My Tax Dollars At Work at the DMV

SUMMARY: I am flush with driver's licenses that expire last week.

If you read my January story about how I have already acquired three driver's licenses that expire at the end of last month (here: http://dogblog.finchester.org/2011/01/dmv-service-is-um-improving.html), you'll be delighted to know that, today, I received another envelope from the DMV.

With another license that expires at the end of January 2011. That's four.

To be continued.

DMV Service is--Um--Improving?

SUMMARY: Another adventure in customer service.

As long as I'm contemplating giving up Dog Agility, I might as well ponder what Real Life holds in store for me instead!

The California DMV has redesigned its Drivers Licenses with all sorts of fancy doodads to make them harder to counterfeit. As a result (together with state budget cuts), they warn everyone that it takes 6 weeks for them to process requests for renewals or replacements.

My old license expires at the end of this month. If you remember, back in October, my purse vanished, and I had to order a replacement license (because it was too early to order a renewal, for some reason). I paid my $25 and, in mid-November, I got one of the brand new fancy licenses, which also expires at the end of this month. And meanwhile, my purse had reappeared, so then I had TWO licenses that expire at the end of this month.

On December 1st, I received a renewal form. Yeehah! No need to go into the office; I could just mail them a check and they'd send me my new license. The next day, I mailed the form and my check. Lots of time to spare before my old one expires.

Sooooo Saturday, I received in the mail--a *replacement* driver's license that expires at--the end of this month! Now I have THREE of them! (Which, BTW, according to their paperwork, is illegal.)

They've been touting their new online system, where you can register and have access to (and update) ALL your DMV-related material, like your license and your auto registration. So I went there, filled out the form (asks for name, driver's license, pick some security questions, and like that), and it said: "Data does not match information on file. Try again." And cleared the form. I tried it more than once, just to be sure. No dice.

So--what--I don't know my own birthday, SSN, or driver's license number? They don't like the security questions I picked?

They did ask for the issue date of my license and showed me a photo of where to find it. I put in the date found at that location--didn't like it. I put in the date which, on my license, SAYS "Iss:" (which is not where the picture showed it, and which is different from the date at their picture's location). Still no dice.

So I called the number they gave. Played games with the phone tree for about 5 minutes with growing frustration until I managed to figure out how to ask to talk to an actual person. Oh--another new feature! You can give them your phone number and they'll call you back, without losing your place in line! Cool! Because waiting time is "over 30 minutes."

Forty-five minutes later, I get a call back. Person comes on the line--and the connection is so bad that all I can hear when they speak is static. I tried a couple of times to talk & listen, but nothing. I said, "Can you please call me back?" and they hung up. Of course, no call back. I have no clue whether they were hearing me the same way I was hearing them.

They also have this nifty system where you can make an appointment ahead of time and then, in theory, go down to the actual office and not have to wait at all. Great, except that you can't get an appointment earlier than 2 months from now.

So I went down to the DMV. For non-appointments, their digital sign said, "Wait time: 15 minutes." Wow, that's not bad at all! I talked to the "Start Here" lady, who looked as puzzled as I was about the problem, had me fill out the whole form to get a license, and then gave me a number.

After about 10 minutes, the digital sign changed to "Wait time: 26 minutes."

After 26 minutes, the sign said, "Wait time: 40 minutes."

After 40 minutes, the sign said, "Wait time: 50 minutes."

At about 50 minutes, I spoke to an actual person. (So the sign, apparently, really tells you how long you ACTUALLY WAITED. I know they'll have a hard time believing this, but I actually already knew how to figure that out.) He looked at my license and at his computer, and said, "They sent you the wrong one." Really?! So he ordered a new one (I didn't have to pay again) and gave me a temporary license and in six weeks, we'll see what they actually send me. I'm hoping it's not license #4 that expires at the end of this month.

If this is Real Life, I think I'll stick with sending in my agility entry forms and promptly receiving confirmations by email.

Eventually continued here: My Tax Dollars At Work at the DMV

What It Costs for a Purse to Go Missing

SUMMARY: Plus a rude ending.

Note: I revised this text about 90 minutes after first posting it; changes are in red.
Hours used--all spent on this instead of calling stucco companies before the rain starts to get my house's stucco repaired. This did not happen. Not happy about that. It has now been raining for a day and there is water in my wall. But I figured that was the lower priority to having my finances in shambles.

