Ridiculousness…my tax dollars at work

Some of you may remember that my daughter had to have major surgery in May of 2009. It was a very difficult process of pain, recovery and defiantly a new path for this mom to be sure. Thankfully now all is well. The DD had her one year check up with the orthopedic surgeon several months ago and he has given her a clean bill of health. The surgery was successful in stopping the progression of the curvature of her spinal column and in Orthopedic terms this means they have cure her Scoliosis. Jesus is awesome and so is our orthopedic surgeon, not to mention a total cutie patutti as well, but I digress!

In the months that followed the DD recovery one of the precautions we put in place was to get a second set of books for her to have at home. She was not allowed to carry anything heavy for the first year after surgery. This was not a big deal the doctor issued a medical note and I went and picked up the extra set of books.

Wouldn't it be great if that was the end of the story.

I had to give the school $100.00 as a deposit to assure that the books were retuned, which in theory I had no problem with. However as with most government bureaucracy goes it has now snowballed into a comedy of errors that is now bordering on the ridiculous.

At the end of the school year, we are talking the end of the 2009/2010 school year when my DD was in Middle School I took her books up to the office and turned them in. Did I get an immediate refund…well no that would of course be asking to much. I had to wait to be issued a check from the school system. They checked off my receipt verifying that all five books had been received.

This is a critical piece of the ridiculousness puzzle that you need to remember.

 

So I dropped the books off on May 17th and then received a refund check in the amount of $54.37 on June 23….hmmm can you spell error!

I got on the phone with the school system, which are now all on summer break and explained that I did not receive my full deposit back. The told me that all the books had not been returned.

NOT SO I SAID…I HAVE AN INITIALLED RECIPET IN MY HOT LITTLE HAND STATING THAT YOU RECEIVED ALL THE BOOK ON MAY 17…

Well Mrs. Be Still and Know you will just have to wait until school gets back in session to contact the bookkeeper at the middle school to resolve this matter.

WHAT!

Weeks and weeks go by…..finally school get’s back in session.

The middle part of August I sent the book keeper at the middle school an email along with a scanned copy of my initialed and checked off receipt stating that all the books were received and that I needed to get the full refund owed me..

   

You can read her response. She has a copy of my initialed receipt of all the book and will put in the necessary paper work and apologized for the delay, HOW SWEET…

That was in August of 2010……

Well who can keep up, not me.

I totally forgot about all of this and then I was cleaning out some piles of paperwork next to my computer I came across my neat little pile of stapled documentation with my detailed notes of conversations and dates.

A phone call was made and I again had to explain all over again about me having my initialed check off receipt for the received book and that I needed to get the full refund that was owed to me….DUH!

Again more checking and more phone calls and more emails.

Finally on January 5, 2011 a refund check shows up issued to my DD, hmmmm interesting since the money needed to be sent to me not the girlchild, and not to mention the check is issued from the High School and not the Middle School…but hey at least I got the money right…..

The next week a second check comes issued from the county board of education issued in my name, now I am shaking my head because I know that I have to get back on the phone and find out exactly what is going on.

When it rain it pours.

That same week the DD brings home a notice from the High School that informs me that there is an overdue fine for an outstanding text book, at this point I think my head may have exploded!

It’s a fine for the very same text book that has caused all the trouble from the very beginning. The very same text book that I carried up to the office in my hot little hand and got an initialed signed receipt saying that I had turned it in and the very same text book that after I walked out of the office seemed to drop of the face of the earth.

Are you sensing my frustration?

Maybe I should cash both checks for the pain and suffering that I have experienced.

Calgon taker me away….because this is ridiculous!

It’s been a week and it’s only Tuesday!

R