Of TaxBwanas, Curries, & Scamming
Apr. 10th, 2022 08:34 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mallorys_cameraAwwwwww. The kid is proud of his eccentric old Mum:
Also, the botanically-abledasakiyume informs me that the photo of a white flower I posted yesterday was a star magnolia, not a dogwood.
###
My first TaxBwana client yesterday was a crazy woman, less interested in having her taxes done than in having an audience for her rant about how the Social Security Administration was fucking her over.
After listening to her for 10 minutes and politely—then, not so politely—attempting to direct the conversation back onto a more utilitarian track, I rose abruptly from the table and went over to Mary Ann, the site coordinator.
“Not working with that person,” I announced. “You’ll have to do it.”
Notice how I did not say, “Sorry.”
My tolerance for insane people is greater at the beginning of the season. Yesterday, however, was the very last day for the Saturday TaxBwana squad. I’d used up all my tolerance!
And I am a volunteer.
To me, that means TaxBwana-ing should be all about fun.
No fun to be had with that particular insane person—though I should note that it was not her insanity that turned me off but her bullying, abusive manner—which, no doubt, was related to her insanity but hey! its underlying etiology did not melt my heart since like I said, I’ve run out of tolerance.
Subsequent clients were all lovely and, even better than that, grateful. I closed out the day telling a woman who earns $11,000 a year that between child tax credits and earned income credit, the government would be handing her $10,000.
###
Still raining by the time I got home.
So instead of tromping, I sat in the kitchen and chatted with Dev while he made a complicated potato curry. It smelled divine! He grinds his own curries. Must get him to reveal his specific spice recipe.
“What’s the most extreme thing you’ve ever eaten?” Dev asked.
I thought for a minute. “Probably a sheep’s head. And a sheep’s eyes. In Morocco.”
“Ah, yes, Morocco!” Dev said. “Good cooks! I ate camel once in Morocco.”
“What did it taste like?”
“Good. Like rehydrated jerky. A bit salty for Western tastes.”
“What part of India do your parents come from? Northern India? Southern India? Eastern India? Western India?”
“Western India,” Dev said. “Gujarat. The only state in India where alcohol is illegal.”
Gujurat, my oh-so-imperfect geography vaguely remembered, is near Pakistan. “Why? Because it’s an Islamic state?”
“No. Because Gandhi was born there. Also, it is officially a vegetarian state though they cannot enact that into law.”
###
I should have remunerated, but instead I decided to watch more of The Dropout, which packs far more of an emotional punch than WeCrashed while traversing similar territory.
The startup world of WeCrashed is a lot more familiar to me because it’s Maria Wilhelm’s startup world.
In fact, though Anne Hathaway looks nothing like Maria Wilhelm except for the hair, her vocal mannerisms as Rebekah Neumann were so uncannily like Maria’s—particularly in that scene where she fires Elisha Kennedy, smiling, The chief branding officer should know the company’s mission—that I wondered for a few seconds whether Maria had been her model.
After all, Maria is in the showbiz world! It’s not inconceivable that Anne Hathaway had run into Maria at some point.
Far more plausible, though, that this is just a showbiz type. The Hollywood version of the female of the lethal narcissist species. Never raise your voice. Never lose your smile.
The Dropout packs a bigger emotional punch because it’s so much uglier.
Elizabeth Holmes has no grace. In addition to being a sociopath, she’s probably on the spectrum. You watch her rehearsing her pitch in mirrors over and over again. The pitch isn't just to potential clients; it's to all human beings. She practices lowering her voice! She practices the Lethal Smile (that comes so naturally to Rebekah Neumann.)
Holmes' transformation at the end of the third episode into a female version of Steve Jobs with a scarlet slash of a mouth reminded me of Norman Bates transforming into his mother at the end of Psycho.
###
I will also add that when I first heard of Theranos’s “technology” 10 or 15 years ago, I was utterly mystified as to how it was supposed to work.
Because when you draw blood with a pinprick, red blood cells lyse!
Which means they release potassium.
Wouldn’t those elevated potassium levels throw off most diagnostic assays?
Oh well, I thought at the time. Smarter people than you have found the workaround.
