7-20-12

We decided to get our Alabama drivers licenses today. What a nightmare. We had to find this "office" in an abandoned strip mall that was "off the map" and then take a ticket. We got tickets 88 and 89. They were servicing ticket #60 at 8:30am. I figured we were in for a wait... guessing a long two hours.

I was wrong. It was an even longer 4.5 hours. We did not leave the "Driver License" office you see here on your screen until after 1:00pm. We left with paper licenses. Temporary, printed paper licenses. We were so frustrated and angry. OK, so the staff is cut back due to budget cuts from the state and a hiring freeze, but there has to be a better system. Mothers were taking entire days off work so their 15 year olds could get permits. Every person in that office that day lost at least a half day's work. We left at 11pm for a lunch at the nearby Cracker Barrel, only to return with an additional 90 minutes left. We did the math and the staff was processing one person every 10 minutes. Six people in line = an hour wait. Too bad Squirt has to endure this himself next week when he goes in. 

After an afternoon of fuming and catching up on email, we spent the evening with my mom at the Auburn Knight's Reunion concert. We heard concerts from the 30s, 50s, 60s, and 70/80s groups. The 60s group was the best! The mayor of Gadsden was the band director for that era and he did a fantastic job. What a character!