(Edited text--) So, after I called Cold Stone Creamery first thing Wednesday morning after I realized that it was missing (and had been since Saturday) and emphasizing that I'd really like to know whether they found my purse, and they called me back to say it definitely wasn't there, making me very sad indeed, here's what that "sorry, it's not here" triggered:

Time spent:

• Checking all my bank and credit card accounts and phone account to be sure that  no one had been using my money: 1 hr
• Calling the mall, the campbell police, the friend who was with me when the purse vanished to see whether she remembered whether I took it to the car, my sister (2 calls) to see whether I had left it in their car: 1 hr
• Searching high and low everywhere in the house and the garage obsessively, convinced that if wasn't at Cold Stone, it had to be here: 2 hrs
• Days taken off work basically without pay (very expensive and I have a deadline that I'm now working this weekend to make up for): 1 hr
• Try to set up an appointment at the DMV and failing because the next one isn't until Nov 17, driivng to the DMV, waiting in line, filling out the paperwork, waiting for over half an hour until they could fit me in: 1.5 hours
• (Edited text--)Calling the bank and getting things suspended, going through 3 months of checking account statements (that's maybe 120 checks) to try to figure out whether there are any outstanding checks and remember to whom they were written and for how much, contact those people and send them replacement checks, drive to bank and time spent closing the accounts, opening new ones, getting the online account set up, ordering new checks: 5 hrs
• Calling AT&T to suspend my cell phone account, reading up on cell phones, checking out cell phones and prices at 3 different stores, buying a new one, reading the instructions,  assembling the phone, half an hour on the phone with AT&T to get the account transferred to the new phone: 3 hrs
• (New text--)Contacting my company about changing where my autodeposit goes, filling out the form, making a special trip to the post office to mail it because the deadline for this pay period is early next week: .5 hours.
• Driving to mall, searching for purse that I like (no success) and for a wallet that I like (success),  assembling things (what little I have) into the wallet: 1.5 hours.
• Looking up phone numbers or email addresses and contacting six different credit card companies, AAA, Red Cross, Kaiser, three dog agility associations, Costco, and REI--often through long an annoying automated phone systems: 3 hrs
• Going through all my old paperwork to make sure I have the latest information on credit cards and other accounts and the account numbers, etc: 4 hours, maybe more.
• Time spent finding old receipts and emailing and talking to Camera Cinemas because my discount prepaid admission card was in my wallet (no luck so far; they were going to look into it some more).

Money spent:

• Well, there's the day off, which was pretty expensive.
• Tossed $50 worth of checks that I had just recently ordered and bought new ones with overnight delivery: $70.
• Replacement drivers license: $25.
• New cell phone, new earpiece, new connector for the auto charger: $45
• New wallet: $20
• ...

Time other people spent:

• My sister and her husband, calling each other and checking their car.
• Campbell police person talking to me.
• (Edited text--)All the people at all those other companies, answering my questions and dealing with my accounts and so on. They all get paid for their time--really, this thing rolls into quite widespread financial impact, doesn't it!
• Camera theaters calling me back twice, getting the authority to look up financial transactions, trying to track down my specific discount card. 
• (New text--)The office admin at my company, reading my email, finding me the form & getting it to me, making sure the paperwork is done to change my account.

Things I still need to do:(Edited list--)

• Shred 2 boxes of checks, since that account no longer exists (maybe it's not strictly necessary, but rather be safe than sorry)
• Figure out everything that is tied into my checking account or credit card, contact those places, and change them to the new accounts. Paypal, my web hosting site, my photo site, my domain name auto-renewal sites, my phone account auto-renewal... what else?

Other things I've been feeling sad about losing all week:
Purse
wallet
camera
cell phone
cash (maybe $20-30)
theater tickets bought at discounts (maybe $70 worth)
gift card to book store
cross pen and pencil set
I dunno, a bunch of stuff

...Oh, wait. Who's calling me at 6 on a Sunday evening?

Well, hmm, it's Cold Stone Creamery! The guy was looking for something else and happened upon my purse, which someone had put in some odd place and hadn't bothered trying to contact me or tell anyone else, and if it wasn't the people who worked there last Saturday (whom the guy said he contacted), who was it and why didn't they do so?

