Here We Are In March

March 12th a month since the woman in Child Support Supervisor land assured me that my file was being forwarded that day for judicial review so that a court date would be set. I have been waiting by my mailbox for a notice from the Florida Department of Revenue that a hearing has been set. Now that a month has gone by, I phoned my usual contacts on the toll-free "customer service" line.

Your time in que is more than 12 minutes. Actually, it was more like 15 minutes before an unfriendly young gentleman answered the phone. "I'm calling for case status," I said hopefully.

"Are you on speaker phone?" was his response.

"What? Oh, no, I'm calling from my cell phone, is the reception that bad?"

"No, nevermind. Has paternity been established?"

Oh! red flag goes off in my mind. Why is he asking this? Why is everyone asking this? I tell him that, yes, paternity was established and they have a signed birth certificate in the file. "Why are you asking? Is there a problem?"

I imagined him peering into his computer screen. "Well," he said after a few seconds. "There's no actions. Nothing to report. That's it."

"What's it?"

"There's nothing new on your case. That's all."

"No," I responded, "that's not all." I patiently coaxed him into reading what he saw on the screen. It went by pretty fast, something about last action February 7th.

"What happened February 7th?"

"Did you not hear what I just read to you?" said the voice of customer service.

"Well, it went by pretty fast, would you mind re-reading it, please?"

"Well you can contact the local office, all I can tell you is that there are no actions."

"Yes, I know, but I can't call the local office, I can only call you."

"Oh, you have to go down to the local office."

"Would you please tell me the date that my file was forwarded for legal review? Can you tell me what it says on your screen?"

"It is awaiting paternity review. Anything else?"

"You mean my file is not in or on its way to legal review?"

"No, it is not. Have a good evening."