Except, as it turns out, they hadn’t.
They weren’t smarter than me.
Just better scammers.
Also, the botanically-abled
asakiyume informs me that the photo of a white flower I posted yesterday was a star magnolia, not a dogwood.###
My first TaxBwana client yesterday was a crazy woman, less interested in having her taxes done than in having an audience for her rant about how the Social Security Administration was fucking her over.
After listening to her for 10 minutes and politely—then, not so politely—attempting to direct the conversation back onto a more utilitarian track, I rose abruptly from the table and went over to Mary Ann, the site coordinator.
“Not working with that person,” I announced. “You’ll have to do it.”
Notice how I did not say, “Sorry.”
My tolerance for insane people is greater at the beginning of the season. Yesterday, however, was the very last day for the Saturday TaxBwana squad. I’d used up all my tolerance!
And I am a volunteer.
To me, that means TaxBwana-ing should be all about fun.
No fun to be had with that particular insane person—though I should note that it was not her insanity that turned me off but her bullying, abusive manner—which, no doubt, was related to her insanity but hey! its underlying etiology did not melt my heart since like I said, I’ve run out of tolerance.
Subsequent clients were all lovely and, even better than that, grateful. I closed out the day telling a woman who earns $11,000 a year that between child tax credits and earned income credit, the government would be handing her $10,000.
###
Still raining by the time I got home.
So instead of tromping, I sat in the kitchen and chatted with Dev while he made a complicated potato curry. It smelled divine! He grinds his own curries. Must get him to reveal his specific spice recipe.
“What’s the most extreme thing you’ve ever eaten?” Dev asked.
I thought for a minute. “Probably a sheep’s head. And a sheep’s eyes. In Morocco.”
“Ah, yes, Morocco!” Dev said. “Good cooks! I ate camel once in Morocco.”
“What did it taste like?”
“Good. Like rehydrated jerky. A bit salty for Western tastes.”
“What part of India do your parents come from? Northern India? Southern India? Eastern India? Western India?”
“Western India,” Dev said. “Gujarat. The only state in India where alcohol is illegal.”
Gujurat, my oh-so-imperfect geography vaguely remembered, is near Pakistan. “Why? Because it’s an Islamic state?”
“No. Because Gandhi was born there. Also, it is officially a vegetarian state though they cannot enact that into law.”
###
I should have remunerated, but instead I decided to watch more of The Dropout, which packs far more of an emotional punch than WeCrashed while traversing similar territory.
The startup world of WeCrashed is a lot more familiar to me because it’s Maria Wilhelm’s startup world.
In fact, though Anne Hathaway looks nothing like Maria Wilhelm except for the hair, her vocal mannerisms as Rebekah Neumann were so uncannily like Maria’s—particularly in that scene where she fires Elisha Kennedy, smiling, The chief branding officer should know the company’s mission—that I wondered for a few seconds whether Maria had been her model.
After all, Maria is in the showbiz world! It’s not inconceivable that Anne Hathaway had run into Maria at some point.
Far more plausible, though, that this is just a showbiz type. The Hollywood version of the female of the lethal narcissist species. Never raise your voice. Never lose your smile.
The Dropout packs a bigger emotional punch because it’s so much uglier.
Elizabeth Holmes has no grace. In addition to being a sociopath, she’s probably on the spectrum. You watch her rehearsing her pitch in mirrors over and over again. The pitch isn't just to potential clients; it's to all human beings. She practices lowering her voice! She practices the Lethal Smile (that comes so naturally to Rebekah Neumann.)
Holmes' transformation at the end of the third episode into a female version of Steve Jobs with a scarlet slash of a mouth reminded me of Norman Bates transforming into his mother at the end of Psycho.
###
I will also add that when I first heard of Theranos’s “technology” 10 or 15 years ago, I was utterly mystified as to how it was supposed to work.
Because when you draw blood with a pinprick, red blood cells lyse!
Which means they release potassium.
Wouldn’t those elevated potassium levels throw off most diagnostic assays?
Oh well, I thought at the time. Smarter people than you have found the workaround.
Except, as it turns out, they hadn’t.
They weren’t smarter than me.
Just better scammers.
