Court = Freak Show!

I went to court today. Not to fight a traffic ticket or serve on a jury. No, I went to answer a petition for a child support modification initiated by my ex. Now, let me tell you, I was pretty anxious over this whole thing. For one thing, I've only been to court twice - once to get a traffic ticket dismissed, and once when I was divorced. That time, my attorney did all the talking, writing, copying, etc. and handed me a pile of paperwork with instructions to file this and such here and there and pronounced "You're all divorced now!" So, my experience with public court has been extremely limited. As Murphy's Law would have it, we were the second to last case to be heard. What this means is that we got the pleasure of watching every other disgruntled couple before us lay their case out (some with "representation", some without). It was a bit disconcerting to say the least. And I certainly never thought I'd be standing in front of a commissioner referring to the man I was married to for almost 14 years as "Mr. Gordon" and he to me as "Mrs. Moore". WEIRD. Anyway, that's neither here nor there. The real freak show was just watching all the people coming and going in their various legal troubles. Like the couple who came into the facilitator's office seeking a restraining order. When the facilitator asked the young man how he knew the "harrasser" he said "we have a child together". Nice. When she asked "who left the house?" he said (laughing) "well, I guess that was me 'cause I went to jail". UGH! Then there was this........woman. I think. She was wearing pajama bottoms, an unmatching T-shirt and had what can only be described as bed head. I'm thinking, I am wearing uncomfortable undergarments, heels and a skirt because I'm in a public court of law, and this heathen wears her pj's to court? Man, I do NOT envy anyone who has to work in public service. It was an unpleasant experience. And I'm glad it's over. For now. What I found out is that it's not really OVER. They enjoy dragging the process out, apparently, so now we move on to "arbitration". Which means I'll get to go back to that skank-hole of a courthouse. NOT looking forward to that.