "goldɑndsilvergroµp"* and you find it as hilarious as I did, please post it.
--Patrick
*some letters substituted juuuust in case they're the overly litigious type.
Anyway, if you get an email from "John Hɑrris" at "goldɑndsilvergroµp"* and you find it as hilarious as I did, please post it.
--Patrick
*some letters substituted juuuust in case they're the overly litigious type.
Someone on reddit commented the standard "and then everyone clapped." signifying that they think I'm lying regarding an anecdote I told about walking into the wrong movie one time.
I don't care that they don't believe me. That's neither here nor there.
That they are so skeptical about a benign, inane, dumb story that at best paints me as an idiot that can't read a theatre number is what is what is so baffling to me.
I don't care that they don't believe me. That's neither here nor there.
That they are so skeptical about a benign, inane, dumb story that at best paints me as an idiot that can't read a theatre number is what is what is so baffling to me.
"Of all the things that never happened, this never happened the most!"
Yeah, I don't always get that sort of response. I've seen it on several occasions on stories where I'm like...Why would the OP make it up? Yes, if they claim to have happened to have been in the same plane as the Swedish beach volleyball team and he was chosen to "help" them "stretch" for their workout, by all means. If they're posting they bought a cucumber and it turned out to be a zucchini, but their salad was yummy regardless - why? Why would that sort of story be made up?!
The crux of their argument is that I did it for karma, which is bullshit because 1. who cares and 2. The two other times I've told the story on Reddit, in the same way commenting in a thread about the particular movie, it garnered a total of 3 combined. Beyond getting to a relevant thread earlier than typical this time, how was I to know the comment would generate 2k+?
You know what I just realized? It royally pisses me off that I have to go to the theater to see a movie if I don't want it spoiled. I hate the theater. I don't want crappy popcorn. I don't want expensive soda. I don't want to have to sit for three hours straight. And with my family, it doesn't work anyway. My has fibromyalgia and can't comfortably sit for that long. I inevitably miss a hunk of the movie so a kid can go to the bathroom. Basically, it's a miserable experience if I don't go alone. I would a million times rather watch at home.
I'm super not into swashbuckling, but I'm genuinely considering it because there's no part of this that doesn't suck.
And to be clear: if there were an option to watch at home, even a pretty expensive one, I think I would take it.
I'm super not into swashbuckling, but I'm genuinely considering it because there's no part of this that doesn't suck.
And to be clear: if there were an option to watch at home, even a pretty expensive one, I think I would take it.
Didn't they try something like this in the last 5 or so years where a movie was released for streaming and in theaters at the same time? I think the theaters made a stink about it. But I do agree; sometimes I wish their was another option to avoid spoilers.
On the tail of that, I hate that I have to avoid most of the internet sites I use for the next 24 hrs to avoid spoilers. Even here I've skipped over some posts that have shared non-specific tweets about it, because much like Infinity War, I want to go it knowing nothing.
...besides the obvious "it's the Avengers!".
