Thursday, June 10, 2010

Knock-Knock Joke... Not

This is a joke between Sharon (Company Director) and IDOR (Indiana Department Of Revenue).

Sharon: Knock knock.
IDOR: Who's there?
Sharon: Business owner.
IDOR: Business owner who?
Sharon: Business owner Sharon who wants to pay her company's June estimated taxes, please.
IDOR: Nice try. Sorry, not funny enough to let you in. [displays Error 404]
Sharon: Hey! You're not supposed to reject Line 5 of a knock-knock joke!
IDOR: Too bad, you already lost the joke, because you have the wrong site.
Sharon: But this was the first search result from Google!
IDOR: Well Google forgot to update.
Sharon: [mutters to herself] OK fine, let's see where I can get by smart-typing a URL into Chrome.
IN.GOV: [puts up fancy graphic] This is our official Indiana Government site, wasn't it worth the detour to see our beauty?
Sharon: Look at you, aren't you gorgeous. Let's try "Taxes and Finance".
IDOR: Oh. You found us. As you can see by the fancy graphic that is still on the screen, this is the new improved Indiana DOR site.
Sharon: Now what on earth was the estimated payment under... let's try "Individual Income Tax Return Filing Options".
IDOR: See, now the fancy graphic is gone, but you can tell you're still on our new site, because that URL which you actually had mostly right, now has a nifty random number tacked on the end.
Sharon: [ignoring IDOR] Humm... "I-File" -- nope, that's the annual shebang filing... "Federal/State Electronic Filing Program" -- nope, that's for tax professionals...
"How do Hoosiers feel about electronic filing?" -- well, I would say they despise the system right now...
IDOR: You're pathetic. Can't even navigate our "fast, friendly and free online filing tool."
Sharon: Oh go away... maybe I'll go away... wait a minute, "Information for Business Taxpayers", obviously.
IDOR: Sure. Here are 20 options.
Sharon: Thanks, except none of them are right.
IDOR: That's OK. I've got all night for you to search me.
Sharon: You jerk. Fine. I'm just going to use the Search tool then. [types] "estimated taxes"
IDOR: Wait. No. That's too easy.
Sharon: Let's see, how about "ePay DOR" --> "Individual Tax" --> "Individual Estimated Payment".... I win.
IDOR: Not yet. I still have more dead-end options.
Sharon: Too late. I see it - "Begin using ePay". I win!
IDOR: Just wait till we finish remodeling our site and get the new doors on. Then we can have another Knock-Knock joke.
Sharon: I can't wait. At least I win till September.