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Last Five Entries
Veteran's Day and an Etiquette Question
2002-07-18 - 10:24 a.m.
Thank you Osama!
Okay.. my DMV rant will follow, but first I have an announcement to make... I have met my first weight loss goal of 35 pounds... Yeay for me!
Okay.. end of the pat on the back, begin my rant.
Many of you know that I went to the suburbs of Boston over the July 4th Weekend. While traveling by plane, they require proof of identity now. I had my driver's license in the little pouch they give you for your airline tickets. Well, somehow my driver's license got lost. I was able to make it back from Boston with a credit card and a social security card, and my loving husband to verify I really was travelling with him. That was actually the easy part.
When I got home, I went to the DMV website to find out what documents I needed to bring to get a duplicate license. I figured it would be relatively easy.. I've had a license since I was 16 (wow... 20 years now)... while I was on the site, I applied for a PIN to access the rest of the DMV website. Why did I do that, you're wondering? Well, it's free, and you just never know.
My PIN number arrived on Thursday, and I decided that I'd go to the DMV on Saturday morning and we'll take care of this quicker face to face than waiting.
Anyways, the following Saturday morning, after my love mowed the lawn with the rental lawn tractor, we stopped in at the DMV after returning the lawn tractor. I showed up with my envelope of what I thought were reasonable enough documents. Well, to make a long story short, I was wrong, so here goes the rant.
Has anyone taken a look at the required documents to get a driver's license in the state of Virginia? It's easier for an Alien, resident or otherwise, or if you're on medicare, medicaid the social services role, or if you've ever traveled out of the country to get a driver's license in Virginia than it is for someone who's lived in the state all their life, works a full time job, pays taxes and just generally plugs along.
The birth certificate I brought from a FEDERAL military installation wasn't good enough. It wasn't "real". It had the words "birth certificate" on it, it was dated and signed and everything. The problem was, it wasn't issued by the Commonwealth of Virginia, but if I wanted to, I could go to the Bureau of Vital Statistics in Richmond and get a copy of the "real" certificate, although I'd have to wait for it. I could also send a letter requesting it, but it would take 4-6 weeks to get it. I also needed a copy of my marriage license, which would take another 4-6 weeks or a trip to the County Courthouse in Chesterfield, but since I don't have a driver's license, I'm not supposed to drive.
But if I had a resident alien card, a naturalization certificate, a passport, a work visa, a student visa, a medicaid or medicare card or a statement from my social worker, I was golden.
Oh, and I did have a birth registration card, indicating that I was indeed born in virginia on February 26, 1966 and my birth was registered with the Bureau of Vital statistics. They can't accept that (so sayeth the supervisor).
To make a long story incredibly longer, I showed them everything I could find, nothing would work, no one had any avenues I could explore other than "Geez, I'm sorry, but you have to get the proof we need" (and let's not even discuss the fact that I know they have pictures and information in their system, they could have proved I was who I said I was very simply, but let's not go there just yet.)
Needless to say we were both a bit incensed... to the point the security guard of the day came up to stand behind us (and let me tell you, a 60something year old man, about 5'4" weighing about 130 pounds is intimidating, HONEST!) I gathered up my documents while my love got the name and address of someone we could "address our concerns to".
We got home from the DMV, and I logged on to the DMV website, and within about a minute, I had paid for my duplicate driver's license and it would supposedly be in the mail to me within three business days. No fuss, no muss, no nothing. (Now, I've yet to see it in the mail, and seeing is believing, so I'm not really holding my breath), but after that, I fired off a letter to the Commissioner of the DMV and a letter to the editor of the Richmond Times Dispatch.
All of this because some idiot flew a plane into a building. Well thank you Osama! You and your stank ass has made it even more difficult for people like me to get along in this world.
Why can't you keep your own petty jealousies and whatever to yourself and leave me and mine to whatever it is that makes us happy, or is it that making us happy pisses you off? Ya know... lots of people are in therapy because they're that way.
But it's thanks to September 11, that I have NO freedom to drive myself anywhere I like whenever I like. For someone who's been driving since I was 16, this SUCKS.
(Of course, I'm holding the letter to the commissioner of the DMV until I get my license in the mail. No sense shooting myself in the foot, but this is ridiculous!
Please don't forget to answer my survey... it's research for a small business idea... all comments appreciated, no reasonable offer refused!!! It won't take five minutes, I PROMISE!
