The Rant
different realities
Today I went to pick up my international and my new EU driver’s license. There are several things about this experience that made me think. I mean, it all went rather smooth, but still. Most state epmloyees I’ve encountered are so caught up in their day to day stuff, that the very seldomly stop to think. That makes them rather hard to reason with.
So I went in with the notifiation and my old german driver’s license. This was my first mistake. I didn’t know what would happen with the old license – I should have checked beforhand. Instead, I asked the lady behind the counter wheather or not I might keep it. She asked my why I would want to keep it. There was my second mistake – I answerd honestly. To put it in a second wallet to give away to thieves and less-than-honest officals.
“Why would you do that?” – “Well, you know: There are border officials who might keep your stuff to put you in tight spot …”
“Why would they do that?” – “Ehh .. they might earn 100 € a month, if they are payed at all – the are looking for a bribe”
“But that is illegal!”
At that point I accepted defeat. It was clear from the look in her eyes that it was not part of her perception of reality that any border official anywhere in the world might do such a thing. She insisted a few more times that is illegal in Germany to have two drivers licenses at the same time and kept my old one for destruction.
I got my new licenses and checked the data on them. Most of them were in order, but one thing caught my attention. The international driver’s license is only valid in conjunction with the national one. Therefore, there is a field “number of the national driver’s license” on the front. The numbers don’t match, my national driver’s license has an extra digit. I asked another employee about the “error”. He had to call his boss. They figured out that the last digit on my license is not part of the serial number, but instead it is the checksum digit. I asked them where this is shown, so that I might explain that to foreign officials who might be as confused as I was. It figures that this is only in the guidlines for german driver’s licenses. You just have to know.
Lets hope they all do …
Lessons Learned
- If possible, tell them you lost your document and put them away (do not use them except in an emergency, of course). Most of the time there is no extra fee involved
- Check every field in your new documents and make shure they add up. Ok, this hasn’t helped me … but still!
- Do not try to reason with them, make shure you don’t have to in the first place. Find out about the regulations and act accordingly (or violate them conciously)
