[gameguy43]

Totally different experience with the IRS. My one phone call with them was an excellent experience. I got someone much much more knowledgeable than me who quickly and clearly walked me through what I needed. My colleague has had a similar experience.

[tomohawk]

Had a family member who was audited by the IRS every year for years. Each time IRS received a tax lesson. Only stopped when family member got US Representative and both Senators to lean on the IRS.

[reaperducer]

It's funny how supposedly "random" computer systems can somehow target an individual.

I had an issue with a sheriff's deputy pulling my wife over on her way home from work twice a week for a month. Same deputy each time, and unfortunately my wife couldn't take another route. The deputy would only say she looked suspicious and then ask her personal questions.

I mentioned it to my boss, who was formerly an important person in the region, and he made a phone call. My wife never saw the deputy again.

In what I can only assume was retaliation, I suddenly got called for jury duty. Every other week. After the sixth notice, I mentioned it to my boss. He made a phone call, and put me on a list of people who should never be pulled for jury duty (for celebrities, etc...) in that county.

We moved to another state a few months later.

Computers sometimes seem to make the system easier to corrupt, rather than keep it from being corrupt.

[danieltillett]

As an Australian my experience of the IRS has thankfully been limited (not as limited as it should be), but each time I have had the misfortune of calling them they have just read out in a monotone the text on their websites word for word. Maybe my experience is because I am not a US tax payer, but it certainly wasn't helpful.