2002-07-18 - 10:54 a.m.

On the internal soundtrack: "America", from "West Side Story"

So, finally, about four months late, I got my Pennsylvania Driver's License on Monday.

Poindexter and I arrived at the PENNDOT at 10:06am. We got a little ticket. The ticket said, "Estimated wait time: 2:25".

Silly me, used to the surprisingly efficient Virginia DOT, thought that meant "two minutes, twenty-five seconds."

Nooooooooooooooooooooooo. Two and a half HOURS.

My number was 176; the number currently being served was 65. No more than half of the windows were open.

I really shouldn't have been surprised, but I was anyway. With a wait time like that, and since we needed TWO utility bills and not just one like I'd brought, we left. I stomped my way back down Market Street (sans AT-AT, alas) and tried to keep my head from exploding.

See, in my work, I get a great deal of pleasure and fulfillment out of being efficient, and making order out of my boss's chaos. So the incredible inefficiency of the PennDOT is almost more than I can take. What makes it worse, of course, is that it's government bureaucracy that will never go away. If it was a business, I could take satisfaction knowing it would go under soon. Not so with a government agency.

So anyway. Poindexter went out to the construction site today, so he had to give up. I returned an hour later, with my computer, to find that the current number was 85. Gah.

I left, again. Went to Staples to get some software for work, went to McD's, had a little picnic by myself on a bench. Came back. Current number was a surprising 109.

Then I sat there for another hour and a half and worked on my computer, sitting on the floor. I saw a lot of people come in, look at their number and the currently-served number in disbelief, and walk out.

I also saw:

- An old man with a big black plastic garbage bag stuffed into his waistband (?)

- A woman wearing a shirt upon which was printed a likeness of what appeared to be her very own self

- Several young men in shorts so long they'd become capris

- A woman wearing a shirt that said, "When I look around & think things over, all of my good days outway my bad days. Thank you lord, I won't complain!!"

- A guy with a small oxygen tank on his back, tubes in nose

There were also various young hotties in tight clothes, which must have made the wait somewhat more bearable for the young men.

Around number 169, they announced that some machine was broken; come back tomorrow. About 25 people got up and left. I'm surprised there wasn't a riot. I felt like rioting myself, until I found that it wasn't the new-licenses machine, it was the duplicate-licenses machine, so I was still going to get my license.

They actually let you re-take the picture if you don't like it. I just wanted to get the hell out of there, so I just kept the original photo, even though my smile had frozen and faded when it was taken. Check it out:

So, now I feel like it's official. I really live here. I am a resident of the City of Philadelphia.

I LIVE in the CITY.

I said I was gonna, didn't I? :) I should never have doubted it like I did.

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