AKA: Use "The System" to your advantage.
Monday morning I get an email from the court: The plaintiff has filed a motion, at 10 am, to continue the case to another trial date due to the plaintiff witness being sick.
I'm ecstatic, and, being the layman I am, I think that's that, the trial is postponed. Yea! But then don't see that the judge has ruled on it so I think "I better call the court." Nope, the judge hadn't ruled on it, I was told to call back in a bit to see if he does. I call back an hour or so before the trial time and still no word from the judge.
So I download the Microsoft Teams software and select what I thought was my courtroom. To ease my nerves, I decide to have a can or two of beer. Waiting, waiting, waiting....nothing is happening, I'm sitting in a blank virtual room, sipping, of course, more tasty beers.
By 4:10 pm I figure the session was in fact cancelled so I call the courtroom to confirm this. Nope, the plaintiff attorney DID show up at the 3:45 pm court time and I wasn't there. Whatsmore, the judge thinks I hadn't attended the mediation back in May either. The clerk on the phone says I should talk with the courthouse IT guy to find out what's up with me not logging into the virtual courtroom. I talk with him, we test out my ability to log in and it works fine. I'm forwarded back to the clerk who says I should file a motion to correct the judge on the mediation and to ask for a retrial date since I couldn't log in though I tried.
I show up at the courthouse in downtown Sebring the next morning and file the emergency motion to rehear or reconsider. Today, I get the decision of the court: The judge acknowledges my attendance at the mediation and my attempt to attend trial virtually and grants the motion. New court date set for October 5th. Yeh! Justice prevails and I can get my day in court to make my case and possibly win my case right? Um....no.
As with the original trial date, I never had any intention to appear. I have no defense. I attempted to do so Monday because a.) I was drunk and bored and figured...eh, what could go wrong...people usually can't tell when I'm drunk unless I'm REALLY fucked up so I should be good. b) I thought the plaintiff might not show and maybe, just on the cock's hair fine chance of luck, that I'd be granted dismissal in my favor.
In hind sight, I'm glad I was too drunk to figure out how to log in. Maybe I "passed" for the clerk and the IT guy, but maybe this judge could have alch-dar and would have "made me." That might have been bad. I think it could be contempt of court showing up to a trial drunk, virtual or not.
This "win" has emboldened me to upload supporting "documents" to my food stamp case since, online, it says I already conducted the phone interview. These bitches with these government jobs are so lazy they'd rather lie than do their job. Fine by me. My documentation, pretty much just an explanation of my case, is uploaded and processed so now we'll see. If it's the same worker, she'll do best, I would figure, to just rubber stamp the approval. Looking too deeply into stuff would be actual work. Can't have any of that now. She too want's to fight, for her right, to party!