Inner City Tax Office

Tax season on south St Louis is already drawing to a close and it is time to look back at the too-brief time I have spent in that line of work. Our Customers came in three varieties and all are interesting for different reasons.

The professional tax filers have largely come and gone by now. They know how to claim support of a "nephew" and get the maximum "refund" far in excess of what they claim that they made during the year. I suspect (but can't prove) they're lying and they know they're lying, but they've got it down to an artform.

The clueless ones can be either young kids who don't have a clue about taxes or recent immigrants. We have gotten quite a few Somali refugees this year. They don't have a clue. I enjoy helping educate people who can't speak much English and helping them become a part of the melting pot. I also enjoy helping poor kids with very low IQ understand what is best for them. I hope that I have treated everyone with respect.

The nice people are the ones I really enjoy serving. I can remember their faces and how much I enjoyed working with them- especially mister S. from South America who only wanted to file his taxes honestly and didn't even want to dishonestly claim that he supported his mother. A subset of nice people are the extremely beautiful young Black women who seem to have given up on themselves. I could think of no way to say to them, "you deserve better" without seeming lecherous and unprofessional. What a waste of such fine young women we have because of poverty and discrimination.

I have grown to enjoy every single one of my coworkers and have been very priviledged to see a slice of life that few middle class white men ever can experience. Sometimes I almost feel as though I am tresspassing, but I arrived here honestly and with no ulterior motive.

The slimy self-help guru Koyasaki once said that you should take a new job in order to learn something new and what a learning experience this has been.

I am really dreading the job search and interview process once again, but I have learned something about myself and my city that I belive will serve me well in the coming months.