Drivers License Saga
I realized last week that my driver's license had expired in October 2020. At the time, the DMVs were shut down and they had a 60 day extension for licenses expiring. Clearly I was way past that window of opportunity now.
As soon as I realized the issue, I tried to go online to renew that way. The system wouldn't let me. It was forcing me to make an in-person appointment at a DMV office. I searched every DMV within 50 miles and the soonest appointment I could find was July 29th ... more than a month away!
I obviously had to call and talk to somebody, but the office was closed for the Juneteenth holiday. When I tried on Monday, I kept getting a message that all available operators were assisting other customers and to try again later. No hold, no waiting list, just try again later. I kept trying and a couple hours later actually got a please wait message.
After 30 minutes on hold, the customer representative I spoke with was as helpful as she could be; but she told me that I would have to go to an in-person appointment because my legal presence hadn't been established. The fact that I've lived in the commonwealth for almost 20 years, paid taxes, own property, work here, and have been licensed the whole time apparently didn't establish my legal presence. I had to bring a copy of my birth certificate to the appointment. I told her I couldn't wait over a month for an appointment because I had to drive to work every day. She put me on hold so she could search for any cancellations in the area.
While she had me on hold, I decided to do my own searching through their website. I checked everything nearby and just happened to find an open appointment for that same day at 1730 (in just two hours). I booked the appointment and let the customer rep know I had found one.
The appointment was at a DMV about 30 miles from my home, which translates to about 45-50 minutes normally. However, the appointment was during rush hour, so I left shortly after hanging up the phone. I made it with about 15 minutes to spare and arrived just as a thunderstorm hit.
Fortunately I was able to complete my paperwork, get my temporary license, and complete the transaction in less than 20 minutes. The folks there were very helpful! I got pretty wet just running from the car to the DMV office, so it will be interesting to see what my new license photo looks like when it arrives though.
Boy oh boy was that a hassle I didn't need to deal with for the past few days. Needless to say I'll be adding the expiration dates of all my cards, credentials, etc. to my calendar now so it doesn't happen again.
Day 27 of 100
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