Typical Day
Special agent Mike Anderson rolls into the parking lot at 8:30AM. As always, he's one of the first agents at work. Agent Anderson, known as an IRS CI (for Criminal Investigation) likes to get an early start on the day. As his commanding officer back at boot camp used yell at him between push-ups, "The enemy never rests, and neither will you." Anderson's always taken the phrase to heart.
Even when he's sleeping. (He dreams of catching bad guys.)
Walking through the front door of the IRS Field Office, he signs in with the front desk. He says good morning to the security guards as he signs in, and jokes about the game last night. By 8:45AM, Agent Anderson has logged into his computer. He checks his emails, replies to a few, then pulls up the first spreadsheet of the day. It's 8:58AM, and Agent Anderson begins fighting crime by checking its taxes.
Around 12:30PM, Agent Anderson takes his first break of the day. After sorting through hours' worth of financial data, Anderson believes he has enough evidence to obtain a search warrant for the tennis club he's investigating. The owner of the club is suspected of racketeering. Such meticulous analysis takes a lot of brainpower, so Anderson refuels with a nice pastrami sandwich.
At 1:00PM, Special Agent Anderson returns to work (the enemy never rests, but probably eats every once in a while). He spends the next hour putting together the search warrant.
By 2:00PM, the documents are ready to be sent up the chain to get approval from a judge. While waiting for approval, he sorts through his notes for tomorrow's briefing. A charity in town has suspicious amounts of cash going through servers in the Middle East, and Anderson spent the day before interviewing various board members. It's not quite the interrogating he dreamed of doing as a kid, but it beats crunching numbers all day.
Just for kicks, Anderson takes out his badge. He pretends flipping it out like agents in the movies, flashing it around the office to whoever will look. It's a playful reminder he uses to motivate himself to continue fighting bad guys. The math sometimes gets in the way of that.
At 4:25PM, the call comes in: the judge approved Anderson's search warrant. He spends the next hour or so getting his team together. A dozen agents from the IRS, FBI, and local law enforcement will head to the tennis club's offices the following morning, early enough to cause a headache and late enough to cause a scene. No one's doors will come down, but Agent Anderson is fairly confident that justice will be served.
By 7:00PM, Anderson says goodnight to the security guard, making rhetorical bets about how the team will play tonight. He then drives the dozen miles back home, back to his life away from the office. He goes to bed at 10:00PM, eager to get up and math some criminals into prison tomorrow.