License to (Not) Call
About eight weeks ago, I ordered some new license plates. Specifically Missouri Conservation plates — they have a nice picture of the state bird on them and the money goes to support Missouri's wonderful system of parks operated by the Conservation Department.
To get the plates, you must fill out a form, send it to the right people in Jeff City, wait, receive a form back, and then send that form back to Jeff City (this time to the Department of Revenue). This was much more of a project than I originally anticipated — I doubt I would have even bothered had know precisely how long it would all take to get organized.
At any rate, I sent the second batch of stuff in about eight weeks ago. The idea is that you hear from your local licenses bureau when the plates come in. So I waited. I figured it might take a couple of weeks. Or maybe a month. Or maybe six weeks. Finally, at the eight week point, I decided to call. I get ahold of a the bureau and the staffer goes and looks in the plates that they've received. Sure enough, the plate was there. It seems they forgot to tell me the plate came in. Just a minor detail, eh?
Tomorrow, I shall get my plates.
Ah, the joys of attentive bureaucracy!
This would be why I have never gotton any special plates. I have thought of doing it many times.
Earlier this year my wife ordered something from Wal-Mart.com. We waited and waited and waited and it never came. Finally she called and told them we never recieved the item. They had no record of the item being delivered in their system, but also no record of where it was.
They very graciously sent a new one. A few days later we received a card in our PO Box advising us of a package to be picked up at the counter. Handing the lady the card, she comes back carrying two identical boxes. Turns out the first item did reach our post office, they just never told us it had.
We did send one back.