All I wanted was ID cards for Ronnie and Ashley. It will be a while before Ronnie has a driver's license, and Ashley never will have one unless some new technology allows a blind person to drive, so I wanted something official with their picture on it.
I thought it was a fairly simple and straighforward process. Chip looked up on the DMV website what documents we would need (a lot!), and printed out forms to be filled out. We were the first customers of the morning, and because I was so organized, or at least as organized as the DMV website told me to be, we were assigned the first clerk at the DMV within just 60 seconds. His name is Mr. Chuckles. Well, not his real name, but the name I have assigned to him. I and two of my children have dealt with him in the past, and trust me, the sarcastically assigned name of Mr. Chuckles fits him to a tee.
Mr. C started reviewing all our paperwork, turned pages over and over, typed into his computer monitor, and finally said, "I have a problem here." When I quizzed him as to what the problem was, he said I needed a court document showing that Ronnie and Ashley had had their names changed. Seeing as I adopted Ashley over 16 years ago when she was 2 years old, I have no idea how she got into the DMV 'System' with any name, much less her birth last name. Mr. Chuckles wasn't in the sharing mood, and wouldn't tell me anything other than I needed the court papers. I retorted that it would have been nice has such information been on the DMV website, but Mr. C just gave me the blank stare he has obviously spent many years perfecting.
So off we went, back home to find copies of the final adoption papers for Ronnie and Ashley, papers which also addressed the name change. Then it was back to DMV for a repeat of the morning's process except that now it was very crowded and the wait time was long. The good news is that we weren't assigned to Mr. Chuckles.
Our newly assigned clerk took all the papers I had brought, keyed everything into her computer (surely there has to be a better way..), and then said she was going to take Ashley's and Ronnie's pictures. It was all good until the clerk kept asking Ashley to look up at the light. I kept reminding the clerk that Ashley was both blind and deaf, but that seemed to not be sinking in. She took probably a dozen pictures when finally I looked at one and said, "that one's good enough." Then it was Ronnie's turn. As with Ashley, we had specifically asked for HEARING-IMPAIRED id cards - sort of a clue that neither one could hear. But the clerk continued to speak orders to Ronnie, who just sat there and smiled. While there may not be many blind people who frequent the DMV, I feel pretty confident that Deaf people do. Is it this difficult for every Deaf person who needs to do business with the DMV?
Eventually we finished, paid $10 for each ID card, and were sent on our way. We were told the cards should arrive in the mail in about 10 days. Sure hope that is true...I don't think I can take another visit.
