Liberty Tax Service’s wavers are people too

The rapid approach of April 15th means deadline for most working Americans, but for some workers it means the end of a steady gig. From early January through the tax-extension deadline, the “wavers” of Liberty Tax Service are on street corners and sidewalks across the country, waving, dancing, sign-shaking, and doing anything else they can do to garner attention.

Everyone’s seen them. But who are the people clad in aqua-green sheaths of fabric with those bouncing foam crowns atop their heads? These Statues Of Minimum Wage Tax-Attention Liberty are the men and women who spend hours in the cold, the snow (each of the following interviewees tried to work after February’s blizzard), the rain, and the nice days too. What do they think of the gig? And would they come back next year?

Paul Kruse, 43
Milwaukee and Elston

The A.V. Club: How did you become a “waver”?

Paul Kruse: There was another Liberty Tax office at Lawrence and Pulaski—they had these people out there waving, wearing costumes. Then I was riding the bus down there, and I had seen people working for this Liberty Tax place. I saw the sign in the window, and I started working for them beginning in 2007.

AVC: What do you do when you aren’t working here? 

PK: I sell ice cream; I’m a vendor. You see the Spanish guys pushing around the carts; I’ve got a bicycle one like that. And then I work for the Salvation Army too, in December, as a bell ringer. The bell ringer and the Liberty [job] have a lot of similarities—standing outside and being very visible and noticeable.

AVC: You’ve been out there for a while. How do people treat you?

PK: Some people are very nice. They’ll wave at you, beep at you; girls will sometimes blow kisses. Then you get the other people who say their obscenities and [make] gestures, and stuff like that.

But people in general are cool, you know. It’s like, when you’re working for the Salvation Army, [people] understand that, really, it’s bad for some people in the world. But people still will buy me a hot chocolate or a coffee as a bell ringer and as a Liberty Guy.

I had a bad incident with some people. One time I did have a gentleman flip me off, with girlfriend [driving] the car. She got up to the next light and stopped, I walked to the next light and I flipped him off back. We got in an argument, and everybody has cell phones now right? Someone called the police and said he was harassing me, which he was. The police did offer to arrest him, but I didn’t feel like spending my time going to court for it. That was one of the experiences.

Some of the other wavers, people have thrown beer bottles at them. Some people are very negative about who we are. I feel like some people get upset at us because people aren’t happy about having to pay taxes, either. People get mad at the government, and that’s something I have no control over. 

AVC: But would you say people are generally decent?

PK: I do like the nice people, the nice reactions. When children come, we blow up balloons and stuff, we hand out little foam crowns, we do things for St. Pat’s Day. We do a lot of things at the holidays, Presidents’ Day and stuff like that.

AVC: Do you have any of your own moves when you’re out on the street?

PK: I just hold up the sign; I wave a lot. I don’t really do the guitar or [anything] like that. We had one guy—he played an acoustic last year. I’m not a guitarist or nothing. I just try to get their attention by the waving, mainly. Sometimes I’ll go walking up the street. If I go to the store, sometimes I won’t even take off the costume.

AVC: Will you return to being a waver next year?

PK: Come back next year? More than likely. We’ll see, but it’s a tough call. There’s job agencies and stuff, but most jobs are out of the city now. I used to work out in Elk Grove—they didn’t even have any work out there either.

Sometimes people yell out the window at us to “get a real job” or something like that. It’s kind of ignorant, and they don’t understand what’s going on in our world or our economy.

 
Lester Sierra, 26
Irving and Kimball

AVC: How did you start waving?

Lester Sierra: I started in January, beginning of February. I was working at a European bakery, but the city shut it down. I found Liberty on the Internet, on Craigslist. At the beginning, I started in the afternoons, but I switched to mornings because I’ve got another job. They let me switch.

AVC: How have people been treating you when you’re out on the street?

LS: Well, some are nice, some flip us off. We don’t pay attention to them. We just keep doing our job, trying to do our best. 

AVC: What do you want people to know the most about what you do?

LS: The main thing is, let them know that Liberty Tax office is right here, and we are here to help them doing their taxes. 

AVC: What will you do after tax season is over?

LS: I don’t know. Probably my other job will go full-time, I don’t know. I do food delivery.

AVC: Do you like standing out there for hours at a time?

LS: Yeah—it’s fun, you play your own music, you try to have fun outside. It’s nice. People see you, they wave at you.

I saw people pass by, and they came back to do their taxes in here, so yeah, we’re getting the job done. 

 
Ricardo “Ricky” Garcia, 17
Western and Lawrence

AVC: How’d you become a “waver”?

Ricardo Garcia: I went around looking for jobs, went around applying, and that’s how I got this job. I saw it on Craigslist. I saw the ad; it said, “Get paid to wave.” I was like, “This sounds pretty cool.” I got here, I applied—I think it was in December, and then they called me around January. I’ve been working since then.

AVC: How have people been when you’re out there?

RG: It’s mixed feelings, but mostly good attention. You know, people honk, they wave at me, they smile. I do get asked a lot, “Oh, how much do you get paid for this?” It’s a mixed feeling—people are like “I wouldn’t do that.” Or “That’s pretty cool.” I’m not gonna lie—people do mean mug. They just stare hard. 

I had one guy flip me off, but I was just like “whatever,” you know? I’m not gonna deal with that. Mostly it’s good attention. I’ve had people actually ask me, “Can I take a picture with you?” I’m like, okay, sure.

AVC: What would you want people to know about what you do?

RG: They should know that I’m human too. I’m not some sort of tool, or whatever people say. I’m just a person; I’m doing my job. It’s fun, you know—some people think that it’s like, “What if you have to go to the bathroom?” They think my boss keeps me hostage or something! This lady came up to me, and she asked what if I had to go to the bathroom, can you use it—it’s like, well, of course! I have every right to go inside. My boss even told me, when it’s cold out there, when it’s raining, you can come in. 

It’s a nice job, you know? It’s about having fun; you can goof off.

AVC: What happens after tax season?

RG: [My boss] is going to keep me for another week. Then that’s it. I’ll be done until next year.

AVC: So you want to come back next year?

RG: Yeah, I’ll probably do it if I don’t have a job. I’ve been also looking for another job, because after this I got nothing else to do.

AVC: Do you have any special moves you’ve developed while you’ve been out there?

RG: When I first got here, she showed me a video that was like, “This is what you can do.” You can do all sorts of things, like juggling; you can exercise, like do jumping jacks. Air guitar—that’s what I do a lot, because I’ve always got my music on. I’m listening to my music, I’m air-guitaring—I’ll be walking around, jumping around. I’ve seen videos—she actually showed me videos of people spinning fire and I told her, “I can breathe fire,” but she’s like, “That’s going to be a problem.” Yeah, I just stand out there, air guitar, listen to music. When people know I’m air guitaring, they’ll be throwing me the [metal] horns. I’m like “Yeah, okay, that’s cool. They know what I’m doin’.”

AVC: Do you ever feel like you’re helping people when you’re out there?

RG: Yeah! I feel like I want people smiling at me. I feel like they wake up some day and feel all crappy, they see me goofing around, and it’ll probably make their day a little bit. Something like that, yeah. I feel like I make people happy, make ’em smile. That’s cool. I like making people laugh.