(Basically all new text through the end--)
Can you say mixed feelings? I am VERY happy to get all my stuff back, very happy indeed! The camera, yowza! The wallet--that was custom from an art & wine festival leather worker, maybe 15 years ago and is still in great condition and is the perfect wallet for me, perfect! and (a) I'm not in a financial place to replace that right now, even if (b) I could find the info on who that was.  The cross pen & pencil set--has been with me for a long time, I'm thinking uhhhh, jeez, almost 25 years, actually replaced a set that was a gift that got left on an airplane in the mid-'80s. All those membership cards and things that I don't have to track down and replace now! And the money! And the movie tickets! And the gift certificate! And the purse that I pretty much like and don't have to spend another year finding another one to replace it!

Aaaaaaand not to mention the peace of mind that I'm not going to suddenly discover that my identity has been stolen.

Well, too late to return the cell phone--I've set up my account with the new sim card in the new phone, and I think I like it better than the old one anyway, and it really wasn't too expensive. I just pulled all the bits of paper that came with the wallet out of the paper recycling and I can return that tomorrow--it's none the worse for wear after 2 days.

I'm going to have to try calling the DMV to see what's next--it's illegal to own 2 drivers licenses, turns out. I doubt I'll get my $25 back, though.

I still have to do the things listed above, since all my accounts have been changed.

So, yes, I'm happy, and grateful that Cold Stone has honest employees.

And yet--well--all these many, many hours of my own and others, and spent money, could have been prevented on Tuesday morning when I called.  (Yeah, I know, if only I hadn't left it there in the first place. I deserved the frantic day of trying to figure out where it was and fearing the worst. But, really--my phone number was on my checks and on my business cards at the very least; it would've been so easy for someone to contact me if they wanted to that I had to assume that someone with ill intent had taken it after all.)

Eventually continued here: DMV Service is--Um--Improving?

Related post: Month of Losing Dangerously

Where is My Purse?

SUMMARY: In which we get a tour, of sorts, of the Taj MuttHall house.

No, this isn't a repeat of the Facebook meme from the beginning of the month ("I like it on..."), for which I posted in my status, "I'm not sure whether I like it there, but it often ends up being in the pile of dog hair in the hallway."

This is real, and it is making me nuts. As in, It Has To Be Here Somewhere Because Nothing Else Makes Sense--But Then How Come I Can't Find It? nuts.

So--Saturday morning, I had it in my office to charge the USDAA Nationals live webcast to my credit card. That was the last non-automatic thing charged to my card. Then I packed up and went to the movies with a friend. ("Red." Liked it; light, entertaining action fare.) While there, had a large popcorn that I ate only part of. Had a chicken walnut salad that I ate only part of.

After the movie, when stopped in at Cold Stone Creamery. I was carrying my purse, a popcorn bag, and a salad container. I hung the purse on the chair because it was a little tiny table and we needed the room for my other stuff and our ice cream. We sat and ate (I had raspberry sorbet mixed with chocolate chips and crumbled heath bar--ooooooohhh yeah!), I collected my stuff, we walked to our cars which were parked side by side, I drove home, put the salad in the fridge, and sat and watched the USDAA Nationals through most of saturday afternoon and evening and Sunday morning and early afternoon. Then I did quite a few billable hours here at my computer the rest of Sunday.

Monday, I worked an 11-hour day here, with breaks only for a walk over to the park with the dogs.

Tuesday, I also worked pretty solidly through, finally getting ready to go out to the theater with another friend, and I checked to be sure my purse was in the car.

It wasn't.

Not under the front seat where it usually is.

Not anywhere around the front seats (although the popcorn bag was still there, and THREE baseball caps for wearing at dog agility, plus a blue leopard-spotted plush slip lead for dog agility).  No purse.

It wasn't in the back. I even looked IN the dog crates, although given my schedule since Saturday, there's no reason it would have been there. Just being thorough.

I looked in the garage on either side of the car in case, somehow, it had fallen out and I hadn't noticed it. Didn't seem likely, but I looked anyway. No purse.

And it wasn't in the house in any of the two or three possible places. Like in the pile of dog hair in the hallway, next to the table where I keep my car keys, which is where I usually drop it when I occasionally take it into the house.

I couldn't remember when I had been in my sister's car to go out to dinner with them so I called them; turns out, it was Friday night, but they checked anyway; no purse in their car.

Fortunately, I hadn't yet put the theater tickets into my wallet, so I drove downtown, enjoyed the show immensely ("Secret Order," exploring ethics and altruism versus money and glory in scientific research, go see it if you have a chance), borrowed 3 bucks from my friend to get my car out of parking hock and drove home.

