substack.com
Carlyn Beccia (@carlynbeccia)
Who has been DOGE-d? This year, my 87-year-old dad got one of those scary “your account needs verification" letters from the IRS. It could not be completed online. I have called the IRS in the Before Times. Never waited more than 15 minutes. Now, since Musk has reduced the IRS to a skeleton crew checking no one’s tax returns: 1.4 hr call (disconnected due to “high call volume.”) 2.2 hr call (also disconnected due to “high call volume.”) 2.5 hr call (yes, I am persistent. Helpful agent verified my Dad’s account, but I now must call ANOTHER number to release the hold on his refund. 30-minute call to another number (disconnected due to “high call volume.”) This is called being DOGE-d. DOGE-d(verb) — When an ordinary citizen discovers that the federal employee who used to answer the phone has been fired in the name of “government efficiency,” so now you spend three hours on hold accomplishing absolutely nothing. See also: savings pending verification.
