Yesterday I discovered that my driver’s license actually expired on my birthday. I had no idea. I should have. I just did not. I assumed it expired at the end of the month.
Note to self: Your driver’s license expires on your birthday.
I discovered this tidbit of information when I went into CVS to purchase some pseudaphedrine so that we would not run out. With everyone now officially having the head cold thing that was going around, I wanted to make sure we did not run out. The pharmacist was more than helpful in getting me the boxes that I should be able to purchase. I had not purchased in a while – at least, I could not remember how long it had been since I purchased it last so she was going to try and get the most allowed by law. Unfortunately, she ran my driver’s license and it beeped and threw it out.
Expired!
What?!. “It is not expired I thought!”
Her response, “someone just had a birthday, it looks like.” I smiled and I knew. I responded as calmly as I could, “yes it was last week.” I knew in the back of my mind that it was expired but I also thought that I had until the end of the month to get it renewed. I guess not.
I posted on Facebook about my experience of not being able to buy my pseudafed because of an expired driver’s license. I also made the comment that it was a good thing I could renew online because it was all taken care of now. Essentially I had been driving around on an expired driver’s license for 5 days.
This whole expired driver’s license thing made me think however…you can’t do returns per a friend…and you can’t buy an over-the-counter drug for a cold…with an expired license (or valid state issued ID)…so why is the voter ID thing such a big controversy? I do not understand. These other things are not a big deal.
It does not hurt the store if I do not have a valid ID to make a return. They just want to verify that I am me, right? Or why they even need it, I am not sure. They are just going to issue a store credit after all if you do not have a receipt. So…what’s the point? Yet, they ask you to verify your identity for some reason.
Oh and the whole psuedafed nonsense without a valid ID. That’s so they can track whether or not I am making meth or not. I am not, but in the grand scheme of things, tracking my OTC drug purchasing is NOT HELPING ANYTHING just so we get that out there. Why? Because when I am the primary purchaser for a family of 5, I am going to look like I purchase a LOT when everyone gets sick. Hello?!. I have teenagers!!! We can go through a LOT of medicine when everyone gets sick at the same time. So…imagine if someone has a larger family…tracking their usage is going to push them up even higher. That is not realistic to track in my opinion. It is just a pain in the butt for those of us who need to purchase it and hit that stupid rule every single time.
But let’s get back to the voter ID nonsense. So it is okay to inconvenience me for the little things in life, but it is NOT OKAY to inconvenience me for the thing that matters most – one of what I consider my most fundamental rights – the ability to vote. I suppose it is a matter of perspective. shrug. I do not see having to have ID to vote an inconvenience. I see having to keep up with my voter registration card as a hassle and inconvenience. My ID…I am going to have on me most of the time. It is a part of who I am because I use it to drive and do other things – like purchase simple cold medicine or make simple returns at the store.
Yesterday was a tiny inconvenient because I had not planned on it being expired. I thought I had until the end of the month to get it renewed. I had planned on getting it done when the boys went back to school next week. It was not a big deal in my mind. I had not paid that close attention to the fact that this last DL did in fact have an actual expiration date stamped on the front of it. Why? Because they do not expire that often!!! So this was my fault, it was not the CVS clerk’s fault. I told her that and told her I would get that taken care of.
Fortunately, I realized it before I got on the road for a long drive and got pulled over by a state trooper and I had to plead my case for not knowing. I could have. I didn’t know.
I am just floored that people have made such a big fuss over something that can be had for $24 (it was $24 + $1 online processing fee for me) that only has to be renewed every 10 years or so. Maybe some of them have to be renewed more frequently, but most of them are 6-10 years if I remember correctly. It is a long time. Even if it was every 4 years, $24 divided over 4 years is only $6 per year.
Since the installation of the new mega centers have become more prominent in the State of Texas at least, there really is not excuse. The access to one is quick and relatively easy. It is not a painful process like days past. You can fill most of the paperwork out at home and take it in with you. The cost is not so high that it is cost prohibitive.
It just blows my mind that this is something that people are not willing to do for their basic right to vote!!!
Be the first to comment