Life refuses to be boring

[fuzzyoctopus]

So I grabbed the mail just now, and in it was a rather official-looking thing from the city court.  Hmm, I thought.  Maybe it's another receipt for the traffic ticket I paid.  See, I got pulled over on May 7th, for expired registration.   Got my ticket, which said I had to take it to the court and pay after at least 10 days but no more than 20 days.  

So we got the registration renewed on the car, (which is another story) and on day 11 of the ticket time I went and paid the ticket.  All is well.

Until I open up the thing from the court today, which is a notice saying that my payment is delinquent, and that if I don't pay by June 20th, they'll put out a warrant for my arrest.  Fu-un.

So I call up the court, and go through a nice recorded system to get an operator who I explain this to.  "I'm not showing it's been paid," she says, when I read the case number off the notice.  "Maybe I misunderstood what I needed to do," I say.  "I thought all I needed was to go into the court and up to the desk and pay for the ticket."
"Yes, that's all you need to do."
"But that's exactly what I did," I tell her.  "I have my receipt right here."
"Oh," she says, and asks me for the number on the reciept.

"Hmm," she tells me after a minute of computer-searching.  "You only got one ticket that day, right? You didn't get pulled over twice."  "No, it was just once."  (I think I'd remember getting pulled over twice, as traumatic an experience getting pulled over is for someone who never gets in trouble.)  "Well, it looks like it got entered in twice."

Then she says she'll take care of it for me, and I shouldn't worry.  "So they're not going to issue a warrant for my arrest?" I ask, feeling slightly stupid.  "No, they won't," she assures me, in a tone of voice that suggests she thinks my question was stupid too.

She can think it's stupid all she wants.  I don't want an arrest on my record because some stupid computer made up a traffic violation for me.  Try explaining to a future boss that you got arrested once for a traffic ticket that you already paid and see how quickly they believe you.  I mean, I love computers.  But I don't trust 'em.

Even my days off can't be boring.  

[Gemm: Rock & Roll Star; Born to Rock]

what.. what did you edit?

But yeah, that was lame of them. You can tell them to go stick a pipe in their stove. That'll get them going.

[GorgonlaVacaTremendo]

"Put that in your pipe and smoke it"
This reminds me of what happened to my sister the first time she got a ticket.  In fact, it's the excact same story.  It's kinda creepin' me out....

[fuzzyoctopus]

I edited some of the dialouge.  I'm just self-concious about my writing.

[Lieutenant Kije]

I think it would be a mark of prestige and honor in some circles having a warrant out for your arrest.  You might want to reconsider, Fuzzy.  Think of the notoriety!

[fuzzyoctopus]

Well I've done my part. We'll find out come the 20th if the city court thinks it would be cool

[EUOL]

Tell them they can only issue a warrant on you if they also put out a cool, cowboy-style wanted poster.

[Spriggan]

If we don't see you on the 25th we'll know where to find you.

[Mistress of Darkness]

Just a suggestion (a paranoid one, granted). Write down (as best you remember), when you called and who you talked to (if you had a name) and the date. You'll need that kind of information if they do try to arrest you.

I don't trust operators/customer service people when they say that they are "going to take care of you" because there is no way to check up on them.

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

Which is more or less exactly why we say that sort of thing.

[fuzzyoctopus]

Just a suggestion (a paranoid one, granted). Write down (as best you remember), when you called and who you talked to (if you had a name) and the date. You'll need that kind of information if they do try to arrest you.

I don't trust operators/customer service people when they say that they are "going to take care of you" because there is no way to check up on them.

LoL.  I did, actually.  Hey, I work on the phones now.  I know how helpful it is to have dates and names.