Thursday, September 13, 2012

I'm Going to Say Something Nice About the DMV

I'm going to say something I would have had a difficult time imagining myself uttering before I moved to rural Nebraska-I had a positive experience at the DMV.

Halfway through the month when my car registration is due, I realised the card never arrived. I knew this would require a trip to the DMV, and I was really dreading it. In Chicago or Boston, this would have been a gigantic headache, with hours spent waiting before finding out you didn't have all the proper documentation, etc. Admittedly, I've never had to wait more than five minutes to do anything government related in Saunders County (hell, I think that's about how long it took us to get married at the courthouse-and that's not exaggerating), but I was still bracing for a hassle.

I brought my birth certificate, my insurance card, last year's registration, my passport, driver's license-I even brought my kid along in case they needed someone to verify my identity. I needn't have worried. In under five minutes I had my new registration and was out the door to put the sticker on my plates.

Don't try that in Cook County (geez, the memories I have of hours spent in line at Elston Ave. because my dad would wait until the day before he needed plates, and then freak out in a panic that someone had to go do it for him because he couldn't spare the time. Why he never renewed by post, I'll never understand, but once he actually suggested I fly halfway across the country on two day's notice to renew his registration so he wouldn't have to go stand in line. I didn't do it. I'm pretty sure my sister refused as well. It was worth an expensive airline ticket to him avoiding the DMV, which should give you an idea of just how much it sucked).

So here goes:
"I had a great experience renewing my car registration today!"

That still sounds weird, like some out-of-body thing where it sounds like my voice, but the words don't make sense.

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