I got up at 5 am to get my son to the airport yesterday. It's on the other side of Cleveland so it's a long trip in rush hour traffic. Poppy's mother in law drove, because our car is DOA for the winter. Interesting trip. While driving home I mention that I need to get my Drivers License transferred from New York to Ohio soon, so she offers to take me and Poppy (because hers expired) at 1:30 in the afternoon.
At 11 am a knock at the door was the in law who would like to take us right then. So Poppy and I scramble to get all our identification together and make up on for our photos.
I knew that Ohio accepts out of state licenses and that I would need proof of identity and residence, 5 points. In New York you needed something like 12 points so finding 5 was no problem. The trickiest part was getting myself decent looking in 5 minutes.
At the license bureau desk, I request my Ohio license and then the clerk mouthed things that were spinning through my head like one of those bad dreams about high school, where you don't know where your classes are and there are 13 floors in the school. She handed me a book of Ohio traffic laws and said that the testing center will be open in 15 minutes and that I had to take the written examination first. OMG! High School nightmares!
Poppy was prepared,not that she studied, but she was knew it was coming. I was already worried about passing the eye exam, my glasses were broken and I only had an older pair. Now I had to take the friggin written test too. So I spent the next 15 minutes speed reading the Ohio Drivers Manual. Some things had changed since I took the test ALMOST 40 YEARS AGO!
Wait! The story gets better. I squinted and passed the vision test, although I am fairly short and pressing my head against the machine to keep the light on was not easy. If I didn't stand on my toes the light went out and I couldn't see the letters. But I passed.
Now the written exam. I was nervous to say the least. Miss 11 out of 40 and fail. The first few were a breeze. Then came one of those trick questions where every answer was the same and none of them seemed right. Incorrect! crud. A few more correct and another incorrect. Argh! I was sure I wasn't going to pass.
Poppy finished and was out of there. She moved to the next step, while I still struggled. Finally a passing score. Whew! What a relief. Taking my paperwork I return to the first counter. When I get to the clerk I'm told it might take a while, BECAUSE ALL OF THE COMPUTERS ARE DOWN STATEWIDE!!! And they had no idea when they might be back up.
Poppy didn't know this as they didn't announce it to the twenty other people sitting, waiting. As our driver was sitting in the car waiting for us, I thought it would be best to leave and come back another day. They swore to me that I wouldn't have to take the test again and that it was already in the computer, you know, THE ONE THAT WAS SHUT DOWN STATEWIDE!!!
So that was how I spent the first half of my day. And this is how I spend most of my days.
5 comments:
Wow, what a mess!! And I find it weird that you have to transfer your driving license from one state to another... I know it's a big country and all that, but in Spain you get a national driving license, that is now also valid all over the EU, so there's no need of getting another even if you move country across the EU!
I know, the US is weird. Each state has it's own laws, own regulation. There are National Guidelines to follow, but each has it's own government.
Ack! That makes me crazy. It's like the DMV/RMV is specifically set up to mess with you. I have to get mine renewed this year. Wonder if an exam is involved? For all I swear at other drives, imagine if I fail.
We had to take the test again too. I sweated it out and barely passed.
No doubt you are hell on wheels & a complete menace on the roadways so it's probably for the best that you not have a license! Bwahahaha! ;)
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