Tax season is over and volunteering was a very rewarding experience and has given me a lot to think about. I thought I'd encountered ever stratum of economic life in America, but I hadn't. One of the many valuable lessons I take away with me is that I'm a valuable person to have working. My boss will give me a glowing reference, because alone among the preparers, I came on time, called her when I wasn't going to be there, and prepared more returns per hour than the paid preparers. (Part of the cud I'll chew about this job is how the fact that I was a volunteer made this a much different experience than if I'd been paid.) My commitment was to work 40 hours over the course of the season, I decided I'd work 100, and wound up working 221, because I knew that I'd miss having a purpose once it was gone. Here are some of my favorite end-of-days quotes:

After telling me an interminable story about a student loan she paid off in the 80s and was garnished for in the 90s, a taxpayer asked me, I think, would her refund be kept by the IRS. I told her I didn't know. "Aren't you supposed to know stuff like that? I don't mean to disrespect you." I said I didn't mind if she disrespected me, but all I'd be able to do for her was prepare her tax return here, early evening on April 15, and that would have to be enough.

Twice on the last day, guys tried to "take back" one of their W-2 forms so they'd qualify either for our service (we're only allowed to prepare returns up to $20,000 for single people) or the earned income tax credit. They were mildly put out when I told them I wouldn't conspire with them to commit tax evasion.

"My wages is garnished, is there a tax break for that?"

And two comments from my coworkers regarding Janet Hopf, the employee. Before the tax-takers were allowed in, I'd go around to each cube making sure it had pens, intake forms, and enough staples. A guy who joined us the last two weeks watched me for a few days of this and said, "You are a good housewife." But my favorite was from a preparer named Abbas who said, "Janet, you are relentless with the taxes!"

At Easter mass, I vowed to reject Satan and all his works, and to turn away from "the glamor of sin". I love that expression, 'the glamor of sin'. A friend said, "Like the magazine?" Yes, Glamour, "Doing Satan's Bidding Since 1956"!