So I moved in June, as you might be aware. And I was a slacker about changing my drivers license. It just wasn’t a priority . . . in the way that reading a magazine by the pool was.
So in October before we drove to New Orleans, I decided I better at least get that ball rolling. I did an address change thing online and paid the $11, which cleared my bank the next day. By late October, I hadn’t received it, so I tried calling the number, which was busy. I tried again and it was busy. So I sent an e-mail, with all of my information. The next day, I received a voicemail saying that the new license had been sent out Oct. 17th.
Mail usually gets delivered faster than that, but I decided to be patient.
So yesterday I re-mailed them and they called back today. Left me another voicemail saying that they were calling in regard to the e-mail I’d sent to the Texas Department of Transportation and if I still needed assistance, to call their (always-busy) number. If I “still” needed assistance?? In what way had they “assisted” me?? Of course I STILL need assistance!
So I call their Phone Number of Complete Uselessness. It’s of course busy. I tell my cell phone to auto-dial until someone picks up. And when it does, it’s a recording. A recording about how due to high caller volume I won’t be able to speak to anyone and I can get just about any information I need online and if I need further assistance I can CALL THE NUMBER I JUST CALLED. YOU KNOW, THE CALL THAT I AM ON RIGHT NOW.
This weekend I went to the library and since I’d changed my address online, the librarian asked for proof of address. I had nothing. She said it was okay, but they were going to lock my online library privileges until I could show proof of current address in person. I told her it was the State of Texas’ fault.
UPDATE: I sent another e-mail yesterday with a 2-sentence version of this blog post, inc. the phrase “Phone Number of Complete Uselessness. “ A real live person wrote me back from their work e-mail address and told me in detail about the status of my license (missing, as it wasn’t returned in the mail) and asked me to verify my address so she could resend it out for me. She even gave me a phone number with her own extension. That’s love.
