I don't know about you, but I'm the type of person who loves to get things "off my plate", well before they're due. I pay my bills early, turn in homework on time, and am constantly in search of ways to keep the world at peace. As you can imagine, this can become quite and unnecessary chore and an even dangerous way of life. Realizing that it may have something to do with control and knowing that control usually reveals some kind of fear, I have learned to back off and take things a bit more in stride. Having said all that, I recently realized that I may not be as "healthy" as I thought, when it comes to striving.
A while back, my car registration was due. It was a rare moment, when I had an extra amount of money in my account, so I paid it right away. Months went by and I began to wonder why I hadn't received my tags. I got busy, but eventually I reached the point when that "little voice" became so loud that I stopped all activity and made the dreaded DMV call. You know the one... the "please hold for the next available customer service representative" call. I dialed and waited, paid bills and waited, painted my nails and waited, and waited, and waited. When a live voice finally answered, I explained my situation and she told me that my stickers had not been sent because I needed a smog test.
Shoot! How did I miss that? I was so excited to get something off my plate that I didn't even notice what all I needed to do to reach the desired result. Still busy, it took me weeks to be able to get my car smogged. Once done, I breathed a huge sigh of relief at having accomplished, once again, the task at hand. I waited. Nothing came in the mail. Back to the phone for a second call to the DMV. I sincerely hoped I wouldn't run out of brainless activity to keep me busy while I sat on "hold".
Suddenly the glorious, human voice answered. This time, she explained to me that my tags weren't sent because the smog test had been done so late.
"You now have another registration payment due."
"You've got to be kidding. It hasn't been a whole year yet."
"We send out notices two months early, so in our eyes... you're late."
She had just hit my "justice button". I knew that it rarely benefits anyone to argue with an employee who is only following directions. I asked if this was the last surprise I would encounter if I paid-by-phone. She assured me it would be. I paid and continued my vigilant "wait" for the tags to arrive. Several weeks later I drug myself to the phone and pulled out a children's coloring book, which I fully intended to fill up, as I prepared to sit on hold, once again, with the DMV.
My call was everything I expected (side note: expectation often opens doors to self-fulfilling prophecy!). This time I was informed that there were several "late fees" and "charges" involved with my case. Dang! I waited for the written notice to come in the mail before making any further payments.
In the mean time... I was pulled over for speeding. That was, in itself, a rather weird event that I won't go into at this time. The officer noticed that my license was blocked by Tiffany's wheelchair rack and that I didn't have a current registration in my possession. I thought she was going to get a cramp in her fingers by the time she finished writing all my mistakes in her ticket book. What a day that turned out to be.
Being the pro-active person I am, I went home and looked up on-line traffic school. Come to find out, they offer a comedy course (which, by the way, isn't funny at all!). When my ticket came in, I paid the fine and took the traffic school course. Time lapsed and here we are, the week of my court date. I found an officer, yesterday, and pulled over to ask him to sign off on the registration part of my ticket. He did. I decided to pass the time by explaining to him about the traffic school and fine I paid. He asked me why I did either. I told him I did it because that was the expectation, according to all the notices I was receiving. He let me know that the speeding and license plate placement were both just verbal warnings and the registration would only cost $25 to file, now that it was signed off.
"Are you kidding me?"
"Don't get many tickets, do you ma'am?"
"Is it that obvious?"
"Are you an over-achiever?"
"Are you prophetic?"
OK, so the last question I didn't ask out loud. This week I need to drive down town to explain the whole humiliating mess to yet another employee. I do hope they don't put me on "hold". By the way, today Jeff met the nice officer who explained my ticket to me. It's a good thing the officer remembered me from yesterday. It made it much easier on Jeff as he received his first "fix-it" ticket.
