This Is What I Get for Mocking the Competence of the Federal Government

Way back a long time ago I used to work for a federal agency located just off the Baltimore-Washington Parkway. When I was in graduate school I spent a summer working for a contractor that worked on contract to said agency.

During the time that I was actually working for them, I kept in contact with them. I filled out paperwork when they asked me to. I let them know when I was leaving the country. All that kind of stuff. But it's been over 10 years since I last worked there. You would think that my status would have expired. However, I do know that I never officially signed away my status when I left. I was expecting to go back to work for them, but life intervened.

This morning I was IMing with my co-author, and he was joking that we should spend Christmas in Mexico, and I quipped that I couldn't leave the country. He asked if they still cared. I said that it was unclear.

My dad just called. My parents just got in the mail a big brown envelope from the defense contractor. I suspect that I have about 10 years worth of paperwork to fill out. Maybe next time I'm in the city where they're located I'll be able to sign enough paperwork so that I won't have to deal with this again.