Drivers License Part 2

Well, I know you all are dying to find out how my driver's license crisis turned out. The first thing I did after returning from the DMV was call up our electric company and ask if they could pretty please put my name on the next bill after my husband's. Sure, it's kind of an odd request, but if it would convince the state of Wisconsin that I live here, it would be worth doing. (Strangely, the first person I talked to at the electric company wanted to talk to my husband first to make sure this was okay with him. Like it matters...like I couldn't have just gotten the next door neighbor to come make the call instead...)

Next I made a phone call to the state DMV the next day to find out what I could do--I mean, I've lived in the state of Wisconsin for nearly two years and it's illegal for me not to have a Wisconsin driver's license. Yet they wouldn't give me one because I didn't have any of their required proofs of residency.

The first thing the lady on the other end did was laugh. (I am not making this up.) She explained that Wisconsin has been experiencing a lot of residency fraud and they had to tighten their requirements, but she thought it was pretty silly when there were honest residents out there who couldn't qualify. (I agree.) She suggested that I gather up every document and piece of mail I could possibly think of that would have my name and address on it, and she gave me the name of a supervisor at the local DMV I could talk to. "I know these things aren't all on the document list," she said, "but hopefully if you bring the right information, reason will prevail and they'll give you your license."

So I did just that. After our electric bill arrived, I pulled out all kinds of stuff and loaded it into a folder--insurance statements, magazine bills, thank-you-notes--and headed off to the DMV. Theoretically the electric bill is supposed to be thirty days old before it proves residency. So I wasn't quite out of the woods yet. But frankly, I wanted to see if they'd continue to be so ridiculous about the whole thing. Plus I have to send the part of the bill with my name on it in with my payment. So I can't keep it for thirty days.

Well, I got there, and all the personnel there were standing at the little booths helping people who were waiting in line. I didn't see a good way I could just jump in and say, "Excuse me, but could you stop what you're doing and get me in to see Mr. Supervisor? Since I'm more important than all the other customers, of course." So I took a number like everyone else and waited.

Then someone important-looking walked in the door. He was tall and dressed in a suit, and was immediately hounded by several people. This, I guessed, must be Mr. Supervisor.

Then I got a good look at him. He was the same guy who had served me at the window two weeks before and told me he wouldn't give me a license! Somehow I doubted that any kind of reason would prevail with this gentleman. He was clearly a to-the-letter kind of person.

I thought about leaving right then, but I went ahead and waited out the lines. (I abandoned my previous ambitions of getting in to speak with the supervisor, and just hoped I'd get to talk to someone less picky instead.) Sure enough, after a nice DMV wait time, I got up to the window and got to speak with a different gentleman. He looked at my electric bill, said that was all he needed, and--guess what? I now have a Wisconsin driver's license!!!!

I'm not sure that's me in the picture, though. The person in the picture needs to lose some weight.