When people talk about complex tax codes and the “end of the quarter”, they don’t really consider how these things have evolved into farms of nearly-enslaved wo

When people talk about complex tax codes and the “end of the quarter”, they don’t really consider how these things have evolved into farms of nearly-enslaved workers (accountants). Such horrendous workplaces do exist inside big companies: the job is to figure out how to pay the least tax, and time is of the essence. I knew someone who worked as such a finance person, at a contracting company for the oil industry, 7 days a week from 6 AM to midnight. Oh, he had a day “off” every few months but that was only because the quarter had just ended and literally the next day they started a new march of insanity, all for the numbers. Dozens of workers, hundreds; they all swore at each other, it was a disaster of over-stress and anger, and it was actually more common to find divorced people there than not.