This morning I had a hearing at the Court House about the increase in my child support. The way it works is that a group of people are scheduled at the same time (say 9:30) and then called into the room in smaller groups. I was waiting with a small group of guys out in the hallway. We were all just sitting there quietly waiting to be called in.
At one point three large African-American women came down the hallway to the door of the hearing room. I saw one of the women look over to the guy sitting on a bench to the left of me and sort of laugh quietly. Then the three women found a bench at the other end of the hall at which two of them sat and the other stood, talking quietly to them. The man to my left gave me a look that I knew to mean “Okay, here we go”.
Not long after, the woman who had given this guy the look walked over to him. I didn’t know the nature of their relationship, but none of us were there because we have great relationships with our significant-others. He is sitting and she walks right up to him and hovers over him. Nobody speaks for a moment then she asks, “Where is your girlfriend?”.
“She dropped me here and went to work”, he replies – speaking very quietly. He knows what’s coming.
“She went to work?” she asks, as if that was a ridiculous thing to do – speaking a little louder. Then she give a little giggle.
He is holding a cell phone in his hand. I noticed that it didn’t have it’s back cover on, exposing the battery. She see this too and asks, “Where did you get that phone?” in a manner that suggested he shouldn’t have his own cell phone. “Let me see it”, she demands as she is reaching for it. He surrenders the phone and lets her inspect it.
She mumbles some things to him and then hands back the phone. All the time she is hovering over him as a mother scolding her child. Then she gently grasps his face by the chin. The man tells her not to touch him, speaking quietly.
“I can touch you!” she exclaims.
I wanted to speak up and say, “Actually, you can’t. He doesn’t want you to, so you can not.” The entire time this is going on another guy sitting on a bench again the opposite wall and I are exchanging looks of disbelief and frustration at this woman was doing. Eventually she went back to the other end of the hall. You could hear her talking and giggling with the two women she came with.
Finally six of us were called into the hearing room. It was a small square room with the Judge in the far corner and benches along the two closer walls. Women to the left and men to the right. We were all sworn in together and told to take a seat.
I was second to last in the order so, I got to hear most everyone else’s stories. Two were there to have paternity established, one to have his support set and one guy was granted a continuance of 90 days so he could get bank records from five years back to prove he made support payments to his ex-wife and didn’t owe back support.
When my turn came I got up and took a set at a table. There were two guys from the Department of Revenue sitting behind stacks of manila folders. They read my name, Syria’s name (still listed as her married name – not her most recent married name but my last name) and our case number. Then he said something quickly that I couldn’t make out. To which the Judge replied that the hearing would be continued. I looked to the guy from the DOR and he explained that since Syria had not shown up or called that they didn’t know if she actually wanted the increase or not. They needed time to contact her.
“Oh, she wants it,” I thought to myself. “She wants it bad.”
I asked if I could just agree to the new amount of $927.00 and that be the end of it. They both looked at me and paused. I think this was unexpected. The Judge, who at the mention of a continuance started writing up his official judgment, looked at me and said, “You mean after I already wrote all this?” I looked at him, unsure of how he meant that. “It’s okay,” he said with a smile and a wave. He was joking with me. That was unexpected. He had been serious and efficient in any dialog he had with the DOR guys and everyone who had sat in this seat up til now.
“Yes, I’d like to agree to the amount.”
“Okay” said the Judge.
The two DOR guys started writing again and one said to the other, “Then we will wave it being retroactive and start it on seven twenty-six.” He looked at me and told me that meant I would not owe any money. They could have made the higher amount starting back when the first filed the paperwork – meaning I would have owed $127 per month for the last few months on top of paying the new amount next month. That would have blown big time.
As one of the DOR guys handed me a slim blue slip of paper showing my modified support amount he said to me, “Maybe you could talk to the other father’s out there.” He was joking, of course. I wanted to tell him to screw himself, but I said nothing. There was no point and nothing would be gained by it. They are doing their jobs.
I understand the need for the child support system. Unfortunately, there are people who shirk responsibility and this is a pretty big responsibility to be shirking. What sucks is that someone who doesn’t do that can be pulled into the system and treated as the shirkers are. And for no reason than a woman wants to.
minutes… all perfectly acceptable for the price! The motors, sensors, gears and remote control all seem to be working. I plan to hack into it and see what can be made of it. There are plenty of sites about Roomba hacking, so I should be able to find something. So far I’ve been reading the forums on