I don't mean to cause trouble.
With my birthday around the corner my driver's license was about to expire. One afternoon I thought I would be proactive and get it renewed early. I waited in line for about
45 minutes, which isn't all that bad, and finally got called to a station. I passed my vision test, I provided proof of address, I was starting to think this was easier than what I was expecting. This is when I should have remembered that nothing is easy when
I'm involved.
The lady behind the desk looks up from her computer and tells me that I have an unpaid ticket that I need to take care of before I can renew my license. This comes as a surprise to me because I
haven't had any tickets in years. Turns out the ticket is from 2006.
This is how I remember it. The tags on my car had expired and it was about a week passed the grace period. I was given a $66 ticket for that.
No big deal. The next day I went to the DMV and renewed my tags. I thought I sent my ticket with a check in the mail. I never thought about it again. I never heard about it again. Apparently, I never sent the ticket in, or I can't find any proof to support
that I did. Since my ticket was never paid it went to court. I never received a summons, or I threw it away thinking it was junk mail, so I didn't show up to court and the judge had no choice but to find me guilty. Therefore, my license was revoked until I
paid the ticket. I have been driving around for seven years on an invalid license. Another funny thing is that in that seven years I passed a background check, I was pulled over for a broken headlight, and it seems this mark against my license never showed
up because no one ever told me about it.
The lady then told me I had to fill out all this paper work, pay some fees, and take the driving test again.
In one day
I paid the ticket and fees, obtained an OJW clearance letter, paid the reinstatement fee, took the written test to get my permit, passed the vision test again, paid for my driver's permit, took a bad photo for my permit, took the driving test, paid for the
driving test (*which has it's own complicated story), passed the vision test for the third time, paid my driver's license fee, took another bad photo for my new license, and after that marathon at the DMV I am finally legit!
*To get my driving test done that day I had to go to an independent driving test center just two doors down from the DMV.
They charge $50.00 which was worth it to me to get it resolved that day. Unfortunately, the woman who was running the transaction was new and didn't enter the amount in properly. Instead of entering 50 decimal 00 she entered 5000. She charged me $5000.00 instead
of $50.00. I didn't have 5000.00 in my checking account so my card should not have cleared, but it did. Fortunately, the office manager noticed it right away. Unfortunately, they should have voided the transaction but instead they
ran a return, which takes three days to post back on my account. We even called my bank's merchant services, and they turned out to be worthless. So I had to wait around three business days before my account was in good standing. Since this happened on a Thursday
three business days meant the return didn't post until Tuesday morning because the weekend doesn't count. Like I said, nothing I'm involved in is easy.