Thursday, February 18, 2010

All in the Name of Being Legal

So according to the law down here, you're supposed to obtain a driver's license before sixty days. You'd think that would be plenty of time but it actually slipped away pretty fast.

When I first got down here I was staying in temporary housing. When I finally found a place and got a different job, that was when I had the wisdom tooth issue. After that there never seemed to be time because like most new jobs, there was a probationary period that you couldn't take time off.

My first attempt at getting my driver's license ended after waiting in line for an hour only to be told that I needed an original birth certificate in order to apply. I told the woman I checked the website and I didn't see where it stated I needed a birth certificate. Her response to that was yeah the website is very confusing but it's on there. I left the office mad enough to choke somebody.

I had left a nice amount of my paperwork up north with my mom so she had to mail me my birth certificate. Now she mails me my bills express mail, but my birth certificate she sent regular snail mail. It finally arrives in the mail and I plan to go at some point during the week.

I got lucky when my training class let out early which meant I could head to the Driver's License office. You'd think that there wouldn't be so many people there at 1:00 on a Wednesday afternoon. Oh well, I had to suck it up and get in line.

After standing in line 45 minutes, I produced all the paperwork the woman asked for and felt like I had accomplished a small victory. She directed me to another lady who handed out numbers and after securing my number I went to finally have a seat.

Two hours came and went and I felt like a lottery winner when my number was called, I practically sprinted from my seat. The office didn't accept any type of credit/debit cards just cash and checks. I had my BFF check the website to see how much a new license would cost me and after looking around my car for a $1 in change I had the exact amount $24.

The lady ahead of me was taking forever and the processor in another line took pity on me and said I could step to her counter. I gave her all the paperwork and after her typing a word a minute, she finally had all my info stored into the computer.

"That will be $25," she said. My face was so flushed, you'd have thought I wasn't black. I asked her to repeat that and again she said $25. I leaned in whispering that I thought it was $24. She said yeah it was until about two weeks ago, we got new computers so it went up a dollar. I was screaming all kind of obscenities in my head. I quietly asked her if I could run to the car, to which she loudly asked "WHY?!"

I explained in my most hushed voice that I only had $24 on me. She told me to wait a minute and got up from her seat. She came back with a dollar and told me a story about how she was $1.64 short at Walmart last week and how embarassed she was. Two men in line behind her gave her enough to pay her bill and she wanted to pay it forward by helping me.

I thanked her and ran out of that office. I know that I'm next in line to pay it forward for someone else but man, was I embarassed!

9 comments:

Nina said...

smh
get it together texas!

Jade said...

lol. I HATE being short money. It's one of the worse feelings in the world for me! I carry a credit card for that very reason. Not sure if it's because I grew up on the poorer side, but I'm always paranoid that my debit card is going to be declined (even when I know I have money). I was cool that she gave you the dollar.

lol.

As for all that other stuff, I always hear about how annoying the DMV is, but I've never actually experienced it. Thank GOD!

Trish said...

Nina-Thank you! Funny they don't take cards but they sure did digitally fingerprint me!

Jade-I vowed that day that I need to keep more cash on me. You are so fortunate to not have to deal with the DMV, it's insane!

Jameil said...

Why were you embarrassed?? Totally not your fault! But yay for that lady & yay for you for paying it forward! Also, I need them to get their website together!!! I HATE BAD WEBSITES!! PUT YOUR INFO ON THERE!!!

Young woman on a journey said...

um, a couple of things:

-why is their website that confusing? why have a website at all then?

-why don't they take credit or debit? who walks with cash anymore?

nevertheless, it was really nice of that woman to give you the dollar!

Trish said...

Jameil-I guess the fact that I didn't have a dollar bothered me. But yes, they need to get their freaking site together.

YW-I think they have the site just to confuse people! I never carry cash but I need to make a conscious effort to try to keep some on me. I'm grateful that she was kind too. Maybe I will get my opportunity to help someone this weekend.

Rashan Jamal said...

No biggie. Nobody, but me, carries cash anymore. I'm a need them to stop adding stuff to the fees and not announcing it. That's wack.

And it's 2010... why the heck they don't take cards?

Not so Anonymous said...

I've been here seven months and I don't have a tx license yet. I don't plan to get one until my cali license expires. I do have my tags, though...and that whole experience gave me a headache for a few days.

Nina said...

UMMM...it's been over a month...

(i'm just sayin)

lol

hope all is well!