This morning I stood in line for an hour to get an ugly picture of myself. (i.e. I got my driver’s license renewed) Here in Oklahoma, independent “Tag Agencies” handle most things car and driving related and it’s usually much faster and more efficient than the typical DMV, but this morning there was an unusual number of people there to renew driver’s licenses. But it was actually not a bad wait. Almost… entertaining.
Oklahoma adds an interesting complication to business like this. There was a man there trying to apply for a title. (It’s a really small place so you can overhear everything that goes on.) For some reason they couldn’t give him a title and the lady behind the counter explained to the guy something like twenty times that he would have to get a Cherokee Nation title but he said that the Cherokee Nation had told him that he would have to get an Oklahoma title. The joys of bureaucracy are not limited to the descendants of Europeans.
Oklahoma now makes people who wear glasses take their glasses off for their drivers license or ID photo. I absolutely do not look like me without my glasses. I did wear makeup today so I wouldn’t look like I don’t have any eyelashes but the photo is hideous anyway. The good thing about it is that on the license it came out so washed out you can barely tell it’s a face. (They show you the photo on a screen before they print the license.) I know everyone’s DL photo is hideous but a a few years ago I actually had one that was pretty decent so now I have higher expectations.
February 21st, 2012 - 1:21 pm
At least you don’t have to explain to the nice police officer who the long haired guy on your driver’s license is.
When I was first married to my (young) wife, she had a license that is sideways from mine, to see her picture you had to hold the card vertical. Apparently it’s to make bars and such pay closer attention to the age of someone who is under 21.
February 21st, 2012 - 1:35 pm
By California standards an hour isn’t bad.
A couple of years ago I was notified that my picture was out of date, and that it was time for a ‘voluntary’ new picture ID. I called to make an appointment, only to discover that you can no longer make appointments for picture ID’s.
The DMV now has four day weeks and closed half of their offices.
I went by the office one morning, only to discover the line LITERALLY went around the building. Not figuratively, literally. Call it three hundred people. It was like the opening night for a HARRY POTTER AND THE GOVERNMENT DRONES movie.
Since it was ‘voluntary’ I decided to ignore the new picture request. And, sure enough, a new license with my ten years younger (at least) picture was mailed to me. On it, and officially, my hair is still a nice dark brown.
February 22nd, 2012 - 8:04 am
So you have a February birthday too?
I have to go get mine sometime – probably the end of this week.
I don’t like the “take your glasses off” either – I don’t look like myself, I look like I have a bad cold, my face looks fat in my dl photo.
Our tag office just a few years ago started prohibiting SMOKING in the office. They had a big sign on the front door asking people not to bring their dogs in because people in there had “allergies,” and yet the whole place smelled like an ashtray. I had to go down there at a time when I knew I had nothing else to do because I always left with a headache.
February 22nd, 2012 - 8:26 am
No. February is just when I got around to getting a new license after I moved to Oklahoma.
February 22nd, 2012 - 9:30 am
Interesting…I think I got mine in another month and they set my birth month for the expiration.
Not relishing the trip to the tag office this week, anyway.