Thursday, April 16, 2009
If you see Diana Buie dressed as the Statue of Liberty playing an Irish jig on the side of the road, then you can be sure she’s having fun, and getting paid for it.
Buie is a “waver” for Liberty Tax Service and her purpose is to bring customers in. Liberty Tax Service hires wavers temporarily during the tax season. Having someone wave to customers makes them more at ease when they come in, says Sue Simmons, owner of Liberty Tax Service.
Look at me!: Liberty Tax Service hires “wavers” to put customers at ease about doing their taxes.
“It’s about taking down the intimidation of the word ‘taxes,’” Simmons says.
Buie, a KU graduate, says she was attracted to the job when she saw another waver.
“It looked like he was seriously enjoying himself, so I wanted to have that job,” Buie says.
She plays her “violenla,” a three-quarter-sized viola with five strings, which adds something unique to the job. She plays traditional Irish jigs.
“People pull over quite a bit and let traffic pile up,” Buie says. The strangest of these occurrences was when a woman pulled over with a parrot on her shoulder, Buie says.
“The woman was a violin teacher and thought my violenla was the coolest thing,” Buie says. “I thought she was the coolest thing because she had a parrot on her shoulder.”
There are drawbacks to the job, Buie says. You have to work in the rain and remain moving for 50 minutes at a time.
“Hyperactivity is wonderful,” Simmons says. She looks for people who love to dance and are larger than life.
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