Tax Deadline

You know how sometimes you just can't face going to work? Sometimes you have so many things to do that you just need the day to get them done. Or you have a bum knee that really could use the rest. Maybe your work said they were giving you a 2 out of a possible 3% raise but then you found out that it was actually out of a possible 6% and you just can't stomach going there to see those people and trust yourself to be totally pleasant.

Maybe, if you're really lucky, its all 3.

I have been putting off getting my taxes done. Well that's not completely true. I tried to get The Boyfriend to do them when he was doing his but then it turned out it was all complicated and sh*t so I had to take it in to a tax place to get it done. And if you know me at all, you know that this didn't happen.

With the big tax deadline looming (its Friday in Canada...right?) I figured that it was high time to sort that out. And then I found all manner of awesome things to do in the meantime. But today I woke up in a cold sweat and realized that if I didn't do it today I would be totally f*cked. That and the fact that it was all warm and cozy in bed and my knee was bothering me and the whole raise percentage fiasco as mentioned above...I called it in.

So I gathered all my forms and made my way to the mall to get some tax person employed by the mall (they have to have more credentials than that right? They are just using the mall because they know that people like me will find them there?) to do them for me.

While she was doing it I told myself that I would owe like $600. You know, so that when I had to pay $200 or got money back, it would be that much better.

But I didn't believe that I would actually have to pay that much! I mean, I make no money. How can the government not give me money as a We're-sorry-that-you-paid-all-that-money-with-no-help-from-us-for-a-degree-that-you're-not-even-using present? Right?

Wrong.

I didn't owe $600.

It was closer to $700.

Turns out that my "new" employer (remember how I was sold last summer?) didn't take the right deductions and now the government wants its money.

Neat.

So I sat there trying a) not to cry b) not to swear (more) and c) to breathe. Tricky business. I didn't even manage it. I totally dropped the f bomb and also might have cried. Just a little though. I was so angry. I'm still pretty pissed. Its definitely going on the list of things to discuss in my exit interview.

Silver lining? Like the finance minister tabling a new budget, I got new shoes. And I didn't have to pay for them because The Boyfriend, fearing for my mental health and his own safety bought them for me. He's smart like that.

Then I went to Aritzia and bought the most gorgeous jacket. I had a gift certificate. And also the girl, seeing my distress, only charged me one tax (like I was under 15).

I almost forgot about the whole tax debacle after we came out of the 2pm show of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo.

Until I came home and had to write the cheque to the government.

I'm still mad at my job. How they can sit there and tell me they are giving me 2 out of a possible 3% raise when its actually out of 6% ie lie to my face, I don't know. I'm still undecided if I'm going in tomorrow. Perhaps my knee needs more rest.

One things for sure--my new jacket and shoes are fabulous.