[cowthulhu]

The author really lucked out that the government employee was not actually malicious. I can think of a good few ways she could have made life much more difficult for the author, even if he was likely to ultimately succeed.

[rgblambda]

Was thinking this too. She could have blocked that number on the (valid) basis that it was intentionally spamming them, and then stopped their benefits.

[johnnyanmac]

Someone maliciously compliant enough to do this probably isn't someone you want to escalate with. Not with a reprimand, firing, or even lawsuit.