As I approached the counter to renew my tags for this year, the woman on the other side greeted me with an unfeeling, blank stare. She asked if she could help me with about as much enthusiasm as someone asking to be poked in the eye. While handing over some papers, I explained that I needed to renew my tags. She began clicking away at her keyboard and staring into her monitor, but there was still no human reaction from her whatsoever. She turned from her computer and looked upon me with disdain. “You need to have an inspection first. Number four,” she scolded while pointing to the rules. After handing over my inspection papers, she explained that my VIN number had been recorded incorrectly and that the inspection papers would need to be fixed first. I thanked her and walked away.
As I headed toward the inspection station, I pondered why this woman had treated me so coldly. After all, she is basically doing government work. Aren't we told that the government wants to help us? Why didn't this woman seem enthusiastic to help me at all? Doesn't she have a good job? Shouldn't she be living a happy life, doing the government's work? Being a good person? What was wrong here? Even though this particular office is contracted out, it is far from the model of a free-market enterprise. Regulations are strictly in force for their operations, many details dictated by the state. Perhaps the woman had dealt with many unhappy, demanding, frustrating customers earlier that day. There was no one in line when I arrived, but maybe earlier she'd had some unhappy customers. Why should the government have any unhappy customers? Isn't all this license plate renewal stuff supposed to be good for the citizens, in our best interest? What is there to be unhappy about it?
I honestly don't understand it. Here is a woman doing the government's work, sitting in the same place for eight hours a day, five days a week, pushing the same buttons on the same computer. And this woman makes no particular effort to care about me at all, and treats me like an idiot. I could teach my five year old daughter how to do her job. A complete moron could do her job. But there she sits with her government rulebook full of regulations as proof of her superiority. And these regulations are her only concern. No concern for me as a driver, for the safety-readiness of my vehicle, or for me as a customer. What private business in their right mind would turn me away because I misspelled my name? But if I leave one number out of what is obviously the VIN to my car, it is rejected.
After some careful thought, I realized that I am completely wrong about all of this. This woman wasn't cold or disdainful. It was me, projecting my Tea Party feelings of frustration and anger on her. As a conservative I'm just so full of hate that I can't see anything else. This woman obviously has the perfect job which keeps her content. She serves many happy citizens every day because as we all know, the government exists to make us happy.
