Sunday, May 17, 2009

Department of Massive Vacillation

So last weekend I drove back down to OC to spend Mother's Day with my mom.  Being the dutiful son that I am, and all that. 

Had some mail waiting for me, most notably four separate notices from the DMV.  Curious, I opened them on the spot.  

The first was nice. Dated May 1, it was an Order of Reinstatement for my driver's license.  Now, for the past several months (since being convicted of driving under influence), my license status has been in question, because earlier the DMV had told me that they wouldn't revoke it. But then I got messages from my insurance carrier telling me they needed proof of reinstatement. Which means someone thought my license had been suspended. 

So before I moved, I went over to the DMV to get it sorted out, which turned out to be a rather painless action. 

Thus the official notice from the DMV was no surprise; it was nice to see. 

Then I opened the next envelope.  Also dated May 1, this thicker missive was an Order of Suspension. Something to do with my insurance, which made zero sense, because as far as I know my insurance company loves me (especially with the higher premiums attendant with the DUI conviction, oh joy).  

Well, this was troubling. 

I still had two envelopes to open, so I figured I may as well find out what those had in store for me before I freaked out. 

The next one was a notice that my registration is due in June.  I'm not going to get started on the subject of paying more than two hundred bucks for registration. It's total... just... it's... okay fine, I'm not going to get started. Bullshit is what I was going to say. If I was going to get started. Which I won't. 

Anyway, I just kinda shrugged at that one and proceeded to the fourth and final DMV letter. 

It was dated May 4th, the day before the Order of Suspension was to go into effect (and almost a week prior to my reading it).  The single sheet read Order of Reinstatement.  I blinked and checked the date again. Then shuffled through the other Orders.  Came back to the May 4th one, read it again. It appeared I was all good.

I hadn't even had to do anything. 

Now, I'm certainly not complaining, as such -- I'm terrifically glad that my driving privileges were somehow saved at, apparently, the eleventh hour.  

But seriously: What. The. Fuck.  

I rather suspect this all may have come about because some bureaucrats needed to make their quotas to keep their jobs.  Nothing else makes any sense.  But reinstating and revoking my license on the same day -- at the very least it's a recipe for confusion.  If I hadn't had the new paperwork on the same day, I would certainly have been sitting there for three or four days trying to figure out if my license was good or not (and basically freaking out).  

Bloody pencil-pushers. But I guess everyone's gotta make a living... right?

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