During my lunch break today I went to contest an insignificant-but-dubious parking ticket at the Violations Bureau. Well, to attempt to.

Well, to attempt to attempt to.

I had an appointment with the hearing officer — a government employee who decides whether or not my case has merit — but I still had to wait in line for 15 minutes to check in and get some sort of form to fill out.

After five minutes the clerks told us that we should be in one line, not two — that is to say, lined up behind the stop sign rather than at the wide openings on either side of it. Why they waited however many hours to tell people that, I have no idea.

We shuffled around, and eventually I missed my appointment while waiting in line. Or so I thought!

It turns out that the clerk I'd spoken to last week hadn't put my appointment into the system, so ha-ha, I wasn't late for anything after all. Not that the clerk I spoke to today believed my craaaaaaaaazy story about an "appointment."

I could either make a new appointment or go wait with the dozen or so walk-ins in the next room. I decided to make a new appointment.

Naturally I asked if I could have the form I'd need now, so I could skip the line next time. The clerk rather officiously told me that if I came back another day, I'd have to go through security again (...) and wait in line again to check in and get the form.

It took her several attempts to type "Daniel" into the computer.