Figuring and figuring

I figured it would be easy to apply for unemployment and in a way it was. First, if you make any money at all, it appears that you'll reach the upper limit of compensation, which in my case is less than a third of my former salary. Going through the application process online is pretty straightforward, although at times the government speak is so opaque that you have to kind of wing it when answering a question. Whatever I did, I did wrong and when I got to the end of the application, I was told to call a claims person in the Madison office. I did that, and the woman who finally answered could obviously see my application on her computer. It was never clear to me what I'd done wrong, but she asked a few questions, then I asked if I had any of my own. She sounded both bored and annoyed, but I chalked this up to seven hours or so spent answering the phone in a cubicle five days a week. Big mistake. I'd already sensed that one should not trifle with the unemployment people. All the online and print stuff that they provide to the applicant suggests that unless you tread the straight and narrow and follow their directions to the letter, you will be fined and perhaps prosecuted. But for some reason I'd concluded that the claims person was my ally. So instead of asking brief questions that required even briefer yes or no answers, I asked, "Now, the print material says that mailing in resumes is frowned upon, unless that's the common practice in your field. That's the common practice in my field, so are electronic applications. Is that a problem?" Long pause. Then, the formerly bored and slightly annoyed woman at the other end of the line snapped, "Read the material that will be sent to you. It will explain the process!"