Tabitha Twitchit

Julie over at the blog formerly known as thinking about, - through a story of her own - inspired me to tell my story of someone with the same name.

In 2nd grade, we got a new girl to our class. Her name was Christy R_____. Which was my last name at that time. I didn't think too much about it. It's a rather common last name. However, a few months later my mom had come across something funny on her credit report. Come to find out, Christy R_____s' mom was Donna M. R_______. Which was my mom's full name at that time. Weird, huh? Not to mention, they lived only two blocks away from us at that time. Well, it gets even more weird. It turns out that Christy has a younger sister & Donna has another daughter. Named Tabitha Ann R______. My name at that time. Now, how freaking weird is that??? My mom got her credit report cleaned up - it was something that had to do with a mix-up between this woman's name getting attached to my mom. Easy thing to do.
We moved away. I'm sure they moved away & we didn't really think that much more of it.
Fast forward oh, I'd say about 15 years or so.

My mom works at an organization that provides employment to Autistic adults. They were hiring. I was looking for a job. I go in, fill out the applications, get the drug screening paperwork, the background check paperwork. No problem. A few days later, I get a call from the Human Resources lady & she informed me that "something showed up on your criminal background check." I was completely puzzled. Beyond a few tickets spread out through many years, I have never had any police contact. Let alone have been arrested for anything. I call our State bureau of Identification, request a copy of my criminal history (I feel like Alice's Restaurant should be playing in the background while I'm telling this story) and review it. In black and white, I read that I apparently have been arrested for assault and I believe, terroristic threatening. I'm looking at the dates & the age that they're claiming I was at the time. It doesn't make sense. In the meantime, I'm in contact with the Human Resources woman at my mom's work & am trying to explain that there is a mistake. However, she is no longer taking my calls & it is clear that I'm not going to get the job.

My next course of action was that I contacted a Detective with our State Police. I explain the situation. Every time I explain that there is another Tabitha A. R_______ and her mother is Donna M. R________ and that yes, that is my name and yes, that is my mother's name - there is, however, another set of them in this state. But that they're not us. The detective, in his snide way, says, "Well, that is an awfully big coincidence. Don't you think?" You know what, screw you dude. Not everyone you come in contact with lies. Most of them do. But I'm not.

I then have to contact the Attorney General's office. They advise me to go into Family Court and review the records (the other Tabitha was a minor when she was charged). Bryan & I roll into family court, take a look at this girl's file. I'm sure you could guess by now, that her file was pretty thick. I'm looking at all of the info. There's my name. There's my mom's name. But I've never lived at these addresses. I've never been involved in criminal activity. For the 40th time - this is not me!!!!

Through painstaking perseverance and traveling through the levels of bureaucracy, we finally got the charges moved off of my record and put them lovingly where they belonged. Apparently there was a mix-up where they somehow transposed the numbers of her state i.d. number with mine & that's how this had happened.

As I've indicated, I didn't get the job. Even after I sent Human Resources the paperwork indicating that there was a gross mix-up. I always felt that there was something wrong with that, as the HR woman (up until my background check came back) seemed eager to have me employed there.

So, that's a day-in-the-life of me. Formerly known as Tabitha A. R______. This is my version of a happy ending. Because once you really get to know me, you will find that this sort of crazy shit seems to happen to me all of the time.