To illustrate the difference in life, even only 50 miles away from HotLanta (ugh), I sent in my tag registrations I got in the mail. One day I got a call from Doris over at the tag office. She said I forgot to put my insurance company on the form and asked me what it was. I told her and I got the stickers in the mail the next day. THAT NEVER WOULD HAVE HAPPENED IN COBB COUNTY - EVER.
Years later one of them in the tag office asked me when I bought my explorer....long story short, there was a law that allowed my car to be eligible for a one time ad valorem tax payment (which was paid in the sales tax) and my $250 tag bill went down to $18. He just told me to go home and get the bill of sale. My tax bill for that car is now $18 for the tag forever.
Similar story for renewing my CCW. Walked into the probate clerk's office and the lady asked me "What you looking for honey?" I told her and she put me through the steps, sent me over to the jail to get my fingerprints and NICS check and I was back in less than a half hour. By the time I got there she'd stamped, had the judge sign and laminate the card for me....about 45 minutes. In Cobb county it took two months and having to negotiate through about 5 a$$holes to do it. The moral of this is your life gets so much easier when you get as far away from officious government a$$holes as you can.
Wow, up here in liberal land Maryland, I went to get new plates for a used car.
I needed to provide proof of release of lien.
Trip one-”We don’t accept fax copies”
Trip two-”I’m not opening the sealed envelope” and “the bank filled it out wrong”
Long story short, 9 hours, 200 miles driven and 4 trips to make a simple transaction.
A similar story: When we moved to KY we had to get our WA state cars inspected and transferred to KY plates. I go to the sheriff’s office and tell the lady what I need. She walks out and gets the vin off the car and we go back in. She said it’s a $5 fee. I try to use my credit card and they say they only take cash, which I don’t have. They say, “No problem, just bring the money later.” They give me my plates and registration and I’m on my way.
Two days later my wife goes in to pay the $5 and they say, “Don’t worry about it. We took care of it.”
In Seattle, a surley member of Holder’s people in sweats and fluffy slippers would have said, “NEXT” and shuffled us to the side. To be fair, it’s due to the sheer quantity of people in the city. It’s why I’m DONE with cities.