Patience

What a day! My patience certainly was tried all day!

I got a property tax/license plate renewal bill in the mail this weekend on the old 2007 Impala that I sold in December.  So I pulled out my receipt from the guy I sold it to, and the receipt where I had turned in the plates to the DMV.  Then, at 11:00, I headed to the DMV with the receipts. I took my place at the end of the line that was outside the building.  Forty-five minutes later, still 10 parties back from being at the front of the line, I made a call to Flow Chevrolet to let them know it looked like I was going to be late for my 12:45 appointment for a recall of front wiper transmission corrosion failure on my Equinox. They told me that 15-20 minutes late would be no problem.

In the meantime, I was now about 5th in line at the DMV. At nearly the one hour mark, I walked up to the counter and explained why I was there.  (At the bottom of the receipt where I had turned in the plates it says, "Note:  The county requires a copy of this receipt and a copy of the bill of sale within 1 year in order to process a possible release or refund of property taxes on this vehicle."  I figured this was the reason why I got the bill.) The lady at the counter handed the receipts back to me and said, "we don't want these.  You are going to have to go to the downtown office of the tax administration."  REALLY??? I wanted to say, "you mean I just stood in line for an hour for nothing?"  But I didn't! I politely asked her where I was going to have to go!  She explained to me in "femalese language" how to get there using landmarks....."follow this street til it dead-ends at this building......." 

Well, I wanted a little more, but for the moment, I had to leave and get to my Recall appointment.  I had time to stop and get some lunch to take with me.  I arrived in plenty of time, however, the mechanic asked me, "do you know if they ordered these parts for this recall repair?"  UMMM, NO!  I figured he was going to send me home, but he directed me into the waiting area. 

I ate lunch and then I called the number on the bill, which was the downtown location (with the address, if I needed it) but the receptionist, in her broken English (OY, VEY!!) gave me a number in Raleigh to call.  (Can you say, "Ring around the Rosey........?")  Of course, I was on hold, "waiting for the next available representative because of the high call volume" for 15 minutes, at least!

Finally!  Laura, bless your pea-picking heart, took my call.  Apparently there was some question as to the time the insurance on the Impala had been canceled.  I explained to her that I sold the vehicle on December 15th, canceled the GEICO insurance on December 17th (according to her records) and returned the plates to the DMV on December 18th.  She said she was going to have to go over things with her supervisor to get the approval to dismiss the bill.  She took my phone number "in case I lose you before I get back."  So, I was on hold for another 10 minutes.  But, alas, when she came back on the line she said I could disregard the bill.  It is all taken care of.  Why do I have this eerie feeling that it isn't all taken care of?! 

So, that took an hour to resolve.  And I'm still waiting to hear about the car, which was still sitting in the same spot I parked it in when I arrived.  Then, alas, the car was moved out of sight.  So I assumed that was a good sign!  About half an hour passed and the mechanic came to me and asked if I would like a complimentary car wash, too!  Well, how about that!  Thank You, LORD!  My reward for my patience?!  Why, yes!  I'll take it!  Thank you very much!  At 3:02 I left the parking lot with a brand-spanking clean car and assumed-to-be-fixed wiper transmissions!

I decided I needed to do some shopping after that,, so I headed to the Lifeway Christian Bookstore.  I had a coupon for a free CSB Gift and Award Bible, regularly priced $6.99.  I found two Veggie-Tales DVDs at 90% off.  One cost $1.49, regularly $14.99 and the other cost $0.50, regularly $5.00 (but I'm sure had already been discounted to that from $14.99).  I found two adult movies, "Paul, the Apostle" for $7.49, originally priced $14.99, and "China Cry" for $5.00 (probably originally $14.99).  So, I spent $15.46 and they said I saved $32.49, but I figure I really saved more than that!

I love the shopping bags you get from Lifeway!

A Bible and 4 movies.

My last stop was at the Dollar Tree next to Lifeway.  I found 3 puzzles.

After that shopping spree, I was ready to go home.  And now I'm going to fix something to eat because it is almost 7:30, and then I will do some reading and knitting before going to bed.  Have a blessed Tuesday!