My "Aunt"

The same person has been doing my taxes since the year 2002. 7 years. For five years I've been getting a pretty good return and a good deal with her. Until.

The way I came into contact with this person is my mom called me up one tax season and announced that my aunt (my mom's sister) has a new tax person and they are great and I need to use them. OK. I contacted her...

From the get go, she referred to herself as my Aunt Sugar*. I don't call her my aunt, let's get that clear. Just because she is working with my real aunt does not make her an aunt. It became a wee bit annoying to hear her say this all the time so once I brought up with my mom. My mom's excuse was that she probably feels like my aunt because my real aunt talks me up to her. She does the same thing with my brother.

I only contact Aunt Sugar around tax season. I have no other business with her so that's that. Each time I call her up, I call her by her name, Sugar. No aunt. She replies back with, "It's your Auntie Sugar!"

It's easy to put with once a year.

Then last year, I got a bill in the mail. A bill for her services for the past five years. Oh, yeah when your "Aunt" is doing your taxes, you don't have to pay her a service fee.

I was shocked by the bill and immediately called up my mom - did she get a bill, too? No.
Then I spoke to my brother, did he get a bill? No.

Yeah. WTF?

So I called up Sugar. Her husband returned the call and he said yes, they needed to start billing me.

Fine. Whatev. I paid the bill. (SUCKER)

This year comes and I've got all my tax paperwork ready to send to her so I go by the usual routine. I email her first, she calls me back and confirms that she will expect in the mail, I mail it out, a week later I get a notice of how much my return will be and voila, we are finished until next year.

I emailed her. No response. I called her. No return call.

I call my mom...
"Oh, yeah I was meaning to tell you. You need to call your Aunt Sugar up and tell her you're engaged."
"What? Why?"
"She was a little hurt that she found out from (my real Aunt) Auntie Annette" my mom told me.
"Seriously?"
"Yes. Call her"

Ughhhhhhhhhhhh. I called her and left her the news on her voicemail. She has yet to call me back.

Then I go to Phoenix and one night, my (real) Auntie Annette was on the speaker phone with my mom and I while I was talking out a plan to go to Vegas to get hitched. Then, I remembered "Aunt" Sugar and asked Annette.

"Oh yeah, girl, she is not too happy. She just wants to feel part of the family, that's all. I'll talk to her tomorrow. Go ahead and mail her your paperwork. Don't worry."

I mailed it out. Yesterday I got the confirmation email from her husband, I guess my "Uncle". It was two sentences.
We got your paperwork. Expect refund in two weeks.

Yeah, don't mess with family.




*Name changed, but close enough to the real deal