Red Tape

We now live walking distance from the local library, so I've been trying to get a library card. Only the library is making it more difficult to obtain a darn card than it is to have a baby! No joke--in a few weeks, I will walk into Kaiser with my Kaiser card, endure many grueling hours of labor, and walk out with a baby. Aside from the hours of pain, it's really quite simple. The library: Not so simple.

Theo and I went a couple of weeks ago, and they refused to give me a library card because my address on my driver's license is from our old house. They said I needed to come back with a piece of first-class mail. Well, we don't get a lot of first-class mail because many of our bills come electronically, but okay.

This week, I went to the DMV to update my license with our new address, and when they gave me the temporary license, I thought, "Aha! Surely this will work to get a library card!" And so this morning, Theo and I set off for the library, with my old license (with my picture on it) and my new temporary license (with my correct address on it) in hand. Theo was all excited to pick out some books to bring home with us, and I was looking forward to getting a couple for me. Alas, it was not our lucky day. The cranky librarian informed me that my temporary license wasn't good enough to get a library card, despite the fact that I also had my picture ID in hand.

"Don't you have a piece of mail you can bring instead? This won't work. It specifically says in our rules that temporary licenses aren't acceptable," she said brusquely.

"Um, no, I don't," I replied. "Frankly, I thought an official document from a government agency, printed on that agency's watermarked paper, would be more valid than just a letter someone wrote to me anyway."

"No, I'm sorry, we can't accept that," she replied.

Ever polite, I said, "Okay, I realize you don't make the rules, but really--don't you think that's kind of ridiculous? How would I get a printed, official document from a government agency if that wasn't my correct address?" I then pointed out that it was pretty silly that I could have a baby in the next week or two and walk out of the hospital with less documentation than they're requiring for a library card.

Little ears were apparently listening to this exchange, because when I gave up and headed out the doors of the library, a disappointed Theo announced very loudly, "The library is being RIDICULOUS!"

I didn't disagree with him. Wise words from a small mouth...