Monts ago I got an envelop from a bailiff
office. My name, address were correct. Only
the initials weren't mine. The letter contained
a claim for someone who had not paid his cell phone
subscription.
http://kurort.komkon.org/~maramoy/psihoz/kafka.jpgI kindly sent the letter back with a note with my excuses
for opening the enveloppe. That I thought it was mine,
but that i don't have a cell phone subcription.
Not at that company nor anywhere else.
http://kurort.komkon.org/~maramoy/psihoz/kafka.jpgI must add that their letter was very demanding.
It said it was the last warning. It had to be paid
within a few weeks. Without any delay or the amount
would be increased etc. etc.
http://kurort.komkon.org/~maramoy/psihoz/kafka.jpgNothing happened for weeks.
Then about a week ago I received another letter. It was
put in my mailbox by the bailiff himself, when he
found me not home. The same name with the wrong initials
but with exactly my address.
http://members.rott.chello.nl/e.visser25/VanBalAf.jpgThis time it contained a warrant to appear at court the
next week. I totally freaked. I called them the next day
to ask them to stop with this, that it was not about me,
that it was not funny to get warrants in your mailbox so
what was going on.
http://kurort.komkon.org/~maramoy/psihoz/kafka.jpgThey said that they got my address from the
municipality. They even had got my correct birth date.
They got the name from the company and had to
get the right address with it, but stupid people
at the town hall had probably mixed up two names.
(agreed, I have a very common surname)
http://members.rott.chello.nl/e.visser25/VanBalAf.jpgWell they were gonna check the whole thing over again.
Those phone companies are said to have a very
bad administration. They agreed to stop sending letters
so I hope everything will be all right now.
http://kurort.komkon.org/~maramoy/psihoz/kafka.jpgBut for a moment I really thought I was living some Kafka-esque
nightmare. Standing in front of a jury pleading.
http://www.tanto.com.br/kafka-b.gifHave you ever been victim to some bureaucratic messing up?
http://www.andiearbeit.de/frames/screenshots/kafka.gifand is bailliff the right word in this case?
― erik, Tuesday, 25 March 2003 16:58 (twenty-three years ago)
Closest thing I've got:
Years ago, I was living with a woman and her kids. Said woman had a nervous breakdown in the wake of our break-up, and for various reasons I stayed living in the house, and took care of the kids for awhile. One morning, after the two older kids had left for school and I was making a peanut butter sandwich for the youngest, I heard the door banging around -- went out to the living room to see what it was, didn't see anything, so opened the door, caught sight of the youngest kid wandering around the corner of the courtyard. He'd been out of earshot for however long it takes to make a peanut butter sandwich -- call it five minutes if I was being slow.
There was a police cruiser parked out there still, because sometimes they parked by the bus stop to make sure the mass of kids waiting for the bus were okay/all got on the bus as they were supposed to. The cops asked the youngest kid what was wrong, he said he was "locked out" (the door was heavy, he wasn't strong enough to open it), and as I was walking up to him to reclaim him and bring him home, they asked how long he'd been outside and he said "hours."
Investigation began for criminal negligence; I was cleared, but the concurrent family services check-up determined that my ex wasn't fit to raise her children, and that I didn't count as a caretaker, competent or otherwise, since we'd split up. She had the kids taken away from her for a year, during which time they lived with her parents several states away and she was allowed to see them only with a social worker present.
― Anonymous Guy, Tuesday, 25 March 2003 17:33 (twenty-three years ago)