So I called the IRS today

A client is, of course, getting upset about an application that hasn't come back yet. We are finally passed the deadline the original email provided by which we were to receive a response, so I called like a good little lawyer who does what she said she would do back when we filed. The representative was grumpy the whole time and eventually said I can see application processing times have been updated and ours would not even be assigned at this point. So I was like, so would it be accurate to tell the client that you are just backed up? She started laughing, I started laughing, she said everyone's being fired so we just have to WAIT because everything is going to be behind. I think she needed that laugh because suddenly she was very friendly and open about it.

It's so awkward because everything is political. I know MAGA thinks government job loss represents fiscal responsibility because the darn dirty bloated government is being trimmed by that unqualified tech bro. Without knowing where my client stands on the issue, I feel like I have to be careful in communicating about these things.