Nobody really likes the DMV because it's the posterboy for government inefficiency. The people who work there do not seem to be the most motivated, the most educated, the best looking, or the most capable, but boy are they paid well considering their work. We all trudge in, forced from time to time to appear in person and stand in line with people we don't know and with people we might otherwise avoid at all costs to talk to people who don't give a flying pinwheel about our plight and hate their jobs. What makes me even more annoyed is when I am allowed to do something from afar in silico and STILL have to visit the DMV because they made a mistake. Most government agencies are not renowned for their integrity (security) or for the integrity of those who work there. Everyone makes mistakes, but it does not fix their mistake for me to make another, and so knowing that their lack of integrity called me to prove mine, I bowed my head and went in when I had every right to simply transact anonymously online and fade away.
When I went to pay my vehicle renewal, I found an error in the fees. I was elated to see the price only to realize it must be because someone erroneously credited a registration remainder to my account. I was not really surprised. The large majority of clerks when I visit the DMV look like they are tired or incapable or just miserable, and so I think when you hate your job it becomes more likely that you make mistakes. Unlike Monopoly, when the bank makes an error in your favor and you collect money, I worried that this might come back to bite me. I didn't make the mistake, but someone did. It seems silly to trade away my integrity for a matter of $40, but it's equally silly to have someone at the DMV fired because they made a $40 error. I think they are paid more than they are worth, but they are paid, and they do actually go to work, and it's not like they can get away and pass the work to others, so since I have no personal animus towards them, I knew what I had to do. It was easy, because nobody else is inconvenienced by this, and so the choice only affects me, but I addressed it to the DMV so that they could fix the error.
When I paid the fee, I knew that I needed to address it because the DMV hurt someone else in order to make this error. Somewhere out there someone returned plates, transferred them to another car, and then expected a refund. Somewhere out there, that person didn't get a credit for fees already paid. They maybe didn't notice like most people didn't when they raised the fees although Governor Gibbons promised "no new taxes", but I did. When your fee is only 25% of what you expect, you don't complain. Most people are only interested in justice when it hurts them but pocket the teller fee when it favors them. I claim that you only truly mean something if you fight for what is right when it hurts people you don't know or don't like, and even if this is a credit due my ex wife, it's not due me. If I were the one due the credit, I would probably demand it, and as much as I think the state of Nevada pisses away plenty of money, it's not my decision to piss it away in duplicate credits, and so I set it right.
When I made this decision, I knew it would cost me before I ever benefit, if I ever benefit at all. Sure as shooting, I was charged the extra money immediately. I don't know if the other person will ever get their credit. I guess I'm lucky technically speaking that I didn't have to pay interest, a late fee, or a fine since it wasn't correct. I'm one of those guys who drives the speed limit anyway because I expect to be caught and because I'm not very amicable with authority figures. Most people would think if they never had to pay the difference that they got away with it. It's technically stealing. God would know, and God would know that I knew, and that was enough for me.
I really hate when I do the right thing and suffer. However, I still believe like Ender Wiggen that the way we win matters. I still believe that an honest C beats an A earned fraudulently. All too often, however, I don't get a C; I get an F, and then it looks like no good deed goes unpunished. That being said, I also believe that the Lord that seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. I don't know when; I don't know how; but I know God will bless me somehow. Watch and you'll see, someday I'll be blessed for integrity. The systems at the DMV and the people who work there do not seem to be of much integrity; they seem to be very interested in justice, and if it's justice with which you threaten me, I am not threatened. I did right by the state, by the stranger owed the credit, and by my own conscience. I got to pay the full measure, and it cost me time and effort to go fix a problem I didn't create. That's how it usually works, that it annoys you and others when you fix someone else's mistake and then don't get any special credit for it. Tonight, I will sleep well. Tomorrow I won't worry driving around that NHP will harass me for cheating the DMV. If it ever matters in any other arena, I will be able to say that I made it right. Maybe one day God will make it up to me. Maybe it was just so that you and I will know that I practice what I preach.
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