1727 I don't know if I can volunteer again.

Friday, March 14, 2008

I volunteered again today at a tax clinic. This one was for seniors who don't usually make enough to file taxes, but have to this year in order to get the $600/$1200 rebate.

This was run by the same bunch that didn't show up last month, and didn't notify us volunteers that it was cancelled.

They did show up today, but I wish they hadn't. Everything was so screwed up. I spent a lot of time being frustrated.

From here on, I'm blowing off steam. Feel free to hit "Back" on your browser.

They told me to report to the RSVP (Retired and Seniors Volunteer Program) office, address 409 Commercial Park. I Googled the address, so I knew generally where I was going. However, it was still difficult to find.

Commercial Park used to be a mall, consisting of three large connected buildings. It used to be a grocery store, a department store, and a bunch of smaller stores, but the county bought it, revamped it, and it's now Social Services offices in the center building, county college classrooms in one end building along with some other offices, and Family services and some kind of business incubator in the other end. As you are driving down the street, there isn't a single sign anywhere saying "Commercial Park"! If you don't already know that's Commercial Park, you'd never find it.

So, I parked. The only sign identifying what's in any building is the Social Services sign over the central building. No numbers. No office listings.

I went into the central building, and asked the security officers where #409 was. They told me the left end building. I walked over there. Again, no office listings, no directory.

I asked the security officers in that building where #409 was. They gave me directions down some twisting hallways. The office numbers went up, but stopped at around 403. I kept walking, and found an open door with no sign, and no number, and asked where RSVP was. That was it. Gee, thanks. Are you hiding?

I asked where I was supposed to go for the tax clinic. The secretary didn't know. Said I should ask the security guards. Back to lobby. They didn't know either, but guessed it was probably a classroom, "try down that hall". I found a room with people in it, and asked. Yup, that's it.

I went back and told the security officers where it was.

It got worse. I at least knew to go to Commercial Park, and had figured out where that was.

Whoever had advertised it to the seniors wasn't very clear about where folks should go (we were in classrooms in the county college branch), and a lot of the seniors who came in (with canes, walkers, friends or relatives who had taken off work to drive them) were very angry because apparently the flyers said that it was sponsored by a state representative's office, so they went to that office in uptown first. The secretary there had no idea where the tax clinic was, so she sent them to the County Office for Aging (which at least was in Commercial Park). The Office for Aging had no idea where it was, but suspected that RSVP had something to do with it, so they sent them to that office, which at least was in the same office park, but they had to go through the same runaround I had endured. A woman somehow managed to find us, and when she told me RSVP still didn't know where we were, I called RSVP and the Office for Aging and told them.

That is totally ridiculous! I don't blame these people for being angry. I wonder how many elders needed our help, but never found us.

I did intake.

The flyer apparently did not tell them what paperwork they had to bring. I was told by the idiot woman in charge that the senior MUST have their actual social security card, and the letter they get from SS detailing the amount they got in 2007. My instructions were to verify that they had both items, and if they didn't, I was to send them home to get them. Then I'd give them a form to fill out, and the two other volunteers would help them with the forms. When the forms were completed, the clients were to wait on the other side of the room to be called to the tax prep room across the hall, where there were seven accountants with laptops. I was to put a sequence number on the form so I could send them over in sequence.

I asked how I would know when the next should be sent, since I couldn't see the tax room. That caused much consternation. The woman in charge told me that each client would take about 10 minutes, so I should GET UP AND WALK ACROSS THE HALL EVERY 10 MINUTES to see if there were any free preparers. The expression on my face said "Bullshit!" That's stupid! If a client takes 11 minutes, that ... well, figure it out you idiot.

I suggested that when an accountant finishes a client, he or she should cross the hall and give me a high sign, and I'd sent the next. She said no, we don't want to inconvenience the preparers. So I suggested that the preparers tell the client when they are finished to, on their way out, stick their head in the door and let me know they're done. She didn't like that, either. In the end, she took one of the two volunteers who were supposed to help with the forms, and stationed her at the doorway of the tax room, and when a client left, she'd come in and call the next sequential number.

My God! Extremely inefficient use of resources.

So, pissed off clients who had wandered all over the city started arriving. They got more pissed off when 5 of the first 6 to arrive did not have their SS cards. SS had advised them not to carry them, to keep them in a safe place. They all did, however, have their Medicare cards, which are provided by SS, and have their SS numbers on them.

I crossed the hall and explained the problem, and asked if the Medicare card would do. The idiot woman who had given me the instructions said no, it MUST be the actual SS card, that it was an IRS requirement. So I had to send those pissed off people home.

More arrived, same problem. I went to one of the accountants to argue their case, and the accountant said the Medicare card would be fine, that it was needed simply to establish identity, since anyone could have intercepted the amount letter. But since the Medicare card had the SS# on it, and it would match the letter, that would establish identity.

Then a guy showed up with neither SS card nor Medicare card. He couldn't understand why his driver's licence wouldn't establish id. Yeah, it doesn't have SS#, but it does have a photo and his name, and the name matches the letter.

I personally agreed, in fact I thought it was a better proof of id, so I crossed the hall and asked the idiot woman in charge. She said absolutely not. Send him home. I sent three people home, then asked an accountant. The accountant said sure, driver's licence would be fine.

The idiot woman in charge must have been arbitrarily making up her own rules.

I felt bad for all the people who, after getting the runaround on location, were sent home because that idiot woman was making up her own rules without consulting the preparers, and seemed to enjoy playing "Gotcha! with the clients.

So, we finally got in the groove, and people were getting in and getting processed, when one of the volunteers announces, at 11:40, that she is hypoglycemic and must eat at noon. There's a diner right across the parking lot, so she's going to go get takeout and will be right back. There was a lull, so the other volunteer, who was helping people fill out forms, decided to go with her. Get takeout. Be right back. A few minutes.

They returned at 1:20. Without takeout. They had eaten in the diner. Leaving me alone to do intake, help with forms, and keep an eye on openings in the tax room for an hour and a half. Alone. At the busiest time, since the easiest time for the seniors to get a ride was lunchtime.

I was incredibly pissed.

When they returned and asked if more people had been in, I said yes, and told them how many. I didn't say anything else. I doubt they noticed that more people had been in while they were missing than during the time they had been there.

The flyer had said the hours were 9 to 3. I was told to turn away anyone who arrived after 2. They didn't want to start anyone new after 2, even though the average process time, from getting the intake form to finished e-filing, was 15 minutes. In my opinion, the flyers should have SAID that the last clients would be accepted at 2. Who's the flyer addressed to? Shouldn't it give information important to the intended audience?

That about blew the top of my head off. At 2 pm I stacked everything, cleared the desk, and got the hell out of there. I did NOT want to be there when someone came at 2:05 and I had to tell them they were too late. Uh uh. No way. Especially after having sent folks home for SS cards they didn't really need. I'm outta here.

I hate career bureaucrats! Thinking is foreign to them. But then, that IS the definition of bureaucrat.

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The only amusing part of the day - the woman who said she had to file for her husband because he has "aged hymers, whatever they are...". (Actually, the implications of what she said are sad. Somebody has not filled her in on what that is, and what it means.)
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