Well OK!

I am always amazed at the number of “how to” programs on TV.  There are literally dozens of cooking shows.  And just as many home improvement shows.  And then there are the sowing programs, the quilting programs, the oil painting programs, the gardening programs, the exercise programs, medical programs.  The list never seems to end.  But I have yet to see any programs on accounting.  WHY!!!

The other night while waiting to eat at a local restaurant, a woman waiting in line started talking to me.  And, she seemed to know who I was.  But, unfortunately, I didn’t know who she was.

I always find this to be embarrassing but there is nothing that I can do to prevent it. I introduced my wife to her thinking that she would repeat her name, but no such luck.  She asked me if I still lived near by and I said yes.  Then I asked her where she was living these days.  When she told me, I immediately knew who she was.

She was some one that I worked with in Lansing for 2 months 5 years ago.  Imagine that, me not expecting to see someone from Lansing eating in a restaurant in Lowell.  Plus, she had lost quite of bit of weight and changed her hair color.  Why can’t people just introduce them selves again just to be on the safe side.

For breakfast lately at work, I have been cooking sausage links in the microwave.  And since these sausages produce a fair about of juice, I always dump it down the sink.  But the other day, one of the sausages slipped off of my plate and fell into the sink.  No harm, I will just pick it up and rinse if off.  But no, before I could grab it, it slid right down the drain and into the garbage disposal.

Well, I am not one to stick my hand into a garbage disposal let alone eat anything from with in it.  So, I just turned it on and finished it off.  Oh well.

With only 10 minutes left on the clock, my number was finally called.  I quickly rushed to the could and handed over my paper work.  Since the agent waiting on me was a seasoned staffer, she wanted to push me through very quickly.

When I was told to step over to the eye machine, I removed my glasses.  And in doing so, I couldn’t read a thing to I took a guess at it.  Apparently my guess was good enough so I was told to step to the photo machine.  One quick flash and it was done.  I was given a temporary license and sent on my way with 5 minutes to spare.  YES!!

About half of the people getting waited on were people with free passes to the head of the line.  And just because you had a free pass to the head of the line didn’t mean that you got immediate service.  It just meant that you got preferential treatment.  You still had to wait with the others.  So after an hour, there were still 15 numbers ahead of me and who knows how many line jumpers as I call them.

I wondered what they would do when 7PM arrived and there were still people waiting in line.  Would they continue to wait on the existing customers.  I doubted that they would.  After all, this staff is paid by the hour and I couldn’t see the State paying them overtime.  Would they just say “Sorry” and send people home?  Possibly.  But more than likely, they would give us all free passes to the head of the line.  Since I didn’t want to come back, I was really hoping to get waited on.

The waiting area at the Secretary of States Office was full when I arrived at 5 so I took a number and found a seat.  My number was 95 but they were serving 65.  30 people were ahead of me but since there were 5 agents working I felt certain that they could process 30  people in 2 hours.  After all, that is only 6 people per agent and only 3 per hour.  Surely they could process that many in that time frame.

But wait, there are people getting waited on that don’t have a number.  They just seem to walk up to the counter.  Ah yes.  These are the people who had started the process earlier but could not complete their transaction.  Maybe the Secretary of State needed more information for the transaction or they had to take a written test.  Regardless, they were given a pass to the head of the line.  I looked over the office and concluded that there must be at least another 30 people with a pass to the head of the line.  Suddenly, there were now 60 people ahead of me and I wasn’t sure if I would make it in time.

Since my earlier attempts at a quick and easy renew of my drivers license had failed, I resigned myself to the fact that I needed to try a different office with the understanding that I might have to wait for a while.  So, I chose an office near my home that had always had a short line.  Plus, I chose a day that had extended hours just in case there was a wait.  So when I arrived a 5PM, I found that there were 30 people ahead of me.  But since the office was opened until 7PM, I felt sure that I would have plenty of time.

My drivers license was due to expire so I needed to get it renewed.  Unfortunately, they wanted to see me in person instead of letting me renew by mail.  DRAT!!  This meant that I would have to wait in their office for hours.

But then I remembered that one of the local offices always seemed to have almost no lines.  So, I thought that I would give it a shot first thing in the morning.  But when I arrived, the line to the office was out the door and down the walk.  Not good.  Maybe it would be better after lunch.  But when I stopped, there were 30 people ahead of me. So, I abandoned that idea and went to plan B.

In an ad for an art exhibition, they note that most of the art is for sale.  Somehow, I thought that the purpose of an art exhibition was to sell art.  But hey, what do I know.