Friday, March 22, 2024

Driver's License Rant.

 I'm 100% over the rant-stage at this point; and I have to add that a trip to Arby's helped in that situation. My driver's license was up for renewal and had to be done by 3/31/24.  Today is 3/22/24, and I happened to be off from work at noon today; yay team!  So, I decided to drive to the tag agency, which is where we get our licenses in the state of Oklahoma.  I rolled up to the place and walked right in. There were only two people in front of me.

    As I walked up to the counter I could clearly see a big orange sign stating that they had reached their capacity for doing driver's licenses for the day. It was barely after the noon hour and they're open until 5:00 p.m.  There were literally TWO people in front of me. I wondered if they were even allowed to take off at noon; they aren't. It's a government-run facility, and they don't get half-day off-with-pay type benefits. 

    When I got to the front of the line I was asked if I wanted to make an appointment to have my license renewed. No, I don't want to make an appointment, I'm here! I wanted to renew my license. Apparently, they don't do it that way anymore. I don't know when that started as my last license was renewed in 2020. It was confirmed in the "Pandemic" and I walked into the place without a mask and got the darn thing. Today, I have to set an appointment! 

    There was a young man sitting by the driver's license photo thing and he said he had been there 3 hours waiting for his appointment because he couldn't make it, leave, and come back. He lived too far away. That's crazy! There were people in the office right there who could have helped him. They were moving so slowly, and intentionally not looking at him. I thought "Wow, these people are both lazy and rude."  I know I'm correct on that one. 

    Anyway, they only had appointments for times in the month of April. They were booked solid unless you walk in at 8:01 a.m. and they have someone who decides to help. No thank you. I'm complaining to the Governor and I hope others do as well. This method is highly unproductive and it causes anger and unnecessary hardship on people.  I left the office and drove four miles to a tag agency in my smaller township of Bethany, where I grew up. Luckily, there was only one person in the entire office! Woo Hoo!

    They still wanted me to set an appointment, but I managed to talk them into doing mine between the three appointments they had scheduled for after 1:00 p.m. today. It was about 12:45 and she said she'd do it. YEA!!  I was really happy about that.  She asked for my driver's license of course, my passport and another form of proof to show where I live. Are you kidding me?  I mean, I keep my passport on me, but I don't keep mail on me.  I asked her to look up my car registration and she did, and used that. Geez Louise!

    The four-year renewal was only $21.50 and because I'm 62 it was only $17.50.  That's cool - - but you know what really hit me is that we have to prove so much to get a dang license, but they'll let illegal undocumented people into our country and allow them to have I.D. cards without any I.D.   They can literally say their name and address and get the I.D. card without proof! That's not acceptable. 

    I am an American citizen and I had to prove my address three different ways. I had to show proof of my insurance for my car tag, and I had to prove my identity through a valid passport as well.  The 2024 election will likely see millions of voters who have no right to vote, but because they have an I.D. they will claim to be an American. I am not sure if their cards are different from ours. I would hope they would be.  I can't shout it loudly enough - - we need reform!

    There should be a way to go online and renew the licenses as well. If they accept my passport they should be able to look it up online and see that it's valid.  If they accept my car's registration they should be able to link that information as well. I should not have had to drive around and beg someone to take my photo for my license. We have the means of doing that through an app as well.  That's how I did the passport photos.

    It's only a little rant, but one that needed to be done. I'm just so tired of people (usually the government) making things too hard on all of us - - just don't.  Remember to vote those into office who you feel will actually do something for us; not harm us. I think there is a way to do this all online, but I didn't know that until today - - which wouldn't have helped me. You need to do it about a month in advance. I thought I was doing well doing it a full week beforehand. 


Photo Credit:  Zutobi.com

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