Monday, April 02, 2012

Today's Customer Appreciation Goes to...THE IRS! No, Really!

Back on January 23, I faxed my Form 8802 Application for United States Residency Certification to the IRS. I need it, see, to get paid for the Greek language rights I licensed to Anubis Publications for Kira's Best Friend, book 1 in my Brook Hollow Trilogy. (*squeeeee*)

I knew it could take up to 60 days, but as the days ticked beyond that, I figured they'd never gotten the form. Sure enough, when I finally got around to calling them today, they didn't have any record. But guess what? After the requisite half hour plus on hold, I spent about 2 minutes talking to Brandi, who had me fax it again, to her attention, and said to check on Wednesday to make sure it was processing. She answered questions about my Hellenic form and the Form 6166 I'll be getting. And I was good to go!

We'll see how long it takes from here, but for now, I'm very pleased with my customer service experience with the U.S. Residency Certification Unit.

And lesson learned—next time, I'll check in a week to be sure it was received!

~~~~~~~~~~

In other news, I smell like a campfire. Someone (not naming names, but it wasn't me...this time) forgot to check inside the oven before turning it on. When it beeped that it was preheated to 400* and I opened it to slide in the naan, the potholders on top of the pizza stone burst into flames. Not a big deal—shut the oven, turned it off, waited a few minutes, brought out a fan to blow the toxic smoke out the open windows, and increased my cancer risk by a significant percentage while I got the smoking potholders outside.

The oven is fine, the pizza stone is fine, and the potholder is no great loss. My hair smells of burnt fabric, but it was a great opportunity for a teaching moment, quizzing the kids on what they'd do if this happened to them.

For the record? "Scream" and "run to get you" are not the answers I was looking for.

7 comments:

Susan Gourley/Kelley said...

Run and get mom never wears out as a way to handle a crisis. My son about to turn 27 locked his keys in his car on Saturday and handled it by calling mom.

Victoria said...

Good for you with the IRS!
Lol on the teaching moment! That's familiar!

Exactly, Sue! My oldest locked himself out of the house this morning (not my house) and called ME when the people he lives with were inside?? Ummm.....

Natalie J. Damschroder said...

LOL! You guys aren't making my future look very bright.

Lisa Kessler said...

I've never heard of that form! LOL

Are you not a US citizen?

Glad the IRS came through for you! :)

Lisa

Natalie J. Damschroder said...

Oh, I am! I need the form so I only have to pay income tax in the US for the money the Greek company pays me, not get double-taxed in Greece, too. :)

Ava Quinn said...

Huh. The IRS has customer service? And it was effective (after a long wait)? I do believe that may be a sign of the apocalypse. Better stock up on your canned goods. And buy new hot pads. They may come in handy if indeed all hell breaks loose.

M3

Natalie J. Damschroder said...

LOL, Ava! But no, don't panic. It's just another step in the ongoing effort to shock Americans in a good way. It started years ago, when the cable company came out and changed all our squirrel-chewed cables, spent two hours doing so, and didn't charge us a dime!