kings county clerks like to chat

I am still having important mail forwarded to me from Brooklyn, so a few weeks ago, I received a jury summons. Once I got around to taking a look at it, I realized I had missed my summons date. I called the Kings County Clerks' Office to find out a) how to change my residency with them and b) if I was in trouble. The clerk who answered the phone, upon hearing that I now lived in L.A., barraged me with questions for the next half hour: have you seen any celebrities? what's the weather like? how much do apartments cost? are you an actress? have there been any earthquakes? I politely answered all queries, especially because I had still not found out if I was in trouble. Eventually, problems solved, I managed to get off the phone with an exchange of well-wishing. The most surreal part of the experience was that the entire time I was talking to the clerk, I had no idea if I was on the phone with a man or a woman.
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