Back before my eldest turned 18 I had to contend with the fact my ex turned my life into an episode of Jerry Springer when she dumped me for her step-brother who was in prison for killing a man to protect a drug network (talk about your shots to the ego). Despite this horrendous scenario I was ordered to pay $350/month for the privilege of having my son taken from me.
Don't fret, she has since left him and moved on but all-in-all she has 3 children by 3 separate fathers. Thankfully, she also got really fat, so...HA!
Florida is a rather "helpful" state. If you have a support order they will garnish the amount owed each month. As far as I was concerned it saved me the hassle of stamps, envelopes, filling-out a check etc. However, when I re-enlisted for the National Guard the garnishment was also levied against my monthly drill checks of which they were taking 50%. In other words, I was OVER-paying.
When I moved to Colorado I recieved a letter that I was in arrears. As I had stayed employed and was still enlisted I was curious as to how this might come to be. So I phoned the FL Dept of Revenue where they assured me my account showed I was showing a surplus. Sure enough, the online account tracker showed this as well.
The next month I received another letter claiming arrearages and another phone call gained me another reassurance that I was showing a surplus...larger than previous month's (the amount of which was coincidentally 50% of my drill pay).
The month following I received yat another letter this time threatening to suspend my drivers license. This was no small thing as I had a Class A CDL which was required for my job with Halliburton. Again, I was told everything was in my favor; surely this was just a glitch.
The next month the glitch suspended my license. A check with the Colorado DMV showed the glitch had infected itself nationawide. I was told I could not return to work until my license was reinstated.
Every day for 6 weeks I was on the phone no less than 3 times a day speaking to a horde of bureaucrats who at best had no concern for me. I tried being pleasant, I tried cajoling, I tried screaming. I was told to hire a lawyer at $250/hour to contest my innocence. Consulting a lawyer revealed he could not do anything I was not already doing, i.e. file and wait. I was told once you level a complaint they register a ticket and have 30 days to act on/ignore it. If after 30 days nothing happens you are free to register a second complaint which begins another 30 days for them to set you aside.
At long last I got the one bureaucrat that actually cared (maybe she was new). practically in tears over the financial ruin of being out of work she gave me the number to a supervisor. I pleaded with the supervisor. Surely, I said, this all came about because someone hit the wrong button. If only someone would be brave enough to hit the other button this could all be resolved...I just needed a little bravery for my side. The records were all there. Everyone could see the truth of my cause. Why wouldn't anyone act?
She acted.
I was notified 3 days later that my license had been reinstated. Of course, just because the Dept of Revenue ****s-up doesn't mean the Dept of Motor Vehicles gives a rat's ass. If I wanted my license truly reinstated I had to pay the customary $75 just like every other deadbeat parent or drunk driver. Of course, living in Colorado meant I had to pay a courier a further $75 to stand in line for me.
So, 6 weeks later I was back on the job though I had lost 6 weeks of pay (BTW - I was ineligible for gov't assistance during this time because I was the bad guy, deadbeat parent in the eyes of the system that said I was overpaid). And I had to pay $150 to get back what was rightfully mine, wrongfully taken.
The ONLY upside to this is the fact that had they not been double-dipping from my monthly National Guard check I WOULD have gone into arrears. Their incompetence ultimately saved me from their incompetence.
I doubt this would ever making onto their lovely little liberal website, though. They love stories about how evil and mean the government is...but never stories about how incompetent and apthetic it becomes. They love the idea of government so long as they're the only ones in charge.
