Missing Plates

Yesterday morning, I walked to my car so I can drive to work as I normally do. When I got closer, I noticed my rear license plate was gone. I canvased the immediate area to see if it fell off somewhere nearby when I arrived last night but I still did not find it. I checked the time and noticed that I still had thirty minutes to make it to work so I decided to go back to my friend's house to see if it fell off around the area where I parked.

Along the way, I called my parents. They both said that I needed to go to the DMV (Department of Motor Vehicles) immediately to get some new plates. I told them that I needed to talk to my superiors first and I'll head right over. Sure enough, I'm driving from my friend's house to work and a cop car pulls up behind me. I took a deep breath and patiently waited for them to flag me over but instead, they just pulled up beside me and told me to roll down my driver's side window.

Cop: Hey buddy, you know you're missing a license plate, right?
Me: Yeah, I'm going to DMV to report it stolen after I clear it with my boss.
Cop: Good.

They drove off. I parked my car in the campus university and talked to my bosses about the situation and they told me to get it taken care of. I went online and found a location and then drove to one of the most dreaded places in the state. For those who have not been to the DMV, the place is loud, busy, and time-consuming. Now if you made an appointment, you could get a sort of reprieve. Since I didn't have one, I could expect to stand in a long line before I could even get helped.

When I got there, the line was literally moving. I didn't know if it was because of a weekday or if it was still early but I wasn't going to complain. I got to the front and they told me I had to do some paperwork and turn in the front plate (I still had it). I sighed because I would have to go home, get some tools to pry the plate off, and then drive back to DMV. I walked to my car and examined the front plate. I noticed that the screws have been tampered with which confirmes that the rear plate was stolen and they were going for the front plate as well. I managed to unscrew the screws with my hand and I got the plate off quite easily.

I walked in with the completed paperwork and the plate. They gave me a number and they told me to wait in the lobby with everyone else. I found a chair, turned on my iPod, and I looked at the screen so I can see the numbers that were being called. Twenty minutes later, my number was called and I walked up to the station and presented the paperwork and front license plate. The lady gave me papers which were my new vehicle's registration and a brown envelope containing my plates and tags. I paid $19.00 flat and that was that.

Overall, I'm surprised that I didn't feel pissed off about the whole ordeal. I guess I'm thinking that I learned something new. If my plates get stolen, I now know the necessary steps to take. My parents told me later that the longer I didn't report the plates stolen, the people that took them could have done something illegal and the police would have seen the plate and I would have been a suspect or something. Go figure.