Preaching to the choir

Real conversation that occurred in my county treasurer's office last week*:

Treasurer's Office Flunky #1: Hey, wouldn't it be fun if we could find a way to freak out like 2,000 homeowners all at the same time?

Treasurer's Office Flunky #2: Dude, that would be awesome! How about if we send them all tax bills that they don't really owe?

TOF #1: Excellent! And we'll say the payment is due Dec. 20th! That'll totally mess with their heads!

(Apparently, TOFs #1 and #2 were named Bill and Ted in a previous incarnation.)
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As one of those homeowners, let me say, TOF #1 and TOF #2, you failed! I was not fooled. I did not freak out. I did not hyperventilate upon seeing a bill for $2,000. I did not picture being foreclosed out of my home and being sent to prison for tax evasion. I did not envision months of tear-inducing phone calls to your office, my mortgage company, and lawyers trying to correct the mistake.

Ok, at least I didn't have any of those reactions for long as the lovely local newspaper had an article about the erroneous tax bills, that were sent to 2,000 homeowners, on its website within about 20 minutes of my receipt of the tax bill. Those 2,000 homeowners, myself included, all have mortgages with the same bank and, like most homeowners, have their taxes paid automatically as a function of their mortgages.

So, ha, TOFs #1 and #2, I knew I didn't owe you any money! I knew you shouldn't have sent me a bill! And I'm not going to spend one more minute stewing about it. The article said I could just ignore the big, mean, nasty bill so that's what I'm going to do.

Well, maybe I'll just make one phone call to my mortgage company next week, just to be on the safe side.


*I have no actual proof that this conversation occurred, but I can't think of any other good reason for the country treasurer's office mistakenly sending out tax bills to 2,000 homeowners whose tax bills are supposed to be paid by their mortgage company.