Whatever. I have had a ticket before. All I did before was call the number, fax some form, and then took defensive driving... not such a big deal. However, as I began reading over the ticket I realized they wanted me to drive all the way downtown to the San Antonio Municipal Court just to request defensive driving or pay the ticket. I had to be there in person. I googled for a phone number and when I finally located one (they don't make it easy) I learned to my dismay they had one of those abysmal phone menus where you have to keep guessing which number will let you talk to an actual person.... all the while being forced to listen to repeated messages about how you ought to visit their website to take care of your needs (as if that were ever a real solution for anybody, anywhere, ever). It turns out, none of their menu options allow you to talk to a real person. Nice move San Antonio Municipal Court. It's obvious how much you care.... about being moron jerk faces!
Last time I swear I was able to simply call the number and deal with it over the phone. However, something was different now... and I believe the difference was that I was unfortunate enough to get a ticket associated with the "San Antonio Municipal Court". So I wait a month or two, and then carve out some time to leave work in the middle of the day. After I manage to locate the court house, I pull in and find out they charge you $3 to park there. Does that seem funny to anyone? You have to pay to park, so you can go in and pay? You have to pay to use the parking lot for a building used to provide a public service? They MAKE YOU visit in person and then they MAKE YOU pay 3 bucks. That is highway robbery! (Assuming the robber was a kind soul who only took three dollars from you.) I had to pause a moment to reassure myself I hadn't inadvertently stepped into a time warp back 20 years ago to an age before the "internets", "technology", and "paypal". Welcome to the 21st century, San Antonio Municipal Court! Or rather, get out! You aren't welcome here, you uneducated hobo!
I go in. I walk through the metal detector. I talk to the lady. Guess what? The cop hasn't submitted my ticket into the system yet, so can I please come back closer to my court date (which was a week away at the time)? Ok..... I had the actual ticket in my hand. Couldn't she just enter that into her system? Oh well... I ask if I can get my parking money back since I have to return to attempt to accomplish the same task, to which she wittily replied: "Everyone has to pay when they park." In further aggravation, the guy who actually took my money at the parking booth said earlier, "Yep, those people breaking the law are gunna have to pay to park here. Makes sense though, don't it? Have a nice daaaay..." I wanted to hate him too, but he seemed a little nice.
So yeah. I know I'm not going broke because I had to pay to park, but that doesn't change the clean and simple fact that... I want my three dollars back and I hope a sinkhole develops underneath the San Antonio Municipal Court.
Oh yes, been there, done that. I'm sorry :( I should tell you about my last ticket, where I had to go to THREE different locations before I found the right damned office to pay for the thing. Because no one knew where my ticket was filed under, but it was filed somewhere because they had a warrant out for my arrest! Dur durf.
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