Girls Write Out

Thursday, June 12, 2008

Today, I went downtown to pay a speeding ticket—my first in 15 years. I decided to go with our “Deferment Program”, i.e. I’ll pay extra to keep this little incident off my record and promise to be a good girl for 12 months.

The voicemail tells me to go to 101 Superior St., so I find parking in a garage and walk to the building. Upon entering, I encounter security who asks me if I have a cell phone. Yes, I do. There are no electronic devices allowed in the building. I must take my phone back to my car and return.

It’s hot and humid, I’m wearing black pants, and my car is a block away, but I sigh and do as told.

I return, make it through security, and approach the window. What do you know? There’s no line—it’s my lucky day.

The man looks at my ticket.

“You have to take this to the City County Building,” he says.

“But the recording said—”

“The recording is wrong. Our mistake.”

I sigh again, walk two blocks and reach the right office. I sign the paper promising to be a good girl and take out my cash (Cash or money order only, and I am prepared).

“Oh, you don’t pay here,” says the woman with the coiffed hair and brown lipstick. “You pay at 101 Superior St.”

“But I was just there.”

“Sorry,” she says with an evil smirk.

Did I mention it’s hot and humid?

I walk 2 blocks, go through security again and find there is now a long line at the window. I shake my head and promise myself I AM going to get a blog out of this. I wait for 15 minutes. The woman at the window takes my Good Girl form and I withdraw my cash.

“Oh, you don’t pay at this window. You pay at that one.” She points to the one next to me, the one with the long line.

Of course you do.

One line later, and I have paid my debt for my speeding infraction. I’m not sure if the government is incredibly inefficient or wickedly smart. All I know is, if I see flashing lights in my rearview mirror, I will run for the hills.

Denise Hunter
posted at 8:04 AM
Comments (17)

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17 Comments:

At 9:05 AM, WK said...: Ohh I shouldn't laugh, but that is funny. It probably wasn't to you, but....I'm sorry.

Around here today we probably wouldn't even see the lights with the smoke from the wildfire blowing in.

Have a great day.
WendyK
www.the-keels.blogspot.com
At 9:47 AM, Suzanne said...: You poor thing. You deserve something chocolate!
At 10:36 AM, KristinG said...: Oh, Denise, I could feel my blood pressure rising just reading your post. You were much more graceful than I would have been.
At 10:52 AM, Julie Carobini said...: Incredibly. Inefficient. Incredibly. Inefficient. Incredib...
At 11:25 AM, Colleen Coble said...: LOL! Great post, D. And folks, she was a very good girl the day after she got the ticket. We had a booksigning in Lafayette, and though we were running late, she kept to the speed limit!
At 11:47 AM, Pam Sanderlin said...: Wow! Are you sure you don't live in Istanbul...? Your story sounds so familiar! :) Yep, you got a good blog out of it! And I'll bet you won't speed ever again in your life because you don't want to go through that experience again!!!!
At 3:42 PM, Denise Hunter said...: Thanks for all the sympathy. LOL
And yes, I'm being a good girl now because I don't want to go through that again.
At 4:04 PM, Southern-fried Fiction said...: LOL - that's part of their deterrent program. That alone should make sure you don't get another ticket! :D
At 4:05 PM, Kay Day said...: oooh, I feel all tense just reading that. You could always use it in a book or something.

Isn't that always the way with those kind of places? ARGGG
At 1:13 AM, Kristin said...: Anyone who thinks that government can solve your problems needs to visit the DMV or get a ticket. RIDICULOUS!!! And I swear, they only seem to hire people with those evil smirks. LOL
At 8:54 AM, hotcoffeenow said...: LOL, I love stories like that - it's nice to know things like that don't just happen to me. Was it in Tippecanoe County? I trained the officers in Lafayette, w. Laf, and Tipp county (law enf software) and can tell you they were all laughing their butts off at everyone that gets in your position. I think they do it on purpose (the inefficiency) for their own amusement. Oh, not just in Tippecanoe, but all over the country. The cop who ticketed you chuckled all the way back to his car thinking of your day ahead, lol.
At 9:45 AM, Krista Phillips said...: Hmmmm, won't it be fun when the government runs our healthcare too???

"No Ma'am. We don't take care of heartattacks at this hospital. You'll have to go across town to the heartattack hospital."

*grin* Sorry, I couldn't help myself!
At 12:20 PM, Timothy Fish said...: Unlike businesses, the government has no incentive to improve “customer service.” A business that sends its customers four different places will soon find that its customers have started going where they only have to go to three different places. Government has no competition, and people don’t vote based on how long they have to wait in line.
At 8:53 PM, Ausjenny said...: Oh my thats not nice you wonder how long they have had the wrong recording!
At 3:48 PM, Crystal Laine said...: That was awful. Simply awful. And you described it so well! Made me slow down...(ha)
At 4:36 AM, Anonymous said...: So glad you can pay speeding tickets at the post office here.

Well... sometimes you can. We have speed cameras here that tak a photo of you and send a ticket to the registered owner of the vehicle. If it wasn't the owner driving, it is their responsibility to send it back with the name and address of the driver. Then it gets reissued to the driver. Then, you can pay it at the post office. Or online.

HOWEVER, if you get pulled over for speeding, then you have to go to the licensing centre and pay it there and they are only open like 9 - 4 or some such useless hours. It is very frustrating and there's always a huge line, and it's cash only. Blah...
At 3:26 PM, Valerie Roberson said...: You were FAR more patient than I would have been. You poor thing...