Monday, October 17, 2005
9 a.m. Number 17. The 9 a.m. part is really moot given that 30 other people get the same time slot to appear at District Court X to appeal their tickets. What counts is part two: when you get your name on the sheet hanging outside the door marked Traffic Violations. If you consider that each person spends about 5-10 minutes being heard, you can pretty much figure out how long you'll be standing around and if it's worth it to you to do so. From the court's perspective it is a win-win situation 1) you are helping pay for their new court house they want via the umpteen quarters you must keep putting in the meter outside to avoid getting perhaps another ticket 2) the woman whose three toddlers are all screaming at once finally leaves thus forfeiting her right to contest her $100 ticket (in her case I would have pleaded temporary insanity) or 3) after waiting an hour-and-a-half, many will lose their appeal and have to pay the ticket anyway.
I was gullible in that when I read 9 a.m. on the summons we had received in the mail, I thought the 9 a.m. was meant for me. Had I known I would be sharing 9 a.m. with 29 other people I would have brought a book or newspaper with me. I felt better when I saw that everyone else had been duped too; there was no reading material to be seen. Cell phones are not allowed in the court house and to this I can only say thank god. No one in the random swath of humanity I encounter every day has yet to have had a conversation that hasn't made me want to get up and strangulate that person. As it turns out, actually, people are still pretty good at sitting around and doing nothing for two hours. Even the two teenagers I thought would surely be going through withdrawal symptoms without their cell phones waited patiently. The man sitting next to my right explained to me that he is a 'serial traffic violation offender'. Not drunk driving stuff -- just running stop signs, speeding, illegal turns and the like. At one point in his life, he lost his license for four years. While I puzzled over this, an officer opened the door and called out number 17 along with my last name. At long last I was inside the room, digital pictures in hand and ready to make my case. Unfortunately I learned that I am not allowed to represent my husband who couldn't make it to the hearing. Explaining to them that I was also in the car fell on deaf ears. They need to talk to the driver.... I am tempted to just pay the damn $100 and be done but now of course it has become the principle of the thing...They do at least promise to bump us up on the list next time we come given I've already waited so long this time around but it will still mean a fight with the spouse to get him to go with me at all ...
I was gullible in that when I read 9 a.m. on the summons we had received in the mail, I thought the 9 a.m. was meant for me. Had I known I would be sharing 9 a.m. with 29 other people I would have brought a book or newspaper with me. I felt better when I saw that everyone else had been duped too; there was no reading material to be seen. Cell phones are not allowed in the court house and to this I can only say thank god. No one in the random swath of humanity I encounter every day has yet to have had a conversation that hasn't made me want to get up and strangulate that person. As it turns out, actually, people are still pretty good at sitting around and doing nothing for two hours. Even the two teenagers I thought would surely be going through withdrawal symptoms without their cell phones waited patiently. The man sitting next to my right explained to me that he is a 'serial traffic violation offender'. Not drunk driving stuff -- just running stop signs, speeding, illegal turns and the like. At one point in his life, he lost his license for four years. While I puzzled over this, an officer opened the door and called out number 17 along with my last name. At long last I was inside the room, digital pictures in hand and ready to make my case. Unfortunately I learned that I am not allowed to represent my husband who couldn't make it to the hearing. Explaining to them that I was also in the car fell on deaf ears. They need to talk to the driver.... I am tempted to just pay the damn $100 and be done but now of course it has become the principle of the thing...They do at least promise to bump us up on the list next time we come given I've already waited so long this time around but it will still mean a fight with the spouse to get him to go with me at all ...
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