The Bureaucratic Drone

Last Tuesday I began what I thought would be a simple process. The city in which I live requires cars parked on the street overnight to purchase a daily or yearly parking pass. I went to city hall and completed an application for a yearly parking pass, paid my twenty-four dollars and went home. Assuming the process was complete.

How wrong I was.

On Saturday I received a letter from the city telling me they could not issue the permit because my car had an outstanding citation. The letter went on to say that once the citation was taken care of my application would be processed. Nowhere, in the letter did it state what the citation was.

On Monday I called city hall to find out what the citation was and where I needed to go to take care of it. The drone that answered the phone informed me that they did not have that information available. I asked said drone if they did not have that information available how they knew there was an outstanding citation. Drone replied because we ran the plates through the DMV. Remaining calm I asked the drone why if they had run the plates through the DMV they could not give me the information. The drone's response, I would have to go to the DMV myself, they did not have that information available at city hall. Realizing I could spend the next year going around in circles with this drone I figured I would just go to the DMV and fix the problem.

Today I went to the DMV, which is always an uplifting experience. After waiting for two hours it was finally my turn. To my surprise the person who waited on me was actually human and ready to provide me with assistance. I explained the situation and he ran my plates to find out what the citation was. It turned out to be a parking ticket I had misplaced and forgot to pay. I asked him if he could tell me what city I had received the parking ticket in and you guessed it; it was in the city in which I live. Not only that but the drone who helped me at city hall was the same drone responsible for collecting fines on parking tickets. Not wanting to wade through the muck of city bureaucracy again I elected to pay the fine at the DMV and mail the receipt to city hall.

Hopefully I will receive my parking pass in a few days but I would not be surprised if my favorite drone finds another roadblock to prevent me from reaching parking paradise.