fighting the man

[fearlesstemp]

You know what I did today? I fought The Man (better known as the Treasurer's Office, which handles all parking ticket-related disputes in my hometown – but isn't The Man catchier?) I went down to City Hall this morning totally lacking mercy! Prepared to be brutal! Supported by plentiful documentation!

A brief retelling of this morning's ruthless, brutal, take-no-prisoners takedown:

Self: Hi, I'm here about a ticket?

Parking Ticket Guy: [Super-friendly] Hi! What's the problem?

Self: [Whips out Green Folder of Obsessive Documentation] I received this notice in the mail saying I was late on a fine, but I never received a ticket, blah blah blah, Tale of Woe --

PTG: [Looks at receipt] Yeah, that's something different. Well, it looks like you've had to pay enough already, so let's just dismiss the ticket altogether, all right?

Self: Uh, okay.

PTG: [Filling out form] How do you spell your last name again?

And that was it! I had two reactions: (1) The urge to do a silly dance right there in the office, and (2) Frustration that I didn't get to launch into my already-prepared rant on how completely messed up the city's procedures are. Only handling protests in person on Tuesdays between 9 and 11AM? That is so messed up! What a messed up system!

But that messed up system had dismissed my ticket, and so I just walked away. I feel like there's a deeper lesson about complicity in unjust systems in there, and I should probably feel worse about this, but – I got my ticket dismissed! Yay! Yay for warped, messed up systems that mean I don't owe the city $70.00!

And now it's time to go! I had other things I meant to ramble on about, including the fact that I spent last night having dinner with Kristen the Republican Bride, who came to the outing accessorized by the one of the cutest babies I've ever seen and a Bush/Cheney 2004 diaper bag. I am not joking. There was a bib too. It was so very hard not to react by, say, flinging the offending items across the room.

I kid, I kid, I would never do such a thing. First of all: How rude! And second of all: I've never had a good arm.

Comments

[krabapple.livejournal.com]

Oh, that poor, poor baby.

It's so sad when cute babies have to grow up Republican. As Giles said on Buffy today, "the tiny, tiny babies!"

[fearlesstemp.livejournal.com]

It is so sad! Joanna and I are hoping that we will be able to secretly lure him away to the light side of the force. It's a tough, delicate battle, but I think we're up to it!

[itsmesarahmarie.livejournal.com]

god, i died at ..."The urge to do a silly dance right there in the office" - i totally feel like doing that when i get my way on something, since it happens rarely. heh. also..."i've never had a good arm." - haaahahaha! what's up with making children our politcal poster boards, any way?

rock on, fellow silly dancer!

[fearlesstemp.livejournal.com]

And also, I don't know what's up with the children as political poster boards thing either! It creates this intense cognitive dissonance with me, my brain sending out simultaneous conflicting messages of "Baby Adorable"/"Bush Repulsive" -- it's good the baby only wore the bib for a little while. I'm sure if he'd worn it for a long time, whipping between the two emotions could have caused serious harm.