At the Courthouse

I hurried to the courthouse Friday afternoon, visions of getting off work early, floating in my head. My boss had sent me to renew his 30-day tag for the RV. Although I had many papers in hand, I was a bit nervous as to whether I had everything I needed. As I opened the door and saw the line, my heart sank a little. It wasn't too bad, but still...

Twenty minutes later found me at the counter presenting my request. The lady lost no time in telling me that she needed the owner's signature in order for me to accomplish this assignment. I groaned inwardly and pulled out my phone to see if, by chance, my boss was in town. As luck would have it, he was at home eating lunch, so I speeded out that way to get the required signature.

When I returned the line was considerably longer. As I waited, it was interesting listening to the comments around me. The 2 guys behind me kept up a pretty good running commentary and I couldn't help but insert a comment now and then. Before long an official-looking man came along and told us to move the line over this way. After awhile a lady working there asked us to move away from in front of her window so customers could get through. When she heard who had told us to stand there she said that man isn't in charge down here. So...we moved again. Hey, at least we were moving. It makes you feel better when you're standing in a long line.

Slowly the line crept forward. When the line moved 2 people-spaces at a time, the guys behind got excited! "Can't you see the black skid marks on the floor?" said the one. The other guy replied, "I can feel the wind rushing through my hair!"

Well, one hour later it was my turn at last! When the lady at the counter saw what I needed, she sighed. They had just implemented a new system and it was agony to try and figure out all the new codes and numbers that the system required. She bravely toiled through it but after 20 minutes declared that it was impossible to finish without an NAIC number from our insurance company (which I was unable to procure since I could not reach either my boss or the insurance company).

As I walked out the door and down the steps, I said to myself, It's enough to make a person cry. But I didn't. Instead I went and blew off to a few people and after that I felt much better.

Needless to say, I did not get home early (it was now 4:30 instead of 12:30) but the afternoon was not wasted for if it had not happened I wouldn't have had a story to write!