No Residency for You!

            I have met my first unfriendly and unhelpful person in New Mexico.  Yesterday I went to town to do more business of living things - transfer funds, get car insurance, and then I tried to register my car and get a driver's license.  At this time New Mexico is under fire for handing out driver's license like candy - you pay the fee and you get the license.  So, maybe this person was feeling the brunt of the times.

            I'd been warned to not go to the local DMV, but rather head one town over to the really nice office.  But this one was on my way, so I decided to stop in, took my number waited for 15 minutes and went to the counter.

            I pulled out my paperwork that I'd seen on line to have and the woman pushed it back at me with the words "you must have a physical address" and was clearly ready for me to leave.  I showed her where my physical address was on my rent receipt and she told me "you must have a lease."

            So let me get this straight, the only people who can get driver's license in New Mexico must have a one year lease?  "Yes."  Again, so you're telling me all the people who rent in New Mexico month to month can't get driver's license?  "NO."  And again, she told me, you must have a physical address AND lease with a physical address on it.

            At this point I was getting frustrated and it was clear I wasn't going to make any real progress, so I gathered my papers and left thinking I should have listened and gone to the other DMV!  But after a few minutes I remembered who she reminded me of.

           

            For those who watched the TV show "Seinfeld" there was an episode where a man made incredible soup.  But, he was very strict about how you ordered and if you displeased him he cried out while pointing his finger, "No soup for you!"  And then you were barred for life or if lucky, only a year.

            He was referred to as the "Soup Nazi" and he was a lot like the lady at the DMV.  "No residency for you!"  And while she didn't point for me to leave and she didn't say these exact words, the effect was much the same!

            What is fascinating about this is that at a time when states have very little money she would refuse my willingness to give her mine.  I stood with more identification papers than needed and it's fairly clear I'm not an illegal alien trying to pull one over on her, but her need to right and rigid was the driving force in her focus of thought.  She entirely missed the bigger picture - that if I didn't have my paperwork filled out the way the state wanted, what did I need to change?

            Once I calmed down, I was able to ask the people who had issued me my other identity documents to make the change with the physical address on it and I am hoping this next attempt will be more successful with the nice lady at the next town over, I'll let you know.

            But the point to this story is how often each of us miss the moment life is trying to teach us while we are busy being right and rigid - regardless how this is working against what we really want.  I am assuming while this woman probably doesn't like her job, she does want to keep it and based on the feedback I've gotten, almost no one goes to her DMV and people will happily wait over an hour at the other town's just to not have to experience her and her office.

            She may be yelling at me "no residency for you" but the long term effect of that is "no job for you!" because without paying residents of your state, you won't have a job much longer!

            I am happy to report she has been my only unpleasant experience and it may actually turn out better in the long run after all.  There is the unpleasant task of getting this trailer registered somewhere and maybe the nice lady won't make me drive it all the way down to her tiny town?  We'll see, but for today, I encourage us all to let go of needing to be right and try and see what we might be missing that is for our best interest in the long run!