Tuesday, April 17, 2007

Income Tax Day


This morning I walked to the Post Office that has my PO box to get my mail, which is 1.25 miles or six Cobb County blocks away.

I thought instead of exercising today, it is such a beautiful day a walk would be nice, but the main reason is that I did not want to fool with the parking situation with the procrastinators on the final day the income taxes are due this year.

Aren’t you glad you have the privilege to help finance the government operations for another year?

Within a week ago I heard that several airplane mishaps were blamed on overworked Air-Traffic Controllers. They said they were working long hours, sometimes taking off only 8 hours before starting back, they were near exhaustion. With a tight budget the bosses after to have the controllers burn the candle at both ends, and well, you get plane wrecks. That what happens when you cut expense across the board without looking at the details.
And, if they had more tax dollars to run things, then more people would be alive to pay more taxes, so it is a win win situation.

I told my elderly neighbor lady I was going to walk to get the mail and she told me to be careful and not let any Mexicans run over me. I asked her was it okay to let a Caucasian run over me?

The walk was nice and with a pleasant breeze was puffing easily by.

In the post office lobby where the mailboxes are located an ex-coworker, Joanie had a chair and table to greet customers and maybe eliminate standing in line, thus no long line. If they just needed their tax envelopes stamped with today’s date, she could help them with that… if they wanted forms, she could swivel around and reach for the well sorted out forms, swivel again with the forms and hand them to them. If they wanted to know the latest post office gossip or the local north east Cobb gossip she could tell them that too, which that was the reason I stood in her short line, to hear the latest inside news.

By craft Joanie is a rural route carrier. She hurt her back a few years ago and is on the light duty list. She mostly answers the telephone, other than today. One time when Joanie was a carrier she reached into a mailbox because the flag was up and found herself holding a pipe bomb. I think she just about had a hissy-fit, but she did what she was suppose to do, get the hell a safe distance away and call the law. And of course the law called the media and it was on the news.

Joanie has a laid back attitude that she appears that nothing upsets her (except pipe bombs). As she sit at that table today in her slow laid back, slow southern drawl away, I think some of the young aggressive east Cobb yuppies will think “typical Postal employee!” They won’t know about her one time looking at pipe bomb she one time picked up or hurting her back lifting too much weight, and most of all, she probably could buy and sell them if she wanted. She inherited a huge section of land from her grandfather and sold it to a developer that developed a mall complex.

There wasn’t as much people are cars as I thought would be. I think many people thought Friday or Saturday would be the last day they could mail their taxes and not know about the April the 17th extension.

It was a nice walk anyway.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I would prefer a Canadian run over me, but not one of those Frenchmen!

The pipe bombs- no preference there....

Eddie said...

Steve,
Yep, a pipe bomb is a pipe bomb.

Suzanne Reisman said...

Wow, Joanie sounds like a character. And I love your line about the win-win situation. You continue to amuse me to no end.

Eddie said...

Suzanne,
As Li'l Abner said, "Ah don't know if Ah am amoozed or cornfoozed."