So, do want to know how I spent my morning? I was trying (unsuccessfully, I might add) to get an Indiana driver's license. It didn't seem to be that big of a deal. I've done it before--back when I was sixteen and then two years ago when I had to get a Virginia driver's license. Now that we have moved back to Indiana--a state that doesn't think any other state's driver's licenses count for anything, I need to get my license switched back. I have already been to the BMV twice, but was unable to get the license because it was either too late in the day (you have to be there an hour before closing) or I didn't have my birth certificate with me. Today, since I had everything I thought I needed, I decided to give it another try. I knew I would have to take a written test (didn't have to do that in VA), but I was confident about that part. After standing in a long line, I went up to the counter, thinking everything was cool. I hand the girl my Social Security card, my birth certificate, my old Virginia license, and our first utility bill from our new house. Well, guess what? My name wasn't on the bill; only my husband's was. Okay, so I get that. The girl goes through a list of all the things that can be used for proof of residence, and I have none of them. Here is the list: 1. a child support check stub--my husband and I are married and raising our children together--don't have that 2. Bill or benefit statement--nope, don't have that--haven't received any bills with my name and new address 3. Indiana driver's license, ID card or permit with photo--well, duh! I just moved from out of state--don't have that 4. Indiana surveyor report--don't know what that is 5. Indiana residency affidavit--Huh??? 6. Voter registration card--hello! don't these people get it??? I just moved here 7. Valid Indiana vehicle or watercraft title or registration--how would I have that???? So the girl asked me if I had a bank account, and, yes! I have that! I needed a bank statement, but I haven't been here long enough to have received one, so she said all I had to do was to go back to the bank (I had already been there to make a deposit prior to my BMV trip) and get the teller to print out a statement that had my name, account number, balance, stamped and signed by the bank teller with today's date. The girl even asked me if I wanted her to print out the list of what she needed from the bank. Of course I said sure, because I would never be able to remember all that (oh geez, I'm being patient!).
I take the paper to the bank, the teller of course doesn't have a statement, but can print out all the information needed. He does that--even double checks that everything is there. He signs, stamps, and dates it. I take it back over to the BMV, stand in that icky line again, and the girl looks at it and says, "Well, this doesn't have your address on it." I say, "Well, you printed out exactly what I was supposed to get, and that is what I got." She says, "Well, I'll just check to make sure." In the mean time, she asks the other check-in girl if she thought the statement was enough. The other girl said, "Oh sure, I accept all kinds of things as proof of residency." Instead of my girl letting it go at that, after all, you can't get a checking account without an address, she holds her hand up for someone else to come and give her opinion. I was still feeling patient and pleasant.
Then something ugly happened that turned my pleasant demeanor sour. The other woman said to my check-in girl, this has to have the address, it's for proof of residency, sometimes you just have to spell this out to these people! Okay, now I'm mad and my face is turning red. Spell it out for these people? What? I politely said, "I know what you are saying, but I got the exact information I was told to get. '' I could feel my face getting hot. I was angry, not because I was disputing what they were saying, it was just the condescending way they were speaking to me. It was humiliating. I am not confident that I will have the required papers by the end of 60 days, so whatever. I'm just going to drive with my Virginia license until the last possible minute.
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