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The Predicaments of Imaginary People

By TaxiCabJesus in TaxiCabJesus' Diary
Sun Mar 09, 2014 at 06:05:58 AM EST
Tags: (all tags)

For some time I have quipped when asked for an id, "You're not a real person if you don't have a plastic card." This was mostly to acknowledge the plight of illegal people, but I guess we're all illegal if we can't demonstrate otherwise.

Two fellows were trying to buy beer at the convenience store I visited at the end of my shift today. One had his plastic identification card. The other offered a card decorated with a hole punch. The clerk did not accept it for their beer purchase. This aspiring beer purchaser pulled out a second card, which the clerk examined and also declined because it was expired. I don't know if they ever got their beer, as another clerk appeared to take my gas money.

In the cab was my passenger with his own plastic card dilemma. I met him over a year ago, at the QT on Bell Rd. near Cave Creek Rd. in Phoenix. He'd said someone had stolen his car, and he has been without a plastic card ever since.


This passenger can't order a duplicate of his Texas or Virginia plastic card because he's not in those states anymore. He'd order a birth certificate, so he can go to the Social Security office (to get a Social Security card, so he can work, and get replacement plastic cards), but those efforts haven't gone anywhere. It's tough to get anything done when you're stuck in survival mode. I have no idea how truthful the story is, but it seems plausible enough.

When this fellow reappeared recently, I knew it'd been at least a year since I'd seen him last, based on his comment about my change of vehicle. He is now traveling with someone, and has been bumping from place to place.

It's hard to register at cheap motels if you don't have a plastic card. A group of four went to ghetto-Motel 6 in my cab one day. One (or more) of them had been banned from that motel, so they waited in the cab while a non-banned person from their group got a room for the night.

Perpetually Expiring Plastic Cards

Another night I picked up two guys from an apartment/condo just south of the Christown Walmart. They gave me a $50 so I'd wait. After 10 or so minutes one of them came back to the cab by himself. They wanted to buy alcohol, but because his identification card had expired, the Walmart clerk was unable to accept it to verify his age. He returned to the cab, so his friend could purchase the alcohol by himself, with his non-expired identification card.

This passenger had gotten a series of "driving without a license" tickets, and now owes $10,000+ in fines. Because of the outstanding balance, the state issues him an identification card that expires every 3 or 6 months. People who don't have balances with the state get identification cards without an expiration date.

I think the government should offer the ability to work off one's court fines. $5/hour towards one's fines, with the balance of minimum wage paid to the worker. The woman who wrote Nickel and Dimed was on Alternative Radio a few months ago, and said the problem of the working poor have gotten much worse since the book was written. Kicking People When They're Down might've been what I heard.

The Predicament of A Genuine Imaginary Person

Months ago I dropped someone off at the Tower Plaza Walmart, and a random woman appeared and asked if I was available. Somehow it came up that this woman doesn't really exist because her papers are not in order. She can't get a new Social Security card from the Social Security Administration because her California birth certificate doesn't have her first name on it. She only has a birth day, a last name, and parents.

Was today's identification predicament just a setup?

This anecdote is not-at-all related to identification cards, but if not for my passenger's identification problem I wouldn't have told him to get off the motel's premises, and wouldn't have had to meet him at the QuikTrip just down the street.

While telling the passenger how he'd been threatened by the motel's patrol employee with trespassing if he was seen again (they are very serious about non-registered guests being prohibited), a woman passing by asked if I was available. She works nearby, had a blind date at the Hyatt downtown, and would have taken the bus if she hadn't seen me standing next to the cab at just that moment. "You're going to the rotating restaurant at the top!" Her blind date has a room at the Hyatt. Hmm.

37 years old, got out of a six-year relationship last September (ex-boyfriend left her for his dope-dealer), the blind date is her co-worker/Doppelgänger's (same name/same birthday) boyfriend's friend. I'm not much of a hypnotist, but figured that she was sent to me for irreverent comments. She wanted to stop at a liquor store for liquid courage, but I forgot.

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Poll
papers, please?
o anything to keep poor people in line 100%

Votes: 1
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Related Links
o acknowledg e the plight of illegal people
o Nickel and Dimed
o Kicking People When They're Down
o Doppelg&#2 28;nger
o TaxiCabJesus's Diary


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The Predicaments of Imaginary People | 35 comments (35 topical, editorial, 0 hidden)
"Nickled and Dimed" is a great book. (3.00 / 4) (#4)
by claes on Sun Mar 09, 2014 at 08:24:11 AM EST

A reporter decides to spend several months working low-end jobs and trying to make ends meet. It's pretty depressing, and to think things are worse is more so.

