Adventures at the DMV

After all the trials and tribulations of getting a visa, it was time for me to get the rest of the official documents, including my resident’s card and an Omani driver’s license.  Our HR provides us with a public relations officer (PRO) who helps assist us in getting through all the government channels, so two days ago my PRO picked me up and shepherded me through a variety of government offices.  After about our third stop he looked at me and said “You’re not like the other expats and definitely not like the normal lawyers.  You’re just so….cool!”  Apparently all of the lines and government processes (not to mention the waiting areas filled with hordes of workers from the Indian subcontinent) stress out the average expat, whereas I was just happy to be out of the office for a day (and not in Dubai).

We hit our first snag at the DMV.  When I was here in February I had to go to the US Embassy to get a document signed that I’d been driving for more than a year since my Texas driver’s license was less than a year old.  When we showed up at the DMV, US Embassy form in hand, we were told that no one there had ever seen the form before and, since apparently they couldn’t read it, we would have to return the following morning to see a manager.

So yesterday my PRO picked me up again and off we went to the DMV.  The “manager” flipped my license over and saw in tiny letters “REV 01/05/07” and seemed to think this date had something to do with me.  She seemed so confident I didn’t want to point out that that date was the date the license format was revised and was on everyone’s Texas license.  But then she passed off my paperwork to a man who started grilling me on that date.  “So what did you do in Texas in 2007?” he asked.  “Well, that was the date that I originally moved to Texas.  Then I left and moved to California and had to get a new license,” I responded, figuring that trying to explain what that date really meant would be too complicated (and I really did move to Texas the first time in 2007).  He asked me that question in a number of different ways and I finally turned to my PRO and asked if he could explain that in the US, every time you move to a different state you have to get a new license.

A flurry of Arabic followed that got a little heated as the minutes passed, with the DMV officer angrily pointing at my license and then at me.  Though he finally signed my paperwork, my PRO told me that he was convinced my license was a fake.  Seriously?!?  US passports are incredibly hard to fake and I had a document signed by the US Embassy indicating I’d had a license for over a decade, but this guy who thought that REV 01/05/07 related to me thought he knew better?

So then I was asked my blood type, which apparently is required on drivers’ licenses.  I turned to my PRO and said “No clue – what’s the most common blood type?  Let’s just put that.”  He looked at me in shock, mouth wide open, and said “Are you sure you’re American?  You’re really going to lie on a document?”  I shrugged and said, “There’s no way I’m going to a doctor here to get tested and I certainly don’t want to have to come back here, so let’s just put something down and get the license.  If I have a car accident here and need a blood transfusion, I’ve got bigger problems.”  He let out a loud laugh and again exclaimed how different I was from the normal expat. (Turns out I am O+, which is what we put down, so no need for me to try to learn in Arabic how to say I’m a different blood type than what’s on my license.)

After I finally had my license in hand and we got back in the car, I asked about organ donation.  He had no idea what I was talking about, so I said that in the US we put on our licenses whether we are willing to donate organs in case we’re dying.  He was absolutely appalled at the idea – you mean you take parts out of dead bodies and give them to other people?!?!  How barbaric!  So I asked what you did over here if you needed a new kidney or lung.  He looked at me like I was an absolute idiot and said “We have Indians for that.  And they’re more than happy to give up parts while they’re still alive.”