Don't stand near me. I had a positive experience at the DMV yesterday, and the universe should be seeking balance shortly. Everyone in Providence should be on the lookout for falling satellites and holes opening in the ground on the east side.
I was blessed with having a slightly unusual name and it has caused me all sorts of headaches since 9/11. No, I don't have a name that makes people think I'm a terrorist, but most bearucrats have trouble figuring out what to do with my extra middle name, which means the official shared databases created after 9/11 tend to have my name wrong (at least that's what the social security administraion told me).
The last time I had to renew my liscense I was told I needed to petition a judge to legally change my name because everyone has me listed in a different way. Funny thing is, the individual databases were correct, it was just the stuff they share that was wrong, and nobody had the slightest clue how to fix that. Someone eventually pushed it through but said it would continue to cause me problems in the future.
It all came back again as I was trying to register a new car yesterday. After waiting for almost 2 hours they were about to turn me away. Luckily, my teller had just come back from the doctors' slightly buzzed and instead of being a jerk about it all I made her laugh. She decided I was alright and made it happen for me. We made quite the scene, laughing our asses off while everyone else at the counter was engaged in screaming matches!
I was blessed with having a slightly unusual name and it has caused me all sorts of headaches since 9/11. No, I don't have a name that makes people think I'm a terrorist, but most bearucrats have trouble figuring out what to do with my extra middle name, which means the official shared databases created after 9/11 tend to have my name wrong (at least that's what the social security administraion told me).
The last time I had to renew my liscense I was told I needed to petition a judge to legally change my name because everyone has me listed in a different way. Funny thing is, the individual databases were correct, it was just the stuff they share that was wrong, and nobody had the slightest clue how to fix that. Someone eventually pushed it through but said it would continue to cause me problems in the future.
It all came back again as I was trying to register a new car yesterday. After waiting for almost 2 hours they were about to turn me away. Luckily, my teller had just come back from the doctors' slightly buzzed and instead of being a jerk about it all I made her laugh. She decided I was alright and made it happen for me. We made quite the scene, laughing our asses off while everyone else at the counter was engaged in screaming matches!