I live outside of a very small town, pop 2000, so we are required to do business at the Township Offices. Several years ago I was renewing our annual dog licenses. I presented the rabies certificate to the gentleman behind the counter. The certificate, which came from our Veterinarian, had boxes to indicate what type of vaccine had been used. Specifically whether it was a live vaccine, modified or killed. The box marked 'killed' had been checked. After several minutes of intense study the man very kindly pointed out "Sir, if the dog is dead you do not have to renew it's license." It was difficult to match the seriousness of his tone but I did my best and explained that the dog was indeed alive and killed referred to the 'type' of vaccine. I don't know if he believed me but he did take my money and issue new tags. What events have you witnessed where you've just shaken your head and thought "This could only happen in the movies."
Many years ago when my father, who was an amputee died, my mother was told she would have to return his artificial leg to a dept of Social Services. I rang them for her and told the lady on the switchboard what I needed. For some strange reason, she must have thought it was a real leg, because she said it was nothing to do with them and asked if it was packed in ice! I know this could have been very upsetting to some, but I knew that my father would have found this extremely funny and would have laughed his socks (sock!) off! In the end I had to put the phone down as I couldn't talk to her without laughing!
I do know about babies in my country who are less than one year old, and who get charged $20,000 (or more) income tax because the tax collector claims they have a job.
Of course, it's just a hilarious mistake of the tax department, but they must have thought that it is never too early to start paying taxes!
(Well, the baby was probably very special, because when I was a few months old, I had no income! And it took me many years to reach a situation where I had to pay $20,000 or more tax!)