frustration

I called my state dept of labor recently to inquire about an ID appliction that had been submitted back in November in anticipation of a new business that would be starting up this month. We had not received a number nor any correspondence and even though the opening has been delayed until late March I was getting concerned. When I finally got through to a human she at first claimed they hadn't received it, then magically found it on her desk - it was just about to be processed - but then I made my fatal mistake. I mentioned that our first payroll would be coming up next month.
"You mean you haven't issued a payroll yet? We can't issue a number until you have issued one payroll."

Never mind that the payroll processing service needs the ID numbers and that the state applicaction form reads "When do you EXPECT to have your initial payroll"?

So, catch 22 and with a polite click of the phone back to square one on the application.