Nightmare At The Texas DPS

Sorry this is a kind of a late post. All of this is over as of almost about a week now, but I still kinda feel the need to rant about it here. In case anyone is interested in one of many examples of why bureaucracy annoys me greatly.

So for the third time, Aunt Marina and I try to get our TX Driver's Licenses. ಠ_ಠ

The first time, the wait ended up taking SO long, we just up and left. 

The second time, I apparently didn't have enough documentation to prove that I'm a TX resident. OK... I assumed that there was a little more continuity in the United States here... I figured that I could just move from one state to another, and easily get a license there, provided I could at least prove that I am a US citizen and already have a non-expired, non-suspended, non-revoked driver's license... I was definitely wrong. The Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) Driver's License office seems to be very, I'd even say overly strict about getting a license here. 

So I sit there at the station after a little while of waiting. The computer system actually malfunctioned, causing extra wait time... (Thankfully, you can get in line online at DPS Mega Centers, so the wait was not that bad, relatively.) I identify myself, and say I want to get a new TX driver's license. I then hand over my current Maryland license. Then my Birth Certificate. Then my Social Security card. These official documents should be enough to prove my identity. cool. I've proven my identity as a human being, and resident and citizen of the USA. 

The lady then asks for two official documents proving that I am a resident of Texas. I'm dumbfounded, as I do not recall seeing on the website that I need that. I just remember needing those forms of ID, one of them being a valid license. Then Aunt Marina, who's standing there, in the same situation as me (She's moved down here with us from Kentucky) kinda stands in my defense. 

We do not have anything in our name here yet. First of all, we just got here, and second of all, we are living in Dad's house. Everything is in his name or in Matt's. So now, we have to prove that. The lady hands me her last copy of a residency affidavit. Apparently, if I cannot show I'm a Texas resident, I have to prove that I am living with someone who can prove they are a Texas resident. The lady said we can just get the affidavit notarized and signed by Dad and then we just submit that as well as the two documents he will use to prove his residency.

So we go home, kinda upset that we wasted all of this time. I showed Dad and Matt the affidavit that night and read to them the list of acceptable documents, two of which would be required. The list is rather intrusive on privacy. If you can think of something you think is no one's business, it was on that list. Mortgage stuff, bills, government-issued documents, documents from financial institutions, stuff like that. Then the next morning, Dad went to work, copied his documents, notarized the affidavits, and waited for me and Marina to come to his workplace and pick it up and start all over again...

The third and final time...

A completely candid shot that Dad took of Marina and me being totally miserable

We get in line online. Deal with Navigation again. Show up. Wait. for ages. Then I get called and Marina follows me to the booth thing again. I do exactly as I did last time. I hand the lady my MD license, SSN card, and birth certificate. and the signed, notarized affidavit with the related not two, but four documents. (Dad and Matt decided to do four, just in case one or two of them were not acceptable). She looks at the affidavit, looks up at us, and notices that Dad is not present. She then says that he must physically be here because it cannot be proven that he is related to me. Yes, I admit that my birth certificate kinda doesn't have his name on it... Long story, irrelevant... She said had his name been on there, we could just move right on along. But no. He has to leave work in the middle of something important and drive all the way down here to the DPS just to exist in the same physical space as us in order for us to get licenses. So I'm dismissed and we go to the waiting area. Marina calls Dad and tells him the news. He is not pleased. We wait in line for a century. He arrives, and we all three sit there for another eternity.

Finally we are called. Both marina and I got called at the same time. So I go yet again to a lady in a booth thing. I present my documents. Dad stands there and explains and we move along smoothly. Marina, who is sitting a few booths down from me needs him present too, so he moves down there to be with her. Then the woman at my booth needed him so I had to keep looking down toward him and wait for him to come back to me. He had to show his license, so it could be copied, he had to sign some stuff.  Then he had to do the same thing a few units down from mine. Back and forth, back and forth.

Finally, the never-ending nightmare ends. I get a receipt of the license which is to be mailed to the house. Marina mentions how ridiculous it is that after all this, we still don't even have the actual licenses in our hands. We have to still wait for them to arrive in the post. Dad, completely inconvenienced, said he should have charged the DPS his "hourly rate". ;D Then off we all go, Dad to work, and Marina and I back home.

UGH.

Me and Marina keepin it real, gettin McDonalds iced tea and fries after that ridiculous ordeal

The insane traffic we ran into after the McDonalds trip