But you're right that once you're behind the curve financially you get pulled further and further behind because everything costs more. On the flip side, if you get ahead everything costs less. We're just slowly recovering from The Big Spend (a very tough year financially) and as we dig out everything gets easier. If you have resources you can handle unexpected expenses properly (i.e replace the washing machine rather than switching to the laundromat). Spend wisely up front and you can save in the long run. Just the opposite of what the financial situation the poor are in.

Financial companies are looking at trying to 'serve' the 'unbanked'. American Express and (I think) WalMart have debit cards you can put your paycheck into. It's unclear if this is a good thing, but it does let the unbanked participate in more of the economy.

It isn't difficult to go get an ID card (3.00 / 3) (#5)
by tdillo on Sun Mar 09, 2014 at 11:16:26 AM EST

It just costs money that if you're strapped for cash you'd rather not give. BirthCerts are like $11 bux here. Social Security Cards are free I think. You just fill out a form and wait 2 wks. In Texas a state ID is $11 also.

For a long time I didn't have to go in to have my DL renewed. I didn't have accidents so they would mail me a thing, I would put money in it and they mailed me a sticker that auto-renewed my DL.

Well I don't know exactly how it happened but I got one and I put the money in and gave it to the woman of the house and asked her to mail it. Well, it didn't get mailed and the money went missing and it pissed me off so in a fit of pique I refused to renew my license. I don't know what I expected but I was like I gave you the money and asked you to mail it. So now you owe it to me to get my license renewed or something. Anyhow it didn't happen. Eventually I forgot about.

When I did remember it quite some time had passed. Again, I don't know what I was thinking but I guess in the back of my mind I was wondering just how long can I get away with this. Well, the answer is five years. I drove without a valid license for five full years. I never had any trouble cashing checks, getting rooms or whatever. It had become a game.

Then I got pulled over by the Sheriff for something or other and he told me my license was expired. He let me go with a verbal warning saying something about I needed to take care of it because post 9-11 some cops would treat me like a terrorist. I did not take his advice. I should have. Two weeks later and I was pulled over by city police because of a bad tail light. Things got very scary in a hurry. The cop said that # had been assigned to a guy in Austin for one thing. So I was looking at a charge for Identity Theft. Then he was like this license was never issued by the state (saying it was counterfeit). Fortunately I know a few people in town. Not in the DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM way but more like, Officer if you'll just call PILLAR_OF_COMMUNITY he can give you my description so you'll know that at least I'm not a threat. I discovered that day that it is almost as bad to never get in trouble as it is to get in trouble. If you've ever been arrested at least you're 'in the system' so they look you up and can verify. Otherwise it is a longer process to actually verify that you are who you say you are.

Well, anyways, he finally let me go with a citation and a very stern warning. I went and got a nice new license the next day which cost $25 and then I got the citation voided but that was still a 'maintenance fee' but at least I didn't go to jail or anything.

So, five years and under $50 just for the lulz.

"It seems like to me, a vagina -- as a man -- would be more desirable than a man's anus. That's just me." - Phil Robertson

I'm just going to imagine (none / 1) (#6)
by SuckPuppet on Sun Mar 09, 2014 at 12:55:12 PM EST

That you typed this out with 6 sentences per paragraph and then used a regex to wipeout the end of line characters.


I like the idea of working to pay off court fines (none / 0) (#7)
by HollyHopDrive on Sun Mar 09, 2014 at 04:37:22 PM EST

but I've got absolutely no sympathy for people who drive without a valid licence, or while drunk.

I make too much sense to be on the Internet.

jesus tapdancing christ, get a fucking grip (3.00 / 2) (#10)
by mitsu on Sun Mar 09, 2014 at 07:02:32 PM EST



More reasons the rich get richer... (none / 0) (#14)
by claes on Sun Mar 09, 2014 at 07:52:13 PM EST

Medical Savings Accounts. All our little day-to-day medical expenses, like glasses, are tax deductible, i.e. 25% off.

we know what a fucking doppelgaenger is (none / 0) (#18)
by nostalgiphile on Sun Mar 09, 2014 at 09:04:06 PM EST

well, we used to, you see: K5 wasn't always so illiterate.

"Depending on your perspective you are an optimist or a pessimist[,] and a hopeless one too." --trhurler
wtf are you rambling about (3.00 / 2) (#24)
by Empedocles on Mon Mar 10, 2014 at 03:54:06 AM EST



---
And I think it's gonna be a long long time
'Till touch down brings me 'round again to find
I'm not the man they think I am at home

Also, thanks for posting! $ (none / 0) (#38)
by k31 on Wed Mar 12, 2014 at 06:00:14 PM EST



Your dollar is you only Word, the wrath of it your only fear. He who has an EAR to hear....
The Predicaments of Imaginary People | 35 comments (35 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)
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