Not That I'm Bitter

Ah, the DMV. Everyone hates it, but here in NoVA it's even shittier than everywhere else.

It's only open during the week while I'm at work, and for four hours on Saturday mornings. So when I first moved here and needed to get my driver's license, I figured Saturday was my only real option. So I showed up on a Saturday morning, right around when they were supposed to open.

There was a line out the door of easily a hundred people. There were no parking spaces available, and there were at least five other cars circling the tiny parking lot, waiting in vain for someone with a parking space to emerge. I turned around and went home.

The next weekend, I figured I now knew what was up, and I planned to arrive an hour before the DMV opened, hoping that would be enough to beat the crowds.

It was not enough. No parking spots, but plenty of illegal parking on the neighboring street, which was filling up fast. I snagged a forbidden spot, desperate to get a place in line that would actually get me inside the DMV before it closed.

I stood outside in line for two hours, reading my Harry Potter book. Then I got inside, and discovered the largest waiting room I've ever seen. There I waited for another hour, and finally in the last hour I took care of business and got my license. I returned to my vehicle to discover a parking ticket: not surprisingly, area law enforcement officers were well aware that there would be a number of illegally parked vehicles on this street, and they were patrolling the area like high school principals eager to give out detentions. Nice reliable bit of revenue for the state. Maybe they should use that extra money to extend the DMV's fucking weekend hours.

Not that I'm bitter.

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last updated 2 years ago #