Purgatory, otherwise known as the DMV

What did I do to deserve this????

I'd been thinking about getting a NY driver's license for some time, since my TN license expires next April. So on one of my summer Friday afternoons when S&S let us out early, I decided to go to the DMV. I had put my passport and Soc. Sec. card in my purse that morning, and I filled out the application form I had printed from the NYDMV web site.

I got to the office and waited in a long line, finally getting up to the counter where the official handed me... and application (see above--I'd already filled one out). He directed me to a second, slower line for the photo and the first ID check.

I get to that counter--finally--and get the privilege of meeting Prince Charming. Seriously, this guy was a textbook case of office rage in action. He's muttering about how people don't understand all the crap he goes through and then he gets made out to be the bad guy and they're yelling at him and they ought to try working his job for several hours... you get the picture.

I didn't say anything, not wanting to antagonize him further, so I handed him the application and my passport/SScard/TNDL, and pulled out my health insurance card for additional ID, asking if he needed that too. Mistake #1. He yelled at me, "NO!" and shoved the card back across the counter. Then came the photo... and the camera malfunctions, so now he's practically growling. He barked at me to step out of the picture range while he fixed the camera, then barked at me to step back. Man, he needed either some serious counseling or a new job! [The whole time I was in the waiting area for the next counter to open, I was eyeing the guy the way you might eye a mad dog snapping and snarling at the end of a chain-- I wondered if we might actually have someone going postal on us before I could get out of there!]

So now I had to wait until they called my assigned number before I could get up to a third counter. This time, my wait was over an hour and a half! But they called my number, and I got to the counter where I had to show my ID again... and I was turned away because I'd made the apparently critical mistake of grabbing my old SS card that had been laminated years ago (which makes it hard to verify the card's authenticity).

That's three hours of my life I won't get back, with nothing to show for it but frustration. I've NEVER had that kind of experience at a DMV, or any bureaucratic office, for that matter. No wonder people hate the DMV!

Oh, and in case you're wondering, yes, the date really was Friday the 13th. I'm not joking. I'm not a believer in the whole Friday the 13th and superstition kind of thing, but obviously the person who started that superstition spent a day at the DMV.