canada revenue agency

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pilvikki
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Joined: 16 Feb 2015, 21:35

canada revenue agency

Post by pilvikki »

amazing how annoying these organizations are, even when they try to be helpful...

i got an email saying i had mail to read on their site, as i had opted out of paper. ok, fine, off to the cra site > my account > log in > security question > do i wish to opt out from security questions > do i want to skip seeing that page today > do i want to participate in a survey when i'm done? curious, i agreed to do so after my visit.

so, after all, what was the important bit of mail i needed to see?

well, my tax return had been received.

really? they couldn't have put that into the email they sent me? why did i have to go through the whole security dance for that?

:facepalm: :facepalm:

btw, all it means is that the return was finally acknowledged, they did receive it weeks ago...
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yogi
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Re: canada revenue agency

Post by yogi »

Some websites are getting freaky about security these days. When it comes to financial information the guards at the gates are stepping it up a notch. An e-mail is not as secure as a locked down website, which is probably why they didn't say anything important in the e-mail. Your message was not one demanding high security, but they don't know that. They make the web sites to cover all situations. Sometimes the obvious gets lost in that scenario, or the site becomes unweildly.
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pilvikki
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Re: canada revenue agency

Post by pilvikki »

i suppose, and it's not like i had anywhere important to dash off to, just seemed so utterly pointless.
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yogi
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Re: canada revenue agency

Post by yogi »

The programmers are expert at their art, but crappy at anticipating what users need. I often wonder if developers actually use the software they create to see how horrendous it really is. Then again, they don't think like you and I. What is intuitively obvious to them would take any average user 4 years of university level research to learn.
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pilvikki
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Re: canada revenue agency

Post by pilvikki »

but on the other hand i was most perplexed at seeing how some ultra-educated (there's a new word forya!) engineers could not see the trees for the forest, but would draw up non-functional blueprints for non-functional parts to put into non-functional jigs. and then get snippy when one drew attention to the error of their ways...

i believe gary has mentioned this a few times...
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yogi
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Re: canada revenue agency

Post by yogi »

I don't know what Gary was referring to, but I do know there is such a thing as "proof of concept.' That's where things are invented but never actually constructed in the real world. What I'm talking about is arrogance. Programmers of web sites and applications think they are the most intelligent beings in the universe. Things that are intuitively obvious to them should be obvious to us mere peons too. They often forget that we are the customers paying their salaries. They are here to cater to our needs, and not the other way round. Kind of like doctors in a way.
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pilvikki
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Re: canada revenue agency

Post by pilvikki »

i know what you mean. but on the other hand, most experts - or "experts" - think they're so far above us mere mortals. so often you see ridiculous headlines along the kind of "experts have discovered chipmunks to have active sex lives". like, who cares? and who funded it? argh.
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yogi
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Re: canada revenue agency

Post by yogi »

A lot of those blatantly obvious discoveries are the result of government research monies being granted to anyone who can make a good case for getting it. My wife's sister talked the US Government into a few thousand free dollars to go observe how the natives of Guatemala go about making pottery. She was a school teacher at the time and tied it into her classwork, not to mention the free vacation she got out of the deal. The downside is that a paper did have to be published to show she spent the money for it's intended purpose. So called experts have ways of siphoning millions for similar projects. You see those ridiculously obvious research papers because they had to prove the same thing my wife's sister had to prove.
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pilvikki
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Re: canada revenue agency

Post by pilvikki »

one of my favourite cases was a motorcycle gang having received a grant of $5000 (in the 70's) for starting up a company producing wooden toy cars and trains.

say what?
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yogi
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Re: canada revenue agency

Post by yogi »

There was a time when our government was encouraging 'start up' companies to be formed. The grant makes sense in that context. It's no different than the subsidies they give farmers NOT to grow certain crops. Apparently a free market ruled by supply and demand is only a concept.
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pilvikki
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Re: canada revenue agency

Post by pilvikki »

yes, what a system, as if the government could possibly have a clue...
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yogi
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Re: canada revenue agency

Post by yogi »

There was a time when the government served the people. Back then farmers were so good at what they did the markets became flooded with their crops and stock. That depressed the prices and the more the farmers produced, the less they made. Thus the incentive to not farm certain things seemed like a good idea at the time. Free enterprise would allow the farmers who were too good at their trade to fail and go out of business, hopefully to start one that is more profitable and beneficial to the general population. But noooo. Politicians were also able to buy votes with these subsidies, and the rest is history. It's probably the same in Europe, but less emphasis on agriculture.
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pilvikki
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Re: canada revenue agency

Post by pilvikki »

well, i don't know just how it works here, but punkin was seriously delayed getting to work a while back as the farmers had blocked off the main drag as a protest for something.
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