The Dreaded Driver’s License
We moved to a small town in Alabama from a very large city in Georgia. Before I describe my experience the other day at the license and tag office here, let me describe how it worked when we lived in the large city.
When I needed to get my license renewed, I tried to figure out the day it would be least likely to be crowded. There was no such day, so I picked a day, got up early (and by early, I mean 5:00 a.m.), arranged child-care for my kids, and planned to be in line by 7:00 a.m. at the LATEST, since the office opened at 8:30. Upon arriving, I would find the line, 50+ people long, winding along the sidewalk, down the street. Finally at 8:45, some lazy-already-having-a-bad-attitude women would step behind the counter and begin “helping” people. The line would move mostly indoors where there was a Six-Flag-ish contraption I would weave around. If I was smart, I would begin reading a Jane Austin novel, knowing I probably had time to complete the entire book. In reality, I probably carried a Southern Living magazine and got bored with it after ten minutes, after which time I people-watched and sighed in exasperation.
Around noon, my stomach would begin to growl, but I was not about to give up my place in line, only 10 people back. By two o’clock, I would be at the front of the line, getting my mug shot, paying IN CASH ONLY the exhorbitant fee (you can’t believe how many people did NOT know that and had screaming fits after waiting in line for hours!), and walking out with my license. And that was on a good day.
So back to small-town Alabama. At 12:30, I decided to head over to get my license renewed. Nothing special about the day–I just picked it because my license expires later this month, and I was in the area. I pulled into one of the three parking spaces available in the 30-car lot. DD3 and I walked through the security scanner and headed through the doors into the office. There was one person ahead of me, so I stood behind him and waited 2 minutes.
When it was my turn, I verified that all information was correct and handed over my old license. This was actually sad for me. My picture on that one was good, for the first time in my 20 years of driving. I hated to give it up, knowing I will never again have a good license photo. It just isn’t normal.
Sure enough the lady took my picture and gave me my paper copy. (Here in Alabama, we’re not quite up to speed–you still have to wait 2 weeks to get your real license in the mail.) My paper copy does show my picture, however, and I guess I’m happy to report that I’ve joined the ranks of normal people, and I once again have a horrible license photo. It looks like a mug shot. But at least it only took five minutes to get it!
I was back in my car by 12:45, home by 12:50, and curled up in the “biggie chair” with DD3 to munch on my salad while we watched “Barbie’s Princess and the Pauper” for the zillionth time since Christmas Day. I like our tag office, bad picture and all!
February 7th, 2006 at 8:42 am
You just livd in the wrong county in that big city. I’ve never had to wait more than a couple of hours, and that was years and years ago. The last time I had my license renewed, it took about 20 minutes.
February 7th, 2006 at 12:44 pm
I have recently gone through the BMV dance. Son1 had to go through the process for his “temps”. We didnt know that you needed to have your birth certificate, a bill with your name/address on it and two forms of additional identification. Needless to say, after waiting in line for a good part of the afternoon, it was our turn and we were turned away. Though they did give us a “front of the line pass” so we could be first in line when we came back with the appropriate items. Yes, everyone in line glared at us when we came back, not understanding that we had already done our time in line. We then came back 6 months later for the real license, with all the appropriate documents again, waited 2 1/2 hours while the robotic employees took care of the numerous people ahead of us, without EVER cracking a smile. I didn’t think that was physically possible but I saw it for myself. Fast forward a year and I went through the same scenario with son2. This time I remembered the birth certificate but I forgot MY license (switched purses the day before UGH!) Off we go with another front pass and back we come 3 days later as this was Friday and they are closed Sat, Sun, AND Mon. Needless to say son2 was whining all weekend that he couldn’t practice driving, because MOM kept him from getting his temps on Friday afternoon. I can’t believe that in 4 more years I have to go through this with son3.