A new level of Hell (on Earth)

[The_Doc_Man]

In Dante's Inferno we found multiple layers of Hell. I've found a new one hidden on Earth.

In the USA, we have this "Real ID" regulation that requires states to make available a type of identification that is more thoroughly checked. While it is not a passport, there are some countries that recognize it and allow tourists to show it rather than a passport. Canada, for instance, wants tourist dollars so allows short visits based on ID cards rather than passports. Certain cruise lines won't let you debark your ship at any Caribbean sight-seeing venue without it.

My previous driver's license was a regular type, but this time I wanted to get a Real ID driver's license. So I went to the Louisiana Office of Motor Vehicles to get the new license. Had I chosen to NOT do so, I could have renewed on-line. However, because I was changing from regular to Real ID I had to visit OMV to present the required extra paperwork.

It took me 3 hours and 20 minutes of sitting in plastic chairs in a crowded room with adults. However, in some cases, the adults had pre-school kids that they had to bring with them. Most of them were well-behaved, but if you put ANY pre-schooler in a totally boring situation, they go a little bonkers. Too much energy, I guess. I made it through the ordeal thinking of two factors. First, this license is good for six years. Second, if I'm still driving six years from now, I will be able to renew the ID online. I only had to be present because of changing to the Real ID format.

My question to the other members is, what place would YOU nominate as an Earth-bound corner of Hell?

 

[Jon]

Bureaucracy does my head in. In many cases, I think it is "jobs for the boys". Let's make it convoluted, unnecessarily complicated and paperwork heavy. I sympathise with your loss of 3 hours 20 minutes of your life.

For me, it is the dentists waiting room. It is all nicely lit and clean. Magazines to read and some filtered water on tap. Yet when you hear blood curdling screams coming from the room next door, you are reminded that shortly it will be "your turn".

 

[The_Doc_Man]

Although my current dentist doesn't do that, I recall in my youth a dentist whose viewpoint on anesthesia was Byzantine. He was probably a holdover from the Spanish Inquisition, though his name was more French than anything else. The son-of-a-serpent put in some anesthetic (none too gently) and then almost immediately started drilling. I passed out in the chair from the pain. Turns out that "ordinary" novacaine doesn't work on me, I need one of the more modern synthetics. For cleaning, he was OK, but the first time he drilled me like that, I told Mom I wanted another dentist. We found a guy who understood the modern stuff (although he wasn't a younger man.) When he passed away, I found another guy who understood about new drugs for people with unusual insensitivity to the older methods. I've been with THAT guy for nearly 40 years.

Speaking of dentists, look up on YouTube the comedy sketch with Tim Conway and Harvey Korman regarding the inept dentist. That one was SO hilariously over-the-top that Harvey peed his pants during the sketch. Those guys were FUNNY - and yet so rarely used vulgarity that I can't recall any prominent scenes that got "blue."