So I get home a couple nights ago to find a notice from the DMV.
Fuck.
Before I even open it, I know what it is.
I forgot to pay my registration.
My registration that was due in September.
It wasn't that I don't have the money. I had simply misplaced the first notice in all the chaos of the remodel.
I had simply forgotten.
Stupid. I know.
So I think about going online then and there and paying it. But that will still mean waiting for it to be processed and for the tags to come in the mail.
Then I decide that I will just take advantage of one of the services I get for paying to be an Auto Club member.
I will go down there before work and get the tags there.
Sweet.
Cut to the next morning...
I get to Auto Club and I am right: There is no line.
I tell the woman at the counter that I need to renew my registration, which is late.
As I start to write the check, she says "Wait. Just wait. This is REALLY late. I need to check to make sure this amount is right."
Um. OK.
I tell her that since I just got that notice the day before, I am pretty sure it is correct. But OK, sure, check it out.
Of course, it was the right amount. Late fees and all.
Damn.
So I go back to writing the check.
"You know," Ms. Auto Club says snarkily, "You know, this is REALLY late. You are REALLY lucky you didn't get a ticket."
What the ...?
OK. I pay for Auto Club for various reasons. One of those reasons is so that I do not have to go to the DMV to get the attitude there.
So I look up from my check writing. You know, that look where you don't actually raise your head, just your eyes.
I look up from my check writing and I say "You know, I REALLY don't need a lecture from you. It's late. I get that. The late fees are a good reminder of that. Things get forgotten. It happens. Can I please just have my tags now?"
"Here you go," she says as she handed me the tags.
I find that as I am getting older I have less patience for people in general. And I find that I am more likely to just say whatever is on my mind without stopping to check myself.
But was I out of line? I mean, it's not like I called her a cunt or anything.
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7 comments:
That last line is priceless. And no, you weren't out of line at all. Someday I'm going to be as bold as you and Jacque are, though, and I'm going to tell people to quit their shit on my watch. Honestly. I went 10 months w/o registering my car last year. And the lady was nice about it. Of course, I don't live in So. Cal. You tell, 'em, girl!
Yeah - I don't know if it's my age or the fact that I have a kid now, but I tend to speak up way more than I did 15 years ago.
Snarky sometimes, too.
She was being a prick. You handled it right.
Cool. I pretty much felt fine with it.
I guess I am just trying to figure out when I became this person who just lets fly with that stuff.
I never used to do that.
not remotely out of line.
If it makes you feel any better my tags have been expired for about 15 months. If I get pulled over here I'm in BIG trouble.
One of my first blogs was about me forgetting that both my car tabs and my driver's license expired on my birthday. So I spent most of my free time that day taking care of that.
No, not out of line. In my book anyway. She was just being rude. Although my approach would be to look at her with no expression and say something like, "Yes, and I'm so glad you pointed that out because I never would have realized it on my own."
My tags expired earlier this year, and I got pulled over. I told the cop I didn't remmeber getting the renewal notice, becuase i always send it right back in, and he said he thought they sometimes just didn't send them, and no ticket, just please get it taken care of. He even smiled. And at the County Clerk's office I explained and they didn't charge a late fee because if I said I didn't receive it, it might be their fault! I think I had fallen into the Twilght Zone that day.
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