When I got home, I looked everywhere where I might usually put my purse when I (very rarely) take it into the house. At the kitchen table, where I work on my bill paying and budgets. Nope.

At my desk, where I buy things online.

I even got on my hands and knees and looked under the desk and behind the things under the desk. Nope. Although there was something very cute there for a while.

Then I figured it had to be at Cold Stone Creamery, since I couldn't actually remember picking it up and taking it to the car. But odd that no one would've tried to contact me.  They didn't open until 11:00 this morning, but I called first thing.  They called the people who worked there Saturday. Nope, they hadn't seen anything.

So then I started looking in all the places that it made no sense for the purse to be.  Did I stop and grab a soda from the soda shelves on my way into the house and set the purse there? Not likely, and sure enough: Nothing.

Did I rush home and go into that room where, sometimes, you know, you have to rush to after you've been out and about for a few hours? Well,  nope. Dog toys, reading material, dragon seat cover, the usual.

But if you ever get a chance to read the cover article in this issue of Time, it's quite interesting!

 Way back when I first moved here, 9 years ago, I sometimes hung it from the handle of the coat closet in the front hall. Haven't done so in many years. But looked anyway.

I even peeked into the Official Dining Room, which tends to be the Official Project Spot. No purse. I couldn't remember having gone in there for a week, anyway, to check something in the Yellow Pages.

I checked next to the phone in the kitchen in case, for some reason, I had wanted to use the phone list from my purse, which incidentally is identical to the phone list by the phone, so it didn't seem likely, but it's gotta be SOMEwhere, right?

I didn't even go into the Living Room, which I haven't been able to get into for weeks because I've been working on a photo project involving dog agility ribbons. I did peer around the parts I could get to, though, in case the purse had fallen in there. (From out of thin air? Dunno where it could have fallen FROM. But it HAS to be here SOMEwhere, right????)

I even looked here.

I also called the shopping center where Cold Stone Creamery lives, and they checked, and they'd had nothing turned in.

I called my friend with whom I saw the movie and had ice cream. She remembers that I hung my purse on the chair because she decided to drop her purse on the floor. But she doesn't remember one way or the other whether I took the purse with me along with my popcorn and salad when we walked back to the car.

I even tried calling my cell phone (which incidentally has about $200 worth of unused prepaid calling on it), but I usually have it turned off, and sure enough, I just got my voice mail.

So here are the options as I see it:

• I left it on the chair at Cold Stone Creamery, and someone with ill intent took it, removed everything of value, and dumped the rest in the trash, where I'll never see it again. In which case  my discount card for the theaters that I just paid $60 for is gone, and so it my point-and-shoot digital camera, my driver's license, all my credit cards, my check register, my cash (fortunately only maybe $20 at the moment), my Weight Watchers membership/history book, all my store membership cards--you know the routine--are gone. And, oh yeah, my cell phone. And in which case right now I need to start making phone calls and visits to banks and DMVs and things like that, which considering that I have a tight deadline this week at work and really need to be putting in long hours, that doesn't sit so well.
• I took it away from Cold Stone Creamery, so it was in my car, and someone walked through the gate into my back yard, into the side garage door, opened the car, took my purse (and nothing else from anywhere) and left again. This assumes that they'd have a reason for trying this, and I can't think of any reason and this doesn't seem likely.
• It's GOT TO BE HERE SOMEWHERE. But where? I can think of nowhere else it could be. I swear I've looked everywhere that it could remotely possibly be, and I've not had that "ah ha!" moment where I remember that I did something odd. I thought that maybe by taking pictures of all the weird places, maybe it would get me looking in more oddball places and I'd find it. But no. Really, I can't think of any reason why I'd have taken it out of my car after Saturday's trip out.

Or could this be some odd karma from May of 2009, remember when everything was stolen from my car except that, through a weird and unlikely series of unusual events, my wallet wasn't taken? And I was SO relieved that, although I had to be screwed by my insurance company and spend a year gradually finding replacements for everything large and small that was taken, I at least didn't have to go through cancelling and replacing everything in my wallet?

Meanwhile--out of groceries, low on gas, all that.  I think I updated my list of "what's in my wallet" sometime within the last year, but that doesn't make it easier to get everything done. Very scary. I think I'd better start making some phone calls, because, in fact, I do NOT think It's Got To Be Here Somewhere any more.

Eventually continued here: What It Costs for a Purse to